- Network: Apple TV+
- Series Premiere Date: Mar 6, 2020
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Critic Reviews
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The color, settings and lavish social detail are mainly what distinguishes this enterprise—an adventure well worth an hour’s viewing, though its resolution is a bit cryptic, as sagas that belong to a category called “Amazing Stories” are wont to be.
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If you can let yourself watch as a child again, the hour can become charming once more, even for those old enough to remember when the future Marty was going back to (“It’s your kids, Mary!”) was still to come.
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The first episode of Amazing Stories, which is all that Apple made available, is OK, but doesn't merit its A-list adjective.
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At just 52 minutes, it’s hard to argue that the first episode, “The Cellar,” doesn’t move at a brisk pace. In fact, it may simply move too fast for any of its magical or Sci-Fi elements to feel cohesive.
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That's about the best compliment one can offer about this episode: it's nice. The stakes are pretty low and it's easy enough to guess the outcome, twists and all, because you've probably seen some version of this sort of show before, and not necessarily with softly lit, tender sex scenes with a Scotsman.
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Fluffy and safe, it’s not the strongest endorsement of what the rest of the series might bring. (At the time of this writing, no additional episodes were made available to press.)
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We’re not looking for edge with Amazing Stories, but in 2020 even family-oriented shows should have more complex and less Hallmark-Channel-worthy stories than what we saw from the first episode.
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Nice, also determinedly dull.
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Given the entire story feels like it came out of a time capsule from 1987, it shouldn’t be surprising that the execution is as outdated as the material. Jessica Sharzer’s script is twee and pat, with characters that feel more like old Disney cartoons than flesh-and-blood people. Pedretti and O’Brien are solid, doing their best with underwritten roles, but their characters’ stories play out with all the excitement and passion of an after-school special about the importance of following your dreams.
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You’re waiting and waiting for some Black Mirror whiplash twist that never comes. Instead, all that you’re given is the sort of dopey, tapioca time-travel romance we’ve all seen before. ... The show doesn’t know what it wants to be yet—or even get who it’s supposed to be for.
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The trouble with this new “Amazing Stories,” though, at least in its first episode, is its lack of Spielberg sparkle. Those tuning in expecting to see the director’s light touch and clever manner of engaging our emotions will be disappointed: The show’s first installment feels less like a revival than a holdover. ... Feeling underbaked.
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As family friendly viewing, it’s fine for Amazing Stories to be simple, and for the time-travel plot not to join up. Nobody was expecting Memento. There is no excuse for it to be this overlong and underwritten.
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The fact that Apple and Amblin decided to launch the series with this slice of bland, middlebrow mediocrity hardly augurs well. In an oversaturated market, Apple TV+ has hardly set the entertainment world alight. It will need to do much better than such featherlight, forgettable fare if it’s going to give Netflix any sleepless nights.
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At the end of the day, it’s tricky to judge an entire anthology series based on a single episode, especially when the trailers hinted at more effects-heavy (and hopefully, more “amazing”) stories to come soon. But as it stands, Amazing Stories is not a good enough reason to subscribe to yet another streaming service. Where the original 80s show was bold and boundary-pushing, the first episode of the reboot feels like a safe story that pales in comparison to similar tales of romance that transcend time.