Note: this is a spoiler-free review of Animaniacs Season 1, which premieres on Hulu on Friday, November 20. Hulu made five of the initial 13 episodes available to critics ahead of release. Because the series doesn’t have much in the way of an ongoing plot or continuity, we figured it’s safe to render judgment on the new series based on those episodes.
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At this point, it’s easier to count the number of classic animated series that haven’t been revived and/or rebooted in the streaming era. The return of Animaniacs was basically inevitable, though the fact that the Warner brothers and sister are making their return on the Disney-owned Hulu rather than WarnerMedia’s own HBO Max is a testament to just how convoluted the streaming wars have become. But all you really need to know is this: Hulu’s revival series brings back original producer Steven Spielberg, songwriter Randy Rogel and most of the classic voice cast. If you loved Animaniacs back in the ’90s, the new series is basically a nostalgic time machine. If not, you’ll likely still have a good time.
Unlike the upcoming Tiny Toons Looniversity, Animaniacs is a direct continuation of the original series. Not that this necessarily means much when serialized storytelling was never the show’s thing, but it does ensure that little about the look or tone of Animaniacs has changed over the course of 22 years. The character designs and animation have become ever so slightly more exaggerated, but the voices and the show’s satirical sense of humor have remained the same.
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If anything, the series premiere plays that fact to its advantage as it reintroduces the Warner siblings. What exactly they’ve been up to all this time is never really addressed, but the premiere does revolve heavily around the trio getting acquainted with the bizarre landscape of 2018 (the characters break the fourth wall to remind us that was when the scripts were being written). The original series was never shy about lampooning contemporary pop culture and political figures, and the revival is much the same. The series even opens with a pitch-perfect parody of the original Jurassic Park, complete with Sam Neill as Alan Grant. But from there, it’s pretty much business as usual – the Warners escape their tower and wreak havoc, rinse and repeat.
Despite the long production lead time, most of the show’s satire manages to hit the mark. The writers tend to devote most of their attention to our vapid, social media-obsessed culture, and that really hasn’t changed in the last decade or so. Some of the gags even feel eerily prescient. There’s an entire segment that seems like a coordinated attack on Quibi, despite that ill-fated streamer only having existed for about 17 minutes in 2020.
That said, there are some jokes (mostly of the political variety) that feel immediately dated upon arrival. Perhaps all the Russian election interference humor seemed topical back in 2018 when the writers were doom-scrolling Twitter for Mueller Report updates, but that material feels passé in post-election 2020. One particularly Russia-heavy segment probably would have been played out even in 1993, with the way it relies on so many stale Cold War stereotypes. The series is at its best when it finds the balance between topical humor and timeless shenanigans. Thankfully, most of the segments manage to toe that line.
While the show sounds as good as it ever did thanks to the return of voice actors Rob Paulsen, Jess Harnell, and Tress MacNeille, it looks quite a bit better. Again, the series has hardly reinvented its faux-retro WB animation style, and the switch to digital technology allows the animators to be bolder and more ambitious. There are plenty of catchy, visually enticing musical numbers. And occasionally the show will venture far afield, such as dropping a bombastic anime parody on viewers with no warning. The fact that all of this is achieved largely through the use of hand-drawn animation makes it all the more impressive. If you’re tired of sterile, CG-heavy cartoons, Animaniacs may well be a breath of fresh air.
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Fans will be happy to know Pinky and the Brain have also returned for the revival, and still voiced by Paulsen and Maurice LaMarche, respectively. These two have changed even less with time, though the first Pinky and the Brain segment does do a more satisfying job of exploring what exactly Brain has been up to these last two decades. These segments succeed in offering a comedic palate cleanser and a fun showcase for a maniacal genius and his “maybe not as dumb as he looks” BFF. Interestingly, there’s even a hint of an ongoing storyline here, which would be another welcome way of differentiating Pinky and the Brain from the standard Animaniacs adventures.
For better or worse, none of the original show’s other supporting characters seem to have made the jump, at least based on the sampling of episodes Hulu provided. There’s no Slappy Squirrel, Goodfeathers, or Rita and Runt here. The revamped intro teases a new cast of second-stringers who have been “focus-tested” for 2020, but there’s little sign of those newbies so far. Four of these five episodes follow a strict 1st Animaniacs segment/Pinky and the Brain segment/2nd Animaniacs segment formula, with only one introducing anything new.
But to be frank, that’s probably for the best. As great as the original Animaniacs was about experimenting and pushing against the confines of traditional slapstick WB cartoons, none of those extraneous segments ever connected as deeply as the Animaniacs/Pinky and the Brain tag-team combo. Doubling down on the big two ensures the revival sheds a lot of the tedious fluff of the original.
Animaniacs is, ultimately, a series that knows its audience and caters directly to that nostalgia for the hallowed days of Fox Kids and Kids’ WB. The original Animaniacs was a PG-13 series disguised as a PG series, and the revival seems even more directly targeted towards adults who want to see the Warners make a mockery of 21st Century life. That may limit the revival’s appeal somewhat, but if you fall within that target audience, it’s unlikely you’ll come away disappointed.
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