The Three Caballeros get their own TV show
Jul 10, 2018 10:41:49 GMT
Matilda, Scrooge MacDuck, and 1 more like this
Post by Hyaroo on Jul 10, 2018 10:41:49 GMT
Hi! I haven't been on for a few months... been going through some personal stuff. But I did get to binge-watch Legend of the Three Caballeros over the past couple of days, and... this is pretty good stuff. Summing up my thoughts of the show in a list:
- The show looks absolutely gorgeous... when you see it in still images. The actual animation isn't very impressive; it's pretty stiff and not all that expressive. It's very clear we're looking at ToonBoom puppets here... The style is reminiscent of The Lion Guard, but a couple of notches below that show -- The Lion Guard's animation quality's uneven but has some really great-looking scenes, which you don't really get here.
- Still, the backgrounds are beautiful. Some of them even at the "I'd put this up on my wall and call it an art piece" level of beautiful. And the use of colour is masterful, the designs are pleasant... really, if the animation hadn't been quite so stiff I wouldn't have had any complaints about the visuals.
- I've been kind of annoyed about Donald's too-small role in Ducktales. This show almost makes up for it. Here, Donald is front and centre! He's also the most strongly-characterised character on the show, and the one who really gets all the emotional development.
- Panchito gets some good moments here. He's a little ditzier, with his head more firmly in the clouds, but he has the same cheerful demeanour and flashy bravado. And, since he can't have the guns, giving him a lasso was a smart move. José is oddly sidelined here, though... he's definitely there, but he doesn't get as much individual attention as the other two caballeros. I'm sort of struggling to remember any really good moments for him in this series -- He did have some funny actions and dialogue, but usually this was almost immediately followed by Panchito stealing his thunder by saying or doing something funnier.
- I do notice that characterisations aren't the strongest here, and definitely take a backseat to the comedy. Often characters act contrary to their established traits just to make the scene funnier, or for convenience. It's especially noticable with Panchito, who swings between being a stupidly fearless who leaps into danger without looking, and an extreme coward who runs and hides together with Donald and José.
- Wow, there are many clichés in this show. Like a lot of clichés. It mostly works because thankfully the show isn't taking itself even remotely seriously. The only cliché that really falls totally flat is how Daisy for some reason can't know about the exploits of the Caballeros... um... why, exactly? Xandra waves it off with some nonsense about keeping her safe, but really... she's dragged into this no matter what. She's not going to be protected by a magical blanket of ignorance.
- In fact, Daisy is the definite low point of the show altogether. She is not handled well here. I know Daisy doesn't have the best history with characterisations, but she has been done better than this, even in Disney TV animation! Quack Pack had a great Daisy, and even House of Mouse made pretty good use of her... both those shows took great care to give her a role and personality outside "Donald's semi-abusive girlfriend," and it worked. Here, it seems she only exists to repeatedly break up with Donald.
- However... April, May and June are great. If you can't use HD&L, then AM&J are a more than adequate substitute. Traditionally I haven't found AM&J very interesting, but here they're among my favourites. I especially like how, while they mostly work as a trio, they do have individual character traits: April is the most level-headed one, May is deadpan and sarcastic, and June is sweet and cheerful. I've got a new appreciation for the girls and now I'm hoping Disney will start using them more.
- Lots of unexpected characters here. AM&J were surprising enough, but Clinton Coot? Don de Pato? Humphrey the Bear?! Okay, so he's just called "Bear Rug" or "Bear" here, but... come on, that's Humphrey! He looks, sounds and acts like Humphrey! And that's in addition to José, Panchito and the Araquan. This is a really nice showcase for some of the characters who haven't had the spotlight for a while.
- The original characters are pretty good. I was worried that Xandra would just be the classic "hypercompetent sexy woman who supposedly manages everything but in the end her role is mainly to be saved by the more bumbling, but more interesting and three-dimensional, male character." but thankfully she avoided this by having enough quirks and eccentricities in her own right to actually be fun and entertaining to watch. I liked her fangirling over the Roman gods, and how when at a high-class garden party she acted more like she was in a bar.
- The villains take a few episodes to get going, but the dynamic that develops between them is nice. Sheldgoose is definitely the strongest character, with Felldrake being more an over-the-top parody of the "dark lord." Still, I did get a kick out of Leopold calling them "Mommy and Daddy," and the two arguing who was "Mommy." Culminating in Sheldgoose's resigned "I guess I'm Mommy, then."
- Do I like this show better than Ducktales? Mmm... Well, I like it better than the original Ducktales. But I think all in all, the 2017 Ducktales wins out by having generally stronger characterisations, livelier and more expressive animation (even if this show has better use of colour and better backgrounds), and overall more thought-out scripts. However, I think this is a perfect supplement to Ducktales, especially with the disappointing lack of Donald in that show. It's broader, goofier and sillier... the sort of cartoon you just have to sit back and let take you on a wild ride without really thinking too hard about it. All in all, it's a good show that deserves a lot of recognition, and I have no idea why Disney would try to underplay it the way they have.
