Crossing Swords

:

Season 1
  • Network: HULU
  • Series Premiere Date: Jun 12, 2020
Season #: 2, 1
Metascore
47

Mixed or average reviews - based on 7 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 7
  3. Negative: 2 out of 7
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Critic Reviews

  1. Collider
    Reviewed by: Dave Trumbore
    Jun 12, 2020
    91
    As far as new, creative, original animated series go, Crossing Swords is one of the year’s best.
  2. IndieWire
    Reviewed by: Steve Greene
    Jun 12, 2020
    67
    With so much of the tonal groundwork taken care of by that first episode, each new attempt to go back to that well gets less and less shocking. ... Yet, even when those people around Patrick seem thin, it’s the voice work on the show that becomes another saving grace.
  3. RogerEbert.com
    Reviewed by: Allison Shoemaker
    Jun 12, 2020
    50
    It’s reasonably funny sometimes—a relief, that, as ‘profane’ and ‘funny’ are its only obvious goals—but hearkens back to a time when shows like “South Park” and “Family Guy” felt consistently new and fresh.
  5. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
    Reviewed by: Rob Owen
    Jun 11, 2020
    50
    “Swords” is occasionally funny but more often settles for outrageous — a Little People figure swearing and showing off his private parts! — which may work to a degree the first time, but grows tiresome and dull in repetition.
  6. The Guardian
    Reviewed by: Charles Bramesco
    Jun 10, 2020
    40
    The scripts pass pedestrian potty-mouthing off as the quippy intellect needed to get us comfortable at this low height of brow.
  7. Slant Magazine
    Reviewed by: Steven Scaife
    Jun 8, 2020
    25
    The series isn’t without moments of cleverness, but even the jokes that land mostly just emphasize how complacent the remainder of Crossing Swords is to coast on its crassness.
  8. Decider
    Reviewed by: Brett White
    Jun 24, 2020
    10
    Every character is operating on a different level of vulgarity. ... Skip it, unless you’re in 8th grade and somehow haven’t already heard these jokes before.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
5.5

Mixed or average reviews- based on 8 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 8
  3. Negative: 2 out of 8
  1. JPK
    Aug 7, 2020
    7
    It’s Decent

    Though not nearly as good as Robot Chicken, Crossing Swords is so far is off to a fairly decent start.
  2. seel82
    Jun 22, 2020
    6
    This is okay...it has times it's really funny, and other times just everything it does could be better. It's good in a 'nothing else is on'This is okay...it has times it's really funny, and other times just everything it does could be better. It's good in a 'nothing else is on' kind of way, but not something I'd actively seek out.

    Not terrible, but not great either, and not funny enough to justify the animation.    … Full Review »
  3. Davrosdaleks1
    Jun 17, 2020
    8
    In the new comedy Crossing Swords on Hulu, Patrick (voiced by Nicholas Hoult) pursues his dream of becoming a knight while dealing with hisIn the new comedy Crossing Swords on Hulu, Patrick (voiced by Nicholas Hoult) pursues his dream of becoming a knight while dealing with his criminal siblings and amoral royalty. Though not the greatest comedy ever made, this one was pretty funny.

    Considering that this is yet ANOTHER fantasy and/or medieval-themed comedy after the likes of Galavant, Disenchanted, and season 2 of Miracle Workers., this does surprisingly well and manages to mine fresh material. In fact, out of these shows it feels the least obligated to go with olden times jokes. The show kind of feels like a metaphorical toybox in which the writers play around with whatever they feel like.

    Be forewarned if this isn't you sort of thing that Crossing Swords was created by a couple guys who worked on Robot Chicken, and this show includes it's tendency toward obvious juvenile, gross-out humor not to mention some boundary-pushing sex stuff. However, the show doesn't put all its eggs in one basket and the types of jokes are pretty well-balanced.

    Being the show's one truly moral character, Patrick becomes the object of put-down humor from a lot of the cast, and this could get old for some. However, I personally never felt this had unbearable levels of toxicity. Tom Root, one of the co-creators, had previously co-created Titan Maximum, which was a major letdown because most of it was just the cast members being jerks to each other. I'm pleased to say this doesn't make the same mistakes as I never felt that they valued dumping on Patrick over the rest of the story.

    I'm also pleased to say that Patrick isn't simply there to be a one-dimensional butt-of-the-joke. He is a likable, well-rounded character. For a show with anarchic humor, it has a story as well as a decently thought-out endpoint.

    Pretty good voice cast here. Luke Evans voices the king and I couldn't even tell it was him without looking it up.

    One of the strongest points of this show is it's look: stop-motion done in the quasi-style of the Little People toys back when they were made out of wood. I particularly like the attention to detail, having the chacracters have small imperfections where the paint has peeled off or didn't completely cover. The simplified character designs makes it easier to do crowd scenes and makes the show feel populated. I appreciate the amount of effort taken with the more complicated stuff. The characters have no arms, so all objects they hold are suspended in air. That couldn't be easy.

    Overall, if you like MA humor, than this is probably up your alley.    … Full Review »
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