It’s been almost eight years since “Napoleon Dynamite” hit cinemas! Now the movie’s entire cast (even Tina Majorino and Diedrich Bader) and the movie’s two writers have reunited for a most disappointing animated Fox cartoon version. Writer Mike Scully, veteran of “The Simpsons” and “Parks and Recreation,” helps out.
The cartoon is nowhere near as funny as the strange, shapeless movie -- and a very different animal. The animated Napoleon applies a zit cream that makes him strong enough to push over a football field’s goalpost and bench-press a llama. The zit cream itself dissolves a hole in his schoolroom floor more capably than facehugger blood. Pedro owns beans that spell out “Napoleon Will Die” when he spills them on the floor. Napoleon beats a hasty retreat from a secret combat arena (the “Thundercone”) by chain-sawing a hole in the side of it. Napoleon is now capable of learning Japanese overnight.
... even a cartoon Napoleon is a character I don't give a toss about. ...
... To say that the TV show is a letdown would be too kind to the film, whose charm was outweighed by its shapelessness. But it’s fair to say that the series lacks the qualities — eccentricity, nostalgia, regional flavor — that made people passionate about the movie. ... The humor is in a completely different, broader style, with punch lines instead of grace notes. (It’s not that the jokes are more obvious; it’s that there are jokes.) …
Network TV has no time for satirical silence or non-sequitur scenes slowly compiled to establish tone and occasionally pass for plot. No, this "Napoleon Dynamite" is all go, go, go, racing, if nothing else, to keep pace with the host of other animated prime-time shows it joins. And forget any sense of place save Cartoonland. ... appears to be aimed squarely at a tween and early teen audience, making it a rare bird among "grown-up" animated shows. ...
The San Francisco Chronicle says:
... The writing is a big problem. It's just not funny, and that may be because audiences could see the real Jon Heder's expressionless face as he delivered the preposterous dialogue in an unwavering monotone. A two-dimensional Heder isn't as entertaining. …
... Despite the participation of the movie's creators and the voices of the original cast, tonight's vulgarized premiere removes much of what made the film special and leaves just another second-rate Fox cartoon. But the second episode is a sweeter, funnier improvement. We'll have to wait and see which represents the show's actual direction. ...
… the film's core of discomforting weirdness has been scrapped for cartoon zaniness. …
... will seem like a dream come true. Because it is. ...
... Maybe those people who saw the movie will love the series and vote for Pedro and pals yet again, but the prediction here is that the movie doesn't translate as effortlessly as its creators thought and has a short, Allen Gregory-type life on television. …
... seems less a continuation than pieced together from other Fox entries, wedding "King of the Hill's" small-town eccentricity and laconic characters with Seth MacFarlane's silliness. The mixture isn't dynamite but does have moments of quirky charm, and at least marks a step up in class from "Allen Gregory." …
8:30 & 9:30 p.m. Sunday. Fox.
