Following the success of Phineas and Ferb and Milo Murphy's Law, Dan Povenmire concocts a brand new show for the Mouse House's television division. My hopes were understandably high given his track record, but I still vowed to judge this show fairly on its own merits without unjustly comparing it to its predecessors. So, on its own merits as a new Disney show I can confidently say this cartoon...IS A BLOOMING ATROCIOUS ABOMINATION! That might sound like hyperbole, but as you'll find in this review, that statement couldn't be more accurate!
The latest show from Dan Povenmire, Hamster & Gretel follows the adventures of a girl and her pet hamster teaming up and fighting bad guys. This premise sounds simple and could've made for a very funny show that took a meta spin on the superhero genre. What we get instead is a superhero show that fails to be super and heroic. The writing is frustratingly abysmal with the origin being complete dumped upon you in the first episode and any sense of character development and growth just zipped on by. I kid you not, the very next scene after Hamster and Gretel get their powers, she already has a costume with not explaination as to how or why. There's also no strughle for her when it comes to figuring out her powers, no set up for any of her villains and no consequences to her messing things up. In addition to very speedy pacing, this show has very clunky dialogue with long drawn out exposition scenes and characters saying stuff that's very obvious. Then there's the humor, or should I say lack there of? This show's humor consists of lame puns, weak slapstick, and painfully unfunny visual gags. They also have a habit of explaining the joke, which I despise with a passion. This isn't even first or second draft kind of bad writing: this is just unacceptable!
The characters are some of the most unlikable and annoying characters I've seen from a Disney production outside of Hailey's On It. Starting with our titular duo, Hamster (side note: can we stop giving pets the names of their species? It's not cute, it makes their owners incompetent and lazy) is the silent character who rarely talks but doesn't have anything interesting to say. The thing about Hamster, though, is he's the least bad out of the entire cast because everyone else is just an annoying and incompetent moron! Gretel is yet another annoying chatterbox that's irresponsible, stupid, careless, and unfunny. Her brother, Kevin, isn't much better as he's a winey, stupid, overbearing and chatty teen who mostly just fills in space. Fred is the typical goth girl, Carolina is the naive and aloof mother, Dave is the idiot father and Bailey is the dimwitted best friend. Then there are the "villains" who are just left over fodder from Teamo Supremo. They're all petty, stupid, annoying, and pathetic losers that shouldn't be taken seriously and are more nuisances than actual threats.
The voice acting is honestly terrible, which is a shame because some of these actors have done good work in other shows. Dan Povenmire's daughter, Meli, was just awful as Gretel as she not only sounded nothing like a 9 year old girl, but she also sounded so disinterested and unsure in her line deliveries. Michael Cimino didn't sound enthusiastic as Kevin, either, and he honestly didn't have much chemistry with Gretel. Beck Bennett only had a few lines as Hamster, but not one of them was memorable or funny. Joey King didn't sound very convincing as a goth girl, as she kinda had a bit of a valley girl accent which didn't fit the character. Matt Jones is using same voice he's used in all his roles for Dave and doesn't make him sound memorable or interesting. Carolina Ravassa sounded very unconvincing as the typical Mother with a Spanish accent as all I kept thinking was that is Sombra from Overwatch pretending to be a housewife. Try as the veteran actors might, not even they can salvage the clunky material they're given.
Visually, it's a nice looking Disney show from a design standpoint, but falls apart in the animation department. The characters have really unique designs that stay true to Povenmire's geometric style while also being very distinct from his previous shows. The characters have different shapes for their heads, their clothes are colorful and they have differing body types. The backgrounds are also very well crafted and this city definitely feels lived in. In motion, though, that's when you notice some glaring issues. The characters move in a very speedy pace much like the writing as if standing still or movig subtly was strictly forbidden. This is especially evident in the action scenes, which are over almost as soon as they begin. This show also does everything in its power to cut away from the action scenes to show an unfunny visual gag. Design-wise, it looks really good, but once it's in motion, that's when the problem starts.
The worst aspect about this show, though, is the awful sound mixing. I'm not savy in sound mixing, but I know for a fact that you're not supposed to make rookie mistakes in a professional production such as this show. When characters are talking off screen, they sound like they're speaking into a tin can, thus killing the illusion. I'm well aware this was made during the pandemic, but even during the time of social distancing animated productions still managed to work around these restrictions and put out a well put together product. There should be no reason why something like this should be in a cartoon made by the biggest entertainment company on Earth. If this was intentional, thanks, I hate it!
