Superheroes were still hot when this was made. As I write my review having just seen it in 2023, superheroes are starting their collapse (mostly because studios stopped making good ones). But you know what we really haven't had? A truly great superhero parody.
I think part of the reason is because alot of superhero content doesn't take itself seriously to begin with. So most of the parodies just play like slightly less serious superhero movies. Were Guardians of the Galaxy parodies? Was Kick Ass? The Boys? They're certainly funny superhero shows, but are they parodies?
I'd argue the best parody of superheroes was The Tick, which came way too early to be part of this craze. I spread of the classic cartoon of course not the mediocre live action versions.
The Awesomes seems to be trying to be that...but fails. It fails because it's just not funny. If you're going full-parody and you can't even be as funny as superhero fare that takes itself far more seriously, then you have failed at parody. And this does.
Honestly, any further critique almost feels unnecessary. The plot doesn't matter, it's a parody. The voice acting is bland...and if the lines/gags were funny, that would matter...but they aren't...so it doesn't.
One piece of advice - when doing parody in cartoons, make your animation are MORE grounded. This sort of hypersimplistic art is good enough for South Park or The Simpsons as those are just sitcoms. There's no real need for quality art.
But for a parody like this, I feel like you really need to make the audience feel like they're watching something more serious in order to set them up for when you subvert expectations.
Like Archer. The series Archer is a parody of the spy thriller genre, and it's brilliant (until the dream seasons start anyway). One reason is better writing and acting than The Awesomes has, but also, the very 'action hero' art style almost makes you feel like the show is seriously trying to be serious. Which makes the jokes land harder.
Even The Tick itself is somewhat more real in it's art style. Though still more cartoony than Archer, The Tick has people that look a bit more like people and less like ... Charlie Brown.
But that would only matter if the writing were better. Which it's not. I'm generously giving 5 stars. I'm not sure it deserves that. But I appreciate the effort.
I think part of the reason is because alot of superhero content doesn't take itself seriously to begin with. So most of the parodies just play like slightly less serious superhero movies. Were Guardians of the Galaxy parodies? Was Kick Ass? The Boys? They're certainly funny superhero shows, but are they parodies?
I'd argue the best parody of superheroes was The Tick, which came way too early to be part of this craze. I spread of the classic cartoon of course not the mediocre live action versions.
The Awesomes seems to be trying to be that...but fails. It fails because it's just not funny. If you're going full-parody and you can't even be as funny as superhero fare that takes itself far more seriously, then you have failed at parody. And this does.
Honestly, any further critique almost feels unnecessary. The plot doesn't matter, it's a parody. The voice acting is bland...and if the lines/gags were funny, that would matter...but they aren't...so it doesn't.
One piece of advice - when doing parody in cartoons, make your animation are MORE grounded. This sort of hypersimplistic art is good enough for South Park or The Simpsons as those are just sitcoms. There's no real need for quality art.
But for a parody like this, I feel like you really need to make the audience feel like they're watching something more serious in order to set them up for when you subvert expectations.
Like Archer. The series Archer is a parody of the spy thriller genre, and it's brilliant (until the dream seasons start anyway). One reason is better writing and acting than The Awesomes has, but also, the very 'action hero' art style almost makes you feel like the show is seriously trying to be serious. Which makes the jokes land harder.
Even The Tick itself is somewhat more real in it's art style. Though still more cartoony than Archer, The Tick has people that look a bit more like people and less like ... Charlie Brown.
But that would only matter if the writing were better. Which it's not. I'm generously giving 5 stars. I'm not sure it deserves that. But I appreciate the effort.