First, my family is a big fan of the games. The first and second Rabbids game were total comedy gold, from flinging spit balls at teacher to fart wars across the desert, the game kept my family laughing over multiple plays. The games use a crude and non-verbal humor not appealing to many, but the slapstick quality was genius to me.
The episodes follow in this trend. The designers offer a limited number of settings - the testing lab, the grocery store, the beach, a farm - and most rabbids look just alike. They are mildly malicious, selfish, rude, but I see nods to Loony Toons classic comedy set ups all through the writing and design. I particularly appreciate how all other, non rabbid, characters either ignore the creatures or push them aside, and the rabbids save most of their mischief for each other.
For those who feel this is not appropriate for children - I think you sell children short. So often, books and cartoons showing childlike creatures behaving badly serve children as examples of what they should NOT do. We were reading Shel Silverstein's ABZ book to our son at a young age, and it's filled with examples of bad behavior, all of which he could identify as naughty and none of which he emulated. I can't imagine children would be so facile and dim as to attempt to reproduce rabbid behavior any more than they would recreate the actions of the Three Stooges. It's the same stuff, just packaged differently.
You have to think of rabbids as being like toddlers on their own in the world. Everything is marvelous to them - an empty box, an escalator or elevator, a fly or flea - and they explore their world with hilarious results. Children can understand and respond positively to this approach, and it never preaches or treats them as idiots. Make up your own mind - episodes can be found on YouTube.
The episodes follow in this trend. The designers offer a limited number of settings - the testing lab, the grocery store, the beach, a farm - and most rabbids look just alike. They are mildly malicious, selfish, rude, but I see nods to Loony Toons classic comedy set ups all through the writing and design. I particularly appreciate how all other, non rabbid, characters either ignore the creatures or push them aside, and the rabbids save most of their mischief for each other.
For those who feel this is not appropriate for children - I think you sell children short. So often, books and cartoons showing childlike creatures behaving badly serve children as examples of what they should NOT do. We were reading Shel Silverstein's ABZ book to our son at a young age, and it's filled with examples of bad behavior, all of which he could identify as naughty and none of which he emulated. I can't imagine children would be so facile and dim as to attempt to reproduce rabbid behavior any more than they would recreate the actions of the Three Stooges. It's the same stuff, just packaged differently.
You have to think of rabbids as being like toddlers on their own in the world. Everything is marvelous to them - an empty box, an escalator or elevator, a fly or flea - and they explore their world with hilarious results. Children can understand and respond positively to this approach, and it never preaches or treats them as idiots. Make up your own mind - episodes can be found on YouTube.