That was totally HORRENDOUS! Hamster & Gretel is an abominable cartoon with atrocious writing, annoying characters, terrible voice acting, nonexistent humor, and badly directed animation. The biggest sin this show commits, though, is being bad on a technical level with it's choppy editing and amateurish sound mixing. This isn't just bad, this is INEXCUSABLY BAD! As such it deserves the worst fate to bestow on a piece of entertainment: to be ignored and forgotten! Do NOT watch Hamster & Gretel! Don't even mention it to Dan Povenmire on social media! You're better off watching Phineas and Ferb 104 times than watching this show even once! -.-
The latest show from Dan Povenmire, Hamster & Gretel follows the adventures of a girl and her pet hamster teaming up and fighting bad guys. This premise sounds simple and could've made for a very funny show that took a meta spin on the superhero genre. What we get instead is a superhero show that fails to be super and heroic. The writing is frustratingly abysmal with the origin being complete dumped upon you in the first episode and any sense of character development and growth just zipped on by. I kid you not, the very next scene after Hamster and Gretel get their powers, she already has a costume with not explaination as to how or why. There's also no strughle for her when it comes to figuring out her powers, no set up for any of her villains and no consequences to her messing things up. In addition to very speedy pacing, this show has very clunky dialogue with long drawn out exposition scenes and characters saying stuff that's very obvious. Then there's the humor, or should I say lack there of? This show's humor consists of lame puns, weak slapstick, and painfully unfunny visual gags. They also have a habit of explaining the joke, which I despise with a passion. This isn't even first or second draft kind of bad writing: this is just unacceptable!
The characters are some of the most unlikable and annoying characters I've seen from a Disney production outside of Hailey's On It. Starting with our titular duo, Hamster (side note: can we stop giving pets the names of their species? It's not cute, it makes their owners incompetent and lazy) is the silent character who rarely talks but doesn't have anything interesting to say. The thing about Hamster, though, is he's the least bad out of the entire cast because everyone else is just an annoying and incompetent moron! Gretel is yet another annoying chatterbox that's irresponsible, stupid, careless, and unfunny. Her brother, Kevin, isn't much better as he's a winey, stupid, overbearing and chatty teen who mostly just fills in space. Fred is the typical goth girl, Carolina is the naive and aloof mother, Dave is the idiot father and Bailey is the dimwitted best friend. Then there are the "villains" who are just left over fodder from Teamo Supremo. They're all petty, stupid, annoying, and pathetic losers that shouldn't be taken seriously and are more nuisances than actual threats.
The voice acting is honestly terrible, which is a shame because some of these actors have done good work in other shows. Dan Povenmire's daughter, Meli, was just awful as Gretel as she not only sounded nothing like a 9 year old girl, but she also sounded so disinterested and unsure in her line deliveries. Michael Cimino didn't sound enthusiastic as Kevin, either, and he honestly didn't have much chemistry with Gretel. Beck Bennett only had a few lines as Hamster, but not one of them was memorable or funny. Joey King didn't sound very convincing as a goth girl, as she kinda had a bit of a valley girl accent which didn't fit the character. Matt Jones is using same voice he's used in all his roles for Dave and doesn't make him sound memorable or interesting. Carolina Ravassa sounded very unconvincing as the typical Mother with a Spanish accent as all I kept thinking was that is Sombra from Overwatch pretending to be a housewife. Try as the veteran actors might, not even they can salvage the clunky material they're given.
Visually, it's a nice looking Disney show from a design standpoint, but falls apart in the animation department. The characters have really unique designs that stay true to Povenmire's geometric style while also being very distinct from his previous shows. The characters have different shapes for their heads, their clothes are colorful and they have differing body types. The backgrounds are also very well crafted and this city definitely feels lived in. In motion, though, that's when you notice some glaring issues. The characters move in a very speedy pace much like the writing as if standing still or movig subtly was strictly forbidden. This is especially evident in the action scenes, which are over almost as soon as they begin. This show also does everything in its power to cut away from the action scenes to show an unfunny visual gag. Design-wise, it looks really good, but once it's in motion, that's when the problem starts.
The worst aspect about this show, though, is the awful sound mixing. I'm not savy in sound mixing, but I know for a fact that you're not supposed to make rookie mistakes in a professional production such as this show. When characters are talking off screen, they sound like they're speaking into a tin can, thus killing the illusion. I'm well aware this was made during the pandemic, but even during the time of social distancing animated productions still managed to work around these restrictions and put out a well put together product. There should be no reason why something like this should be in a cartoon made by the biggest entertainment company on Earth. If this was intentional, thanks, I hate it!
That was totally HORRENDOUS! Hamster & Gretel is an abominable cartoon with atrocious writing, annoying characters, terrible voice acting, nonexistent humor, and badly directed animation. The biggest sin this show commits, though, is being bad on a technical level with it's choppy editing and amateurish sound mixing. This isn't just bad, this is INEXCUSABLY BAD! As such it deserves the worst fate to bestow on a piece of entertainment: to be ignored and forgotten! Do NOT watch Hamster & Gretel! Don't even mention it to Dan Povenmire on social media! You're better off watching Phineas and Ferb 104 times than watching this show even once! -.-