The latest cartoon from the Mouse House's television division, Kiff seeks to be this exciting new cartoon with lots of laughs. Watching the 6 episodes on Disney+, however, I wasn't so much as smirking because this is yet another badly made cartoon from the same company that brought us Wander Over Yonder, Kim Possible and Phineas and Ferb. From the atrocious writing to the annoying characters, this cartoon about a squirrel is an insult to squirrels everywhere.
Created by Lucy Heavens and Nic Smal, this show's premise is one I said I wouldn't affiliate myself with after sitting through 3 shows with this premise! Stop me if you've heard this one before: a happy-go-lucky girl tries to make things better but ends up making things worst. This is now my least favorite premise for a cartoon because it's an open invitation to forced conflict with terrible pacing. And surprise surprise! That's EXACTLY what happens in every episode! Kiff has a small problem, she tries to fix it, makes it worse, and doesn't learn jack, diddly or squat! Rinse, lather, repeat! 11 minutes feels like my entire day is wasted because the plots are so formulaic and eye roll worthy predictable. I can tell you the synopsis of 1 episode and you'd already know how it ends. Kiff tries to avoid telling Barry not to drink too much oragne juice out of fear of hurting his feelings. If you guessed anything other than he's totally cool about it, you're wrong and it's not even funny. Speaking of which, good turkey flavored gravey is this show not funny! It's attempt at slapstick fall flat, the wordplay is groan worthy and the subversions just come off as lame. The show also doesn't do a good job in the world building department because Table Town (the founders of this city must've thought Chairville or Night Stand City weren't generic enough) is just a hodgepodge of mindless sheep with no unique personalities. The magical elements feel tacted on as well with magic not having a great significance in this town and the ones that practice magic aren't the least bit enthusiastic about it. There are also songs that drag the pacing to a crawl and aren't catchy in the slightest. I never claim I know better than professional writers, but this is exactly what NOT to do when writing.
With an unsalvageable premise like this also comes some unlikable characters. Starting with our leading lady, Mimi, I mean, Sabrina, I mean Polly, I mean Kiff is a happy-go-lucky girl that wants to make her dull life more exciting. Unfortunately, she's a stupid, annoying, and selfish brat that makes her problems worse because she couldn't spell "responsible" if the word was glued to her face! It's one thing to be a badly written main character, but to be the 4th irresponsible main female character I had to suffer through just makes me hate her so much more. Her bunny friend, Patrick, I mean, Ed, I mean, Pinky, I mean Barry is an idiot who stick with Kiff even though she clearly uses him for her own selfish gains. If you couldn't tell, Barry's just a stupid carbon copy of much funnier imbecile characters and nothing he says is funny or memorable. None of the other characters are much better as they're all defined by their one trope. Kiff has an idiot Dad and a blank slate Mom (shocker), her teacher, Helen, hates her job (because Heaven forbid we have a cartoon teacher like Ms. Frizzle or Quetzel ever again), Principal Secretary only cares about his ego, Trevor's a narcissist, Glarbin's a selfish mayor and Roy's a sleazy executive.
The voice acting for this show is the best part about it, and that's because voice director Sam Riegel is really good at his job. Kimiko Glenn sounds absolutely chipper and lively as Kiff. H. Michael Croner does a much better job voicing Barry than JP from Craig of the Creek, because Barry's more exaggerated and has better vocal range. James Monroe Iglehart and Lauren Ash were really good as Kiff's parents, making them both sound lively and caring. Tom Kenny, as always, shines in his vocal performance, this time playing a swave and egotistical Trevor. Nic Smal actually did a good job voicing Principal Secretary, making him sound full of authority yet also calm and reasonable. Deedee Magno Hall sounded wonderful as Miss Deer Teacher, even if it's basically Pearl from Steven Universe. Lucy Heavens also did a good job making Helen sound crusty and jaded. The characters may be awful, but at least the voice actors did a really good job.
Visually, the show looks pretty good. Disney collabed with Titmouse, Inc. On this and they did good work here. The animation is very bouncy and expensive with the characters showing a wide range of emotions. The characters also have smooth walk cycles and the textures on the fur looks really good. The backgrounds are also very well detailed with Table Town being fused with the mountains and the building looking really old. My only critique with the animation is the character designs. They're a little too simplistic and awkward looking for my taste. Characters like Barry and Helen have this avacado like body while Kiff's parents are basically a square and rectangle with limps. Kiff's eyes also overlap with her mouth when she smiles and it looks rather uncanny. The animation's good, but the character designs just aren't my cup of tea.
