Disenchantment

The episodes work better when they focus on action and spectacle (like a slasher movie climax inside the gingerbread house from the story of Hansel and Gretel) than when they’re going directly for big laughs.

There are an array of interesting stories happening in Disenchantment, none of which the show gives quite enough time to.

While early installments are too committed to wheel-spinning setup, sparky humor and rapport develops later in the season. [7 Sep 2018, p.109]

Disenchantment raises questions about feminism and history-bending gender roles that it's barely prepared to engage with. Then again, it's only been seven episodes, and perhaps all of the undercooked elements will coalesce into another Groening favorite as opposed to the light corset-and-pantaloon-festooned amusement it is thus far.

In the last three episodes, Disenchantment embraces its story in a way that makes for easy viewing--there’s still nothing revolutionary here, and much of the comedy is still too stagnant, but it’s a far more effective fairy tale.

The first two episodes of “Disenchantment” are more amusing than funny with entertaining enough puns and parodies of modern-day brands in the names of shops in the Kingdom of Dreamland.

Disenchantment just feels full of potential that it hasn’t yet figured out. That’s maybe because it stays very much in safe territory.

Disenchantment is pretty to look at--the background illustrations are often lovely--but it’s not very funny. The producers have said the show is filled with a budding mythology and lots of Easter eggs for the fan base it hopes to build, so if you’re into that kind of detail-oriented viewing, this may be a show for you.

What Disenchantment should have done is taken advantage of being on Netflix and gone for a more serialized story, which would help it distinguish itself from Futurama and also help bring it into this century of binge TV.

Disenchanted doesn’t seem interested in wrestling with tropes or, for that matter, anything too deep. It’s more focused on finding easy comedy in the pockets of the universe it’s invented, which, to the credit of Rough Draft, the animation studio that brings the show to life, has an impressive, cinematic quality that outshines previous Groening projects. It’s just a shame that it doesn’t match that ambition in other areas.

The missing pieces, arguably the most important ones, are the groundbreaking and socially relevant ones. That proficient and fluid animation aside, Disenchantment breaks no ground, offers nothing socially current other than the fact that Bean's a strong, independent woman.

It's a by-the-numbers affair -- the equivalent of a joke that begins "A princess, an elf and a demon walk into a bar...."

It’s somewhat entertaining, but you may feel as though you’ve seen it all done before, and better.

Alas, though the heart of Disenchantment is in the right place, its episodes feel overly long and thin on pep. ... On the flipside, although Disenchantment is slower than “The Simpsons,” it’s also a lot darker than Groening’s other series in a very good way.

Wielding a satiric sword badly in need of sharpening, Disenchantment meanders along a medieval middle ground, often fun but rarely funny.

By plotting a serialized narrative within Dreamland's unique landscape, Disenchantment only slightly tweaks the hermetic formula of Groening's other shows. Yet with Bean, a hilariously restive, subversive, and ambitious protagonist, the series has the potential to transcend its stock roots.

Disenchantment feels half-formed, a bit plastic. The vibe is like one of the wilder “Treehouse of Horror” segments, the kind where the big joke is how many grotesque ways Simpsons characters can die.

Alas, Disenchantment more than lives down to its puckish title with a flimsy premise, underwhelming characters and relentlessly labored humor. [20 Aug - 2 Sep 2018, p.10]