So it's not often you see cartoons that feel designed to win awards, but I think this one is. Turns out I'm pretty okay with that.
So this is an art project stuffed with high end voice talent that was completed before it started airing, because it's actually 10 shorts originally aired as a miniseries. Meaning it just oozes style, has a very unique and consistent tone, almost all its choices are extremely deliberate, so on. It surprisingly doesn't go too heavy on continuity, most of the series being a basically individual stories that paint an emotional, rather than chronological, progression, though about once an episode something permanent happens before moving on.
The main take though is how charming most of the cast is. Wirt and Beatrice are obviously flawed people but the story sets them up nicely so you want them to overcome. Gregory could be irritating as hell in that way small children are, but his obviously good heart always comes through strongest before you can hold his more immature actions against him. The way the Beast subplot is resolved is pretty brilliant, both in story and allegorically (though just how that plays out depends on what exactly you want to attribute to the Beast and the nature of the setting which... eh, I'd rather let people watch and make their own conclusions there.)
Just... yeah. The show is smart, emotionally resonant, and very sincere. It's great to see things like it crop up.
Weakest Episode: Schooltown Follies. Mostly just the most fillery of the episodes. The core plot, while certainly adorable, just wasn't terribly interesting for me, and the story arc aspects are somewhat limited to light tension between Wirt and Beatrice that would... make a lot more sense if they were supposed to be an item which isn't really true. Not not a lot of substance to it.
Best Episode: Not callling it The Unknown feels a bit dishonest, but I gotta admit I'm liking Babes in the Woods more. The animation really lets it all hang out here (the reference points here are like 1940's Little Lulu or Felix the Cat shorts. Hells yeah), and Gregory is of course at his best here. It also speaks more to the central truth of the show than the finale. They aren't trapped by the world, or the people here that seem to want to harm them, they're fighting with themselves and their own weaknesses. It gels so well with the sort of story this really is, even though you wouldn't think of it before this point.
Rating- 9/10
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