- The show looks absolutely gorgeous... when you see it in still images. The actual animation isn't very impressive; it's pretty stiff and not all that expressive. It's very clear we're looking at ToonBoom puppets here... The style is reminiscent of The Lion Guard, but a couple of notches below that show -- The Lion Guard's animation quality's uneven but has some really great-looking scenes, which you don't really get here.
- Still, the backgrounds are beautiful. Some of them even at the "I'd put this up on my wall and call it an art piece" level of beautiful. And the use of colour is masterful, the designs are pleasant... really, if the animation hadn't been quite so stiff I wouldn't have had any complaints about the visuals.
- I've been kind of annoyed about Donald's too-small role in Ducktales. This show almost makes up for it. Here, Donald is front and centre! He's also the most strongly-characterised character on the show, and the one who really gets all the emotional development.
- Panchito gets some good moments here. He's a little ditzier, with his head more firmly in the clouds, but he has the same cheerful demeanour and flashy bravado. And, since he can't have the guns, giving him a lasso was a smart move. José is oddly sidelined here, though... he's definitely there, but he doesn't get as much individual attention as the other two caballeros. I'm sort of struggling to remember any really good moments for him in this series -- He did have some funny actions and dialogue, but usually this was almost immediately followed by Panchito stealing his thunder by saying or doing something funnier.
- I do notice that characterisations aren't the strongest here, and definitely take a backseat to the comedy. Often characters act contrary to their established traits just to make the scene funnier, or for convenience. It's especially noticable with Panchito, who swings between being a stupidly fearless who leaps into danger without looking, and an extreme coward who runs and hides together with Donald and José.
- Wow, there are many clichés in this show. Like a lot of clichés. It mostly works because thankfully the show isn't taking itself even remotely seriously. The only cliché that really falls totally flat is how Daisy for some reason can't know about the exploits of the Caballeros... um... why, exactly? Xandra waves it off with some nonsense about keeping her safe, but really... she's dragged into this no matter what. She's not going to be protected by a magical blanket of ignorance.
- In fact, Daisy is the definite low point of the show altogether. She is not handled well here. I know Daisy doesn't have the best history with characterisations, but she has been done better than this, even in Disney TV animation! Quack Pack had a great Daisy, and even House of Mouse made pretty good use of her... both those shows took great care to give her a role and personality outside "Donald's semi-abusive girlfriend," and it worked. Here, it seems she only exists to repeatedly break up with Donald.
- However... April, May and June are great. If you can't use HD&L, then AM&J are a more than adequate substitute. Traditionally I haven't found AM&J very interesting, but here they're among my favourites. I especially like how, while they mostly work as a trio, they do have individual character traits: April is the most level-headed one, May is deadpan and sarcastic, and June is sweet and cheerful. I've got a new appreciation for the girls and now I'm hoping Disney will start using them more.
- Lots of unexpected characters here. AM&J were surprising enough, but Clinton Coot? Don de Pato? Humphrey the Bear?! Okay, so he's just called "Bear Rug" or "Bear" here, but... come on, that's Humphrey! He looks, sounds and acts like Humphrey! And that's in addition to José, Panchito and the Araquan. This is a really nice showcase for some of the characters who haven't had the spotlight for a while.
- The original characters are pretty good. I was worried that Xandra would just be the classic "hypercompetent sexy woman who supposedly manages everything but in the end her role is mainly to be saved by the more bumbling, but more interesting and three-dimensional, male character." but thankfully she avoided this by having enough quirks and eccentricities in her own right to actually be fun and entertaining to watch. I liked her fangirling over the Roman gods, and how when at a high-class garden party she acted more like she was in a bar.
- The villains take a few episodes to get going, but the dynamic that develops between them is nice. Sheldgoose is definitely the strongest character, with Felldrake being more an over-the-top parody of the "dark lord." Still, I did get a kick out of Leopold calling them "Mommy and Daddy," and the two arguing who was "Mommy." Culminating in Sheldgoose's resigned "I guess I'm Mommy, then."
- Do I like this show better than Ducktales? Mmm... Well, I like it better than the original Ducktales. But I think all in all, the 2017 Ducktales wins out by having generally stronger characterisations, livelier and more expressive animation (even if this show has better use of colour and better backgrounds), and overall more thought-out scripts. However, I think this is a perfect supplement to Ducktales, especially with the disappointing lack of Donald in that show. It's broader, goofier and sillier... the sort of cartoon you just have to sit back and let take you on a wild ride without really thinking too hard about it. All in all, it's a good show that deserves a lot of recognition, and I have no idea why Disney would try to underplay it the way they have.