...I think it's nice and enjoyable anyway.
I like that it's well animated, so it sort of looks like in the good old days.
I was surprised when I noticed it was from 2014.
Nowadays almost every animated movie/series is 3d-animated...
5 Reviews
Would Be Perfect Except for "the Barn Gang."
LindaY5 May 2020
If you can imagine that Lassie at some point has been crossed with a cat, a mountain goat, and a monkey to explain her wonderful athletic ability in this series (she can leap from the top of a ferris wheel compartment, to the side of the superstructure, to another ferris wheel compartment, while the ferris wheel is moving or hang upside down on a horizontal bar or rapell off the sides of cliffs without ropes) this is a not-bad piece of entertainment where Lassie and her human, 10-year-old Zoe, run free on adventures with Zoe's best friend Harvey, bookworm and climbing/photography buff. (Zoe's dad is the head ranger at the Grand Mountain National Park and her mom is the park vet; Harvey's mom works in the visitor's center. They get in all sorts of predicaments in which Lassie always manages some amazing move to get them out of trouble.
Lassie interacts with humans as a dog, but "talks" to the four animals that hang out in an old barn, and thereby hangs the problem: the Barn Gang is just annoying. There's Looper, a perpetually hungry raccoon; Pika, a magpie that Lassie rescued; Houdini, a hamster that somehow is allowed to run loose and never gets eaten; and Biff, the pug who belongs to Mrs. Lee, the owner of the Happy Camper store (you'd never know it, he's never with her), who has this tremendous crush on Lassie, which is eye-rollingly bad. I guess the Barn Gang is there as humor for the youngest kids, but really, the series would be best if it was just an adventure with Lassie, Zoe and Harvey and got rid of the silly animals.
For a story originally made in 2014, it's not very multicultural. The only African-Americans you ever see regularly are Harvey and his mom, and Mrs. Lee is apparently the only Asian person ever at the park. Some good (a girl named Olive) and bad (a ringmaster's assistant) persons of color appear occasionally, but the park guests seem to be universally white. No Latinos are represented, and, for a show that looks like it takes place out in the western US or Canada, there are no Native characters. Very surprising in this day and age.
Lassie interacts with humans as a dog, but "talks" to the four animals that hang out in an old barn, and thereby hangs the problem: the Barn Gang is just annoying. There's Looper, a perpetually hungry raccoon; Pika, a magpie that Lassie rescued; Houdini, a hamster that somehow is allowed to run loose and never gets eaten; and Biff, the pug who belongs to Mrs. Lee, the owner of the Happy Camper store (you'd never know it, he's never with her), who has this tremendous crush on Lassie, which is eye-rollingly bad. I guess the Barn Gang is there as humor for the youngest kids, but really, the series would be best if it was just an adventure with Lassie, Zoe and Harvey and got rid of the silly animals.
For a story originally made in 2014, it's not very multicultural. The only African-Americans you ever see regularly are Harvey and his mom, and Mrs. Lee is apparently the only Asian person ever at the park. Some good (a girl named Olive) and bad (a ringmaster's assistant) persons of color appear occasionally, but the park guests seem to be universally white. No Latinos are represented, and, for a show that looks like it takes place out in the western US or Canada, there are no Native characters. Very surprising in this day and age.
A must watch for animation lovers
jainankit-5104312 February 2019
Okay... I guess.
lillianalexia1022 August 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Well... It's okay. I'm not sure if Lassie and Friends ended... or got canceled. But... It's really okay. I kinda like the barnyard gang... their funny. Lassie's voice is kinda pleasing... But it's sad that she can't talk to humans. I pretty much like the whole series altogether. Well.... That's my review. It's a really good series. :)
A Disservice Dog 😡
a34trgv127 March 2023
Warning: Spoilers
While I have heard of Lassie as a brand, I never actually sat down to watched any of the movies or TV shows featuring this Rough Collie. I figured this show would be a decent entry point into the franchise. Oh brother was I HORRIBLY wrong! This show was an absolute displeasure to watch after only watching the 2-parter origin episode. From the annoying characters to the abysmal voice acting, this dog's better off staying in the pound.
