Nov 20, 2020

"Animaniacs" Reboot Review Summary: Critics More Impressed by visuals than humor

The 1990s nostalgia bandwagon trundles on. Twenty-two years (almost to the day) since the show ended its original run, Animaniacs mark two has debuted on Hulu. The reboot has received a two-season, 26-episode order from the streamer; the first 13 episodes are available to watch now and the second batch will premiere next year.

Some aspects of the new production are familiar, some new. The core voice cast has returned: Rob Paulsen, Jess Harnell, Tress MacNeille, and Maurice LaMarche are voicing Yakko (and Pinky), Wakko, Dot, and the Brain respectively. The earlier series' broader array of characters, however, are gone.

So are most of the original writers and indeed the show's creator Tom Ruegger, who was not invited to take part in the production (to his chagrin). The new showrunners are veteran Family Guy producer Wellesley Wild and Gabe Swarr (El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera, The Penguins of Madagascar), who is leading the artistic side of the show.

In terms of design, the reboot is pretty faithful to the Animaniacs of the nineties. The crew recently spoke at length about the visual development at the Ottawa Int'l Animation Festival, noting that they drew inspiration particularly from the old episodes animated by Japan's TMS Entertainment Co. Read our report on the talk here.

Animaniacs originally launched on Fox Kids in 1993, eventually moving to the now-defunct The WB, where it ended in 1998. A direct-to-video movie, Wakko's Wish, followed in 1999. The series was produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment in association with Warner Bros. Animation.

Spielberg returns as executive producer of the new series. Sam Register, president of Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Digital Series, and Amblin Television co-presidents Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank are also serving as executive producers.

Reviews of the reboot so far range from mixed to negative, with critics generally disappointed by the writing and especially the humor, while praising the visuals. Here's what they're saying:

In Variety, Caroline Framke writes that she found the series a little too aggressively self-aware:

Daniel Fienberg praises the animation in The Hollywood Reporter, but adds that the sketches often feel loose and overly long:

Alan Sepinwall laments the show's ineffective satire in Rolling Stone:

While agreeing that the satire feels scattershot, The A.V. Club's Danette Chavez finds things to enjoy: