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"Home Movies" was one of those adult cartoons that unfortunately never survived beyond its first few episodes on UPN (after a hiatus, it was picked up by the Cartoon Network). Within that trend, there were many justifiable cancellations, most of them "edgy" -- quotes required -- and cancelled because they just tried to hard. "Home Movies" had a simple setting (hey, "The Simpsons" is just a sitcom about a family) and everyday stories; the humor resides in the mix of Woody Allen styled dialog and extra-flat animation. It has a low-key zaniness that dryly merges those two styles.
The main character is a young boy whom we should see as precocious, filming and starring in his own home movies, but he has merely traded in Legos and a skateboard for a movie camera and director's hat. Each episode is punctuated by the bizarre fruits of his labor: crime dramas, documentaries, PSAs, all with various friends and unsuspecting teachers in the cast. "Home Movies"' supporting characters, a snotty younger sibling, a supportive love interest, and the neighborhood teen metal band, work out various personality quirks you may have watched "Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist" try to cure on that other squiggle-vision cartoon.
The dialog wanders along very naturally and is one of the charms of the show. Characters will hesitate in mid-thought, abandon what they're saying, accidentally say what they're thinking, and have the classic is-it-my-turn-to-talk battle. The fact the so little gets said successfully says a lot.
Thank God it's back on the Cartoon Network! It's avoided the curse of edgy attention-seeking, maybe a spare survival under the radar will keep it from becoming too self-conscious.
score /10
sstrader 1 October 2001
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0646635/ |
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6-1-2021 02:44:04