Developed by Jill Brett, this show attempts to reintroduce Lassie to a new generation by giving her a new origin story while still making her a loyal and brave pooch. I say attempt because in practice the first 2 episodes do a terrible job showing the origin of Lassie. First of all it jumps back and forth between present day and a few years ago, bringing the stakes 70 feet under grown and executing the tension by beheading. Second, the actual origin is very poorly paced with the episodes skipping over Lassie overcoming her anxiety through a montage and not making it an actual challenge for her owner, Zoe. This show also has no humor to speak of, not even a clever joke to get a smile out of me. Sure, it attempts to put some jokes in their, but their all very poorly set up and have obvious and unfunny executions. What makes the writing distinctively worse, though, is how easy it was to have the characters escape the smoke. From a conveniently placed rowboat to a log cabin that just so happened to be at the end of the river and an empty car "magically" being there to help Zoe and Lassie get the attention of the chopper. This is the kind of writing I kick myself for when I look back on my early works. It's poorly constructed, unfocused, not funny (not even ironically) and will age like expired milk when you look back at it.
By George Washington's poofy wig are these characters annoying as heck! These are some of the more irritating and one note characters I've seen in a hot minute. Starting with our titular pooch, Lassie is a skiddish pup that yelps constantly whenever she's frightened. I know she's a puppy with PTSD and that's the point, but it gets very annoying very quickly. As an adult dog, she's just there to fill up space and not dupe the audience into thinking she wasn't in her own show. Her owner Zoe is an annoying and stupid child than never blinking shut up and has as much common sense as a monkey bugging a gorilla. She deliberately disobeys her father, lies to him and guilt trips her first and only friend into helping Lassie conquer her PTSD of fire. When she's older, she's just a generic kid that states the obvious for the audience like they're 3! Her parents, Graham and Sarah, are one-dimensional archetypes, Havrey is the typical book worm and Lassie's animal friends do more harm than good with their mere existence. Then there's Olive, who a one-dimensional audience surrogate with an ear piercing voice that also never blinking shuts up.
That leads me to the worst aspect of the show: the voice acting is ATROCIOUS! The actors have such wooden and irritating performances and I can't help but feel sorry for them because they wanted to do a good job an a show about Lassie. Mirabelle Kirkland sounded really flat as Lassie and also I don't think Lassie needs to talk as her actions would speak much louder than words. Kaycie Chase sounded very disinterested and irritating as Zoe, which is a shame because she's normal a good actress (this was just bad direction). Maxime Jarquin was awful as Harvey when he's older, because once again the irksome creative chooce of having a grown man voicing a kid rears its ugly head. Sharon Mann and Matthew Geczy sounded flat as Sarah and Graham respectively. These actors deserve better material and frankly a better director because these performances were just abhorrent.
Not even the animation is safe from being very badly made as the rest of this show. Paris based animation studio, Superpod provided the animation for the show and given that this is my first exposure ti the studio, I'm unfortunately NOT impressed by their work. First of all, the promotional posters blooming lied to my face! I thought this would be a 2D show not unlike what you'd find in the 2000s. Nope! This is actually a 3D animated show with 2D character designs painted on. While the designs are good on their own, in 3D they look very stiff and the textures come off as very flat. The backgrounds also look really flat and nothing about this moutainous setting stands out or looks pretty. The worst part about the animation though is the lack of mass on the characters as it looks like they're moonwalking on the ground. Their website says they worked on animation for the critically acclaimed animated film Song of The Sea. I never would've guess based on their work on this show.
