Sep032004
No Pride in Father (Or This Headline)
Filed Under Animation
Caught Father of the Pride. Nothing really funny about it, sad to say.
Father looks amazing. Dazzling animation doesn’t make for good jokes. The camera and animators often get in the way of the humor. One joke where an overly-cute panda takes a seat on the lead’s lap rather than a chair is shot as a close-up, making it impossible to tell what just happened, killing the gag. Sure the fur effects look fantastic, but if the show was funny, I wouldn’t be noticing how nice everything looked. I’d be laughing.
Much has been made about it being an “adult” show, with references to virgins, bestiality and the like. I could care less if kids get corrupted by the show, because jokes like “It may be 9 o’clock in New York but here it’s Mountain time” aren’t “adult,” they’re immature. Kids already make jokes like these, with only slightly less wit. You can usually determine the trailblazing shows from the followers by what they consider adult humor. Sex jokes are great, but without the social and political satire that other highly sexual shows like South Park, Seinfeld and The Office (among many) also aspire to, you look like a giggling adolescent. (To Father’s credit there’s one New Yorker reference, reflecting a well-read giggling adolescent.) Sex isn’t everything about being an adult and definitely not the only way to appeal to them.
The animation, the sex jokes and setting are just camoflague for the same old shit: bumbling husband, put-upon wife, cranky father-in-law, rebellious cubs. When you’re working in territory this well-tread, you’re not allowed to make fun of Billy Joel being bland. I can’t imagine Father of the Pride will last long. At it’s core, we’ve already seen it before several times on Nick at Nite. And done better.
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