deamona Reviews

Tabby McTat (2023 TV Movie)

A sweet little film

[10/10 · 11 January 2024]

Watched this last night with my toddler. She normally watches Paw Patrol, Gabby's Dollhouse and similar garbage, so this cute, slow-paced tale was quite refreshing indeed.

The film is CGI but mimics the look and feel of stop motion animation. Only the perfectly smooth movement of its characters betrays its true nature. It's also very faithful to the book and we enjoyed comparing the movie sets to the original illustrations to see how similar they are. Visuals definitely are a 10/10.

The voice acting is also good. Anyone who would criticise it (or the script) clearly never read the book. Jodie Whitaker, everyone's favourite female Doctor Who, is the narrator here and she does a superb job as always. Susan Wokoma is the lovely Socks and Sope Dirisu with his gentle, sweet voice is Tabby McTat. It only makes me wish the latter two had more lines in the film since both their voices are beautiful and a perfect match for the slow pace of the story.

Bottom line: a short, sweet, slow and simple tale of a loyal cat who never forgot his old friend. If it's high octane action you crave, you will be disappointed. If you want a complex script and Shakespearean wit, you'll be disappointed. If you just want a feel-good tale with beautiful visuals, welcome home. You've found it.

Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go (2021– )

An average show review bombed by one person

[5/10 · 4 January 2024]

Mattel seems to have hit a sore spot of one bitter fanboy who then had to go and write dozens of over-the-top hateful "reviews". I want to thank them for that, as reading these tirades is funnier than this cartoon.

The show itself is no masterpiece but it sure isn't disgraceful, despicable and all the other ridiculous adjectives this person used. It's pretty much what Pony Life is to MLP Friendship is Magic. It's crazy, energetic, and offers nothing more than a bit of loud, colourful distraction. It's good enough in short bursts for young children. My 2-year-old enjoyed it. I didn't but then again, I'm not the target audience here. It's less disturbing than the original stop motion series which creeped me out as a kid, and it looks better than the hideous CGI version that looks like it came out of a PlayStation 2 game. I actually prefer the fact the characters are children in this version, it works better with the overall manic energy of it. Bottom line: it's for little children. If you're older than 5 and you can spell words like 'disgraceful' and 'abomination', this show isn't for you. Don't watch it and go away.

Bluey (2018– )

One of the best shows ever!

[10/10 · 15 December 2023]

A truly wonderful show that's made for not only kids but also their parents. The writing is incredibly well done, very smart and funny. American shows beat you over the head with the lessons they teach, which is obnoxious, but Bluey does it so right. This is "show, don't tell" at its finest. Each little lesson is easily explained and understandable just by watching the characters' actions. The show also depicts things like infertility and disabilities without turning them into a spectacle and a center of attention. It just acknowledges that they exist and that's that. If you're a parent, Bluey also offers cool ideas for games with your children and parenting tips. Bonus points if you're an Aussie and can appreciate the little references and slang expressions.

This is children's entertainment done right and it puts anything on Disney Junior to shame. In fact, it puts to shame any TV show made for young kids that came from the US.

Well, Just You Wait! (1969–2017)

Classic

[10/10 · 25 November 2023]

This show was a staple in communist/early post-communist Czechoslovakia where I grew up. It was the Easter Bloc's answer to Tom and Jerry, and holds up remarkably well even by today's standards.

The animation and character design are great, and it's truly refreshing to watch today when most kids' shows are saccharine sweet, politically correct garbage with obnoxious main characters and incompetent bumbling villains.

The Hare is your classic hero: sweet and friendly, washes regularly, has clean clothes. The Wolf is awesome, though. He has tattoos and drinks alcohol, he smokes, he's dirty and he beats people up. Even a little child can figure out which one is the good guy and which one is the bad guy. The show doesn't need to beat you over the head with moral conundrums and lame life lessons like your average Disney Junior production.

Pupstruction (2023– )

Lame

[3/10 · 25 November 2023]

My toddler likes it but the show is objectively bad. It's yet another one of those "kids drive dangerous vehicles and do the adults' jobs" shows that you've seen million times before. In this case it's a bunch of dogs who run a construction company. They can magically build anything and never have to worry about finances, materials, logistics or basic laws of physics. Your disbelief better be suspended like never before. The plot of each episode is inane as are the "humor" (dog puns and stupid slapstick) and generic life lessons that get crammed into every kids' show these days.

The visuals are cheap and every character looks and moves like it's made of jello with all that bouncing and wobbling. At least the music is not completely terrible and there's a couple of good songs in there.

Bottom line: Pupstruction is a completely pointless show that brings nothing new to the table, is not smart or creative, rips off countless similar shows that came before it, and it really just doesn't need to exist.

Firebuds (2022– )

Another soulless show from Disney Junior

[3/10 · 20 October 2023]

You've seen this many times before. A group of kids of various races? Check. A token girl who's kinda useless while the boys do all the important stuff and make major decisions? Check. Kids doing adults' jobs and driving dangerous vehicles for inexplicable reasons? Check.

These shows are dime a dozen and they all exist just to peddle toys. This thing, Paw Patrol, Dino Ranch, Pikwik Pack, Pupstruction... You've seen one, you've seen them all.

The animation is passable, though the talking cars' headlights weirdly stretch and deform when they speak and it's distracting. There are also songs which are pretty bad. But kids gobble this garbage up and that's what matters to Disney.

Blippi the Musical (2021 TV Special)

Bizarre

[4 September 2023]

The best word to describe this... thing would be 'bizarre'. It's ostensibly about Blippi trying to fix some kinda machine that "makes parties". But then there is a song about brushing teeth, a random attempt at teaching kids the alphabet ("pie starts with a P, just like a party"), except it begins and ends with one single letter. Then there's a poorly drawn and animated T-Rex who lost his roar, a repurposed song about ice cream from the Blippi show that's now about making pizza, and a farmer looking for a lost sheep who wants to see stars. Every now and then No the Mechanic comes out on stage and tries to fix the machine. Wow.

None of it makes any sense and as my toddler watched this, I just sat here with my mouth open not quite believing this is a real thing that someone made. One thing I must say is that everyone involved gives it their all. It's just like 6 people but they're very, very energetic and enthusiastic about the whole ordeal. The chick who plays Mo is especially over the top and would probably make a decent solo child entertainer since she's very cheerful and animated with a melodic voice.

Overall, it's weird as all hell. The songs are just taken from the Blippi show and not very good. The actors can't really sing which is quite a problem in a musical. But if you watch bad movies for a laugh or have to suffer through it because your kid is a Blippi fan, you could always do worse. At least it's not Cocomelon.

Gecko's Garage (2015–2017)

Tolerable but that's it

[3/10 · 17 July 2023]

I'm forced to tolerate this show since my 23-months-old is obsessed with it. It's incredibly obnoxious, the gecko's voice is droning and lifeless, and the stories are stupid. I understand I'm not the target audience for this, but if your kid forces you to watch this, you might go a bit crazy. Be warned.

There are even LGBT themes which is hilarious and makes the hateful bigots mad, and that is the only reason why I don't completely hate it. It's really random to see lesbian representation in something like this of all places, and it's pretty sad that a small, cheaply made cartoon on YouTube is more progressive than multibillion dollar corporations.