The Fabulous Disney Babe
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(c) Disney
Not JUST for Animation Geeks - KimPossible debuts tonight!
...and it's about freakin' time (Disney Channel 6:30p, 5:30p Central). I was lucky enough to get to see a couple of episodes ahead of time, and no, Disney STILL isn't paying me. I really, really like this show. The animation is beautiful, especially for TV. (Alan Bodner, the Art Director, also worked on Iron Giant if you want a frame of reference here.) The writing, for the most part, is funny and smart (though the Ron Takes Charge ep dragged a little for me in places), and the music is great. I love the music that plays during the many battle sequences, and the synth-poppy theme song has been number one for two weeks plus on Radio Disney's call-in voting. This is from kids who haven't laid eye one on the show as of yet. It's a catchy little tune, which incorporates the doot-doot-de-doot of Kim's "Kimmunicator".
Kim had her pal Wade, whom I strongly suspect is based on a certain Doobinator-type LaughingPlace Webmaster Who Shall Not Be Named, put up a website for her, saying "I'll do anything." A high-school cheerleader, what she meant was: mowing lawns and pet-sitting. What she got was: pleas for help from all over the world. There is no "becoming" KimPossible episode yet that I know of. I'd like to see something like that after the characters are more fully explored.
Am I coming off as an Animation Geek here? Good. I AM an Animation Geek, and this show was very much made for people like me. Says co-creator and co-writer (with Mark McCorkle) Robert Schooley: "The Animation Geeks should be happy with this one." Bob, it's not that Hercules and Buzz Lightyear weren't good - but following a Feature Animation character into TV Land is never going to gain appreciation from Animation buffs, no matter how good the writing is. And a lot of people missed the joke with Buzz - it's a takeoff of the toy-driven action cartoons of the 80s. As a high-school babysitter who sat through the tortures of afternoon heck before The Disney Afternoon came about, I raise my Cosmopolitan to those two.
But this is something great: take two kick...(Doobie won't let me say that...um...what does he say? Oh. "killer".) story men and let them go crazy with their own characters and you have...