This show should've been put out of its misery because it's WAY too broken to even be standing! The writing is atrocious, the characters are annoying, the voice acting is terrible and the animation is absolutely lifeless. As a non-fan of Lassie, this show did an abominable job getting me interested in this franchise. As such it deserves the worst fate to bestow on a piece of entertainment: to be ignored and forgotten. Do NOT watch this animated version of Lassie! Not even out of morbid curiosity. Just watch the original film Lassie Come Home on Amazon or YouTube for the low low price of 3 bucks. I bet even the original book by Eric Knight is a far better use of your time than this animated abomination -.-
Developed by Jill Brett, this show attempts to reintroduce Lassie to a new generation by giving her a new origin story while still making her a loyal and brave pooch. I say attempt because in practice the first 2 episodes do a terrible job showing the origin of Lassie. First of all it jumps back and forth between present day and a few years ago, bringing the stakes 70 feet under grown and executing the tension by beheading. Second, the actual origin is very poorly paced with the episodes skipping over Lassie overcoming her anxiety through a montage and not making it an actual challenge for her owner, Zoe. This show also has no humor to speak of, not even a clever joke to get a smile out of me. Sure, it attempts to put some jokes in their, but their all very poorly set up and have obvious and unfunny executions. What makes the writing distinctively worse, though, is how easy it was to have the characters escape the smoke. From a conveniently placed rowboat to a log cabin that just so happened to be at the end of the river and an empty car "magically" being there to help Zoe and Lassie get the attention of the chopper. This is the kind of writing I kick myself for when I look back on my early works. It's poorly constructed, unfocused, not funny (not even ironically) and will age like expired milk when you look back at it.
By George Washington's poofy wig are these characters annoying as heck! These are some of the more irritating and one note characters I've seen in a hot minute. Starting with our titular pooch, Lassie is a skiddish pup that yelps constantly whenever she's frightened. I know she's a puppy with PTSD and that's the point, but it gets very annoying very quickly. As an adult dog, she's just there to fill up space and not dupe the audience into thinking she wasn't in her own show. Her owner Zoe is an annoying and stupid child than never blinking shut up and has as much common sense as a monkey bugging a gorilla. She deliberately disobeys her father, lies to him and guilt trips her first and only friend into helping Lassie conquer her PTSD of fire. When she's older, she's just a generic kid that states the obvious for the audience like they're 3! Her parents, Graham and Sarah, are one-dimensional archetypes, Havrey is the typical book worm and Lassie's animal friends do more harm than good with their mere existence. Then there's Olive, who a one-dimensional audience surrogate with an ear piercing voice that also never blinking shuts up.
That leads me to the worst aspect of the show: the voice acting is ATROCIOUS! The actors have such wooden and irritating performances and I can't help but feel sorry for them because they wanted to do a good job an a show about Lassie. Mirabelle Kirkland sounded really flat as Lassie and also I don't think Lassie needs to talk as her actions would speak much louder than words. Kaycie Chase sounded very disinterested and irritating as Zoe, which is a shame because she's normal a good actress (this was just bad direction). Maxime Jarquin was awful as Harvey when he's older, because once again the irksome creative chooce of having a grown man voicing a kid rears its ugly head. Sharon Mann and Matthew Geczy sounded flat as Sarah and Graham respectively. These actors deserve better material and frankly a better director because these performances were just abhorrent.
Not even the animation is safe from being very badly made as the rest of this show. Paris based animation studio, Superpod provided the animation for the show and given that this is my first exposure ti the studio, I'm unfortunately NOT impressed by their work. First of all, the promotional posters blooming lied to my face! I thought this would be a 2D show not unlike what you'd find in the 2000s. Nope! This is actually a 3D animated show with 2D character designs painted on. While the designs are good on their own, in 3D they look very stiff and the textures come off as very flat. The backgrounds also look really flat and nothing about this moutainous setting stands out or looks pretty. The worst part about the animation though is the lack of mass on the characters as it looks like they're moonwalking on the ground. Their website says they worked on animation for the critically acclaimed animated film Song of The Sea. I never would've guess based on their work on this show.
This show should've been put out of its misery because it's WAY too broken to even be standing! The writing is atrocious, the characters are annoying, the voice acting is terrible and the animation is absolutely lifeless. As a non-fan of Lassie, this show did an abominable job getting me interested in this franchise. As such it deserves the worst fate to bestow on a piece of entertainment: to be ignored and forgotten. Do NOT watch this animated version of Lassie! Not even out of morbid curiosity. Just watch the original film Lassie Come Home on Amazon or YouTube for the low low price of 3 bucks. I bet even the original book by Eric Knight is a far better use of your time than this animated abomination -.-
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