The Liberator (2020)

For all these technical bumps and missed opportunities, The Liberator more often than not is an effective reminder about why pop culture keeps revisiting World War II material again and again. Even when the filmmakers don’t explore the possibilities of this particular story to the degree that they could, the action is still thrilling, the moments of sacrifice are still inspiring, and the fundamental idea of Americans abandoning their conflicts with one another in service of a more important common cause will never not feel essential.

The Liberator would not have worked if it wasn’t animated, due to its speechifying corniness. But the fine acting and arresting visual style takes the WWII drama from mundane to at least watchable.

A limited series made very watchable by the decision to use rotoscope-flavored animation, but rendered vaguely infuriating by inconsistent focus and narrative choices.

Even as “The Liberator” does its best to become a capital-d Different sort of war show, it too frequently lapses into the same beats and tropes TV’s explored before. And so the most effective moments of “The Liberator” take full advantage of the animation’s capabilities.

Like any technical gimmick, though, a movie or TV show is only as good as the writing and characters. It's there where The Liberator fails to come alive, coming across as a pale version of old black-and-white World War II movies, in a way that feels -- as is so easy to do when the emphasis is on gee-whiz technological tools -- like focusing on the wrapping and bow instead of the gift within them.