Disenchanting
Disenchantment Netflix, 2018-2019
Genre: Animated, fantasy, comedy
Created by Matt Groening
Written By: Groening, Josh Weinstein, others
Starring: Abbi Jacobson, Nat Faxon and Eric André
Fans of The Simpsons and Futurama are going to find themselves on familiar ground with Matt Groening’s new series, Disenchanted. For that matter, so are fans of animated series overall, since beginning with Shrek, there has been a surfeit of animated series that are based on a light fantasy magic kingdom motif, such as Tangled and Castle Transylvania. The similarity continues with the element that Groening utilizes some of the same voice actors from Futurama.
Fans of the other two Groening series will be delighted to learn that the same elements are here: the buggy eyes, the dysfunctional relationships, and the toss-off horrific comic relief. The artwork, while similar, is better than in the other two shows.
But it feels dated, and not just because of the pseudo-medieval theme. It’s network TV prime time animation from the 1990s. In an era of Archer and BoJack Horseman and Adult Swim, that means it has already aged before its time. This is Netflix; the series could be a whole lot edgier and ruder than it is. It’s actually pretty tame stuff. It feels like it should have been written by Bart Simpson, but was actually written by Lisa Simpson pretending to be Bart.
The central character is a sort of a grown-up Lisa: she’s lost her innocence and developed a libido and a taste for gambling and booze, but at heart she’s still Lisa, pining for her own perfect life. She has a visible personal demon who everyone thinks is a housecat and are never surprised when it speaks, and an elf named Elfo because why not Elfo, who stands to be the Dobby or Jar-Jar Binks of the series. He’s annoying and I found myself hoping King Zøg would grease him in the second episode. Zøg is perhaps the most interesting character in the show, a orange haired, vain, dim-witted buffoon of a national leader, a conceit that would have been a whole lot funnier three years ago. Voiced by the incomparable John DiMaggio (“Bender” in Futurama, and incandescent as The Scotsman in Samurai Jack), the character is gone after just four episodes.
It’s a good series. It’s worth watching. The problem is that if it had come out a generation ago, it would have been considered a great series. Now it just represents an echo of greatness.
Edited to correct DiMaggio’s first name.