Why does it take one squirrel to ruin everything? Because she's so darn STUPID! Kiff is the worst cartoon from Disney's television division in recent memory. It writing is atrocious, the humor is nonexistent, the characters are hatable and the character designs are too simple to be good to look at. Sure the voice acting and animation's pretty good, but it's notveven good enough to give it an extra point, nevermind recommend. Want a good show about a happy-go-lucky character that's actually responsible and does the right thing? Just watch SpongeBob! Like Coconut Fred before it, Kiff is just trying and failing to do what SpongeBob does successfully so you're better off watching that show instead of this stupid cartoon -.-
Created by Lucy Heavens and Nic Smal, this show's premise is one I said I wouldn't affiliate myself with after sitting through 3 shows with this premise! Stop me if you've heard this one before: a happy-go-lucky girl tries to make things better but ends up making things worst. This is now my least favorite premise for a cartoon because it's an open invitation to forced conflict with terrible pacing. And surprise surprise! That's EXACTLY what happens in every episode! Kiff has a small problem, she tries to fix it, makes it worse, and doesn't learn jack, diddly or squat! Rinse, lather, repeat! 11 minutes feels like my entire day is wasted because the plots are so formulaic and eye roll worthy predictable. I can tell you the synopsis of 1 episode and you'd already know how it ends. Kiff tries to avoid telling Barry not to drink too much oragne juice out of fear of hurting his feelings. If you guessed anything other than he's totally cool about it, you're wrong and it's not even funny. Speaking of which, good turkey flavored gravey is this show not funny! It's attempt at slapstick fall flat, the wordplay is groan worthy and the subversions just come off as lame. The show also doesn't do a good job in the world building department because Table Town (the founders of this city must've thought Chairville or Night Stand City weren't generic enough) is just a hodgepodge of mindless sheep with no unique personalities. The magical elements feel tacted on as well with magic not having a great significance in this town and the ones that practice magic aren't the least bit enthusiastic about it. There are also songs that drag the pacing to a crawl and aren't catchy in the slightest. I never claim I know better than professional writers, but this is exactly what NOT to do when writing.
With an unsalvageable premise like this also comes some unlikable characters. Starting with our leading lady, Mimi, I mean, Sabrina, I mean Polly, I mean Kiff is a happy-go-lucky girl that wants to make her dull life more exciting. Unfortunately, she's a stupid, annoying, and selfish brat that makes her problems worse because she couldn't spell "responsible" if the word was glued to her face! It's one thing to be a badly written main character, but to be the 4th irresponsible main female character I had to suffer through just makes me hate her so much more. Her bunny friend, Patrick, I mean, Ed, I mean, Pinky, I mean Barry is an idiot who stick with Kiff even though she clearly uses him for her own selfish gains. If you couldn't tell, Barry's just a stupid carbon copy of much funnier imbecile characters and nothing he says is funny or memorable. None of the other characters are much better as they're all defined by their one trope. Kiff has an idiot Dad and a blank slate Mom (shocker), her teacher, Helen, hates her job (because Heaven forbid we have a cartoon teacher like Ms. Frizzle or Quetzel ever again), Principal Secretary only cares about his ego, Trevor's a narcissist, Glarbin's a selfish mayor and Roy's a sleazy executive.
The voice acting for this show is the best part about it, and that's because voice director Sam Riegel is really good at his job. Kimiko Glenn sounds absolutely chipper and lively as Kiff. H. Michael Croner does a much better job voicing Barry than JP from Craig of the Creek, because Barry's more exaggerated and has better vocal range. James Monroe Iglehart and Lauren Ash were really good as Kiff's parents, making them both sound lively and caring. Tom Kenny, as always, shines in his vocal performance, this time playing a swave and egotistical Trevor. Nic Smal actually did a good job voicing Principal Secretary, making him sound full of authority yet also calm and reasonable. Deedee Magno Hall sounded wonderful as Miss Deer Teacher, even if it's basically Pearl from Steven Universe. Lucy Heavens also did a good job making Helen sound crusty and jaded. The characters may be awful, but at least the voice actors did a really good job.
Visually, the show looks pretty good. Disney collabed with Titmouse, Inc. On this and they did good work here. The animation is very bouncy and expensive with the characters showing a wide range of emotions. The characters also have smooth walk cycles and the textures on the fur looks really good. The backgrounds are also very well detailed with Table Town being fused with the mountains and the building looking really old. My only critique with the animation is the character designs. They're a little too simplistic and awkward looking for my taste. Characters like Barry and Helen have this avacado like body while Kiff's parents are basically a square and rectangle with limps. Kiff's eyes also overlap with her mouth when she smiles and it looks rather uncanny. The animation's good, but the character designs just aren't my cup of tea.
Why does it take one squirrel to ruin everything? Because she's so darn STUPID! Kiff is the worst cartoon from Disney's television division in recent memory. It writing is atrocious, the humor is nonexistent, the characters are hatable and the character designs are too simple to be good to look at. Sure the voice acting and animation's pretty good, but it's notveven good enough to give it an extra point, nevermind recommend. Want a good show about a happy-go-lucky character that's actually responsible and does the right thing? Just watch SpongeBob! Like Coconut Fred before it, Kiff is just trying and failing to do what SpongeBob does successfully so you're better off watching that show instead of this stupid cartoon -.-