****Napoleon Dynamite airs on the local FOX affiliate which is WTTE 28 and can be found on channel 8 . For HD channel versions, check your local cable or satellite provider for more information. ****
I’m in the minotry that while I like Seth MacFarlane and his sense of humor, I don’t particularly care for Family Guy past season 3 (meaning almost everything about it since it has come back isn’t my cup of tea. But that’s a story for another day.) Most of the FOX animation Domination Sunday consists of Seth’s shows, The Cleveland Show, Family Guy andAmerican Dad. There is the Simpsons, but, there more of a duh on the FOX animation block. FOX premiered it’s newest line-up, with nothing to do with Seth MacFarlane or Matt Groening, but instead, an old indie darling, Napoleon Dynamite called, wait for it, Napoleon Dynamite.
To say I dislike the movie is something of an understatement. The film, and I’ve tried watching it more than a few times in different stages in my life since it’s release, has done nothing for me. Maybe the idea of a film with such weird quirky characters that felt like they were in a cartoon but, were not, just didn’t appeal to me. And so, the movie just never caught on with me. And after the wonderful string of comedy hits thrown at us in the past few weeks (note: That was sarcasm) I wasn’t particularly looking forward to FOX’s latest animated series Napoleon Dynamite.
There are times where I’m wrong, and I’m glad I was wrong. Now, I won’t lie, the show is, like the movie, very stupid, but I laughed more than a few times. I was actually entertained. The show follows the premise of the movie which is, Napoleon Dynamite hangs out with Pedro, Argues with Kip, occasionally sees Grandma and Uncle Rico and shows people his sweet moves. Oh, and there is Deb.
In the first two episodes, we get a lovely nod to fight club, and in episode two, my favorite between the two, is a ScanoTron or Scantronica of some sort can predict love, and matches everyone with someone they don’t think they’d like. Being that Deb was mostly absent in the pilot, episode 2 was more focused on her, and again, if you can show a lot of heart and emotion in your show, then you got me hooked. Or at least you got me for a few more episodes. So well done, writers.
Oddly enough, the animation style reminds me a lot of The Critic, which is a highly underrated animated series from the 1990’s, and like it was for The Critic the animation style fits wonderfully with the world of Napoleon. The thing that I disliked about the film, and it’s lack of being funny, seems to be, for me, the opposite of the television show, which is, the wonderful cast, (taken from the movie) the silly animated quirkiness of the characters and the weirdness that works so well in animation, just makes it work. And it makes me feel better that I’m not the only critic who feels this way.
But what do YOU think, examiners?
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