Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City

Strawberry Shortcake has always been such a sweet character that could appeal to boys and girls of all ages. This recent incarnation of the girl so sweet like her name, however, seems to be in too much of a hurry to appeal to anyone. From the over the speed limit pacing to the underdeveloped characters, this show left a rather bitter taste in my mouth.

Developed by Michael Vogal, this show follows the titular Strawberry Shortcake as she makes baked goods in a food truck in Big Apple City. While it starts off decent enough with a solid theme song, it's most egregious problem becomes evident from the word go. The shows pacing is horrendous with each episode dashing through their respective plots to reach that 9 minute runtime. One minute Strawberry Shortcake arrives at her Aunt Praline's and the next she's fixing up her food truck with her friends. Speaking of, her encounters with them happen far too quickly as there was little time given to show her getting to know them before they all became besties. The conflict of each episode feels so forced and the lessons are unearned because this show refuses to slow down and give the characters time to breath. The humor in this show is also practical not existant with predictable subversions, annoying gags, and lackluster word play. I especially hated it whenever Strawberry tried explaining a pun. Here's some advice: tell a joke and then shut up! If the audience laughs, let them laugh; if not, oh well, they can't all be winners. Really what makes me hate how this show is written more is the fact that little time is given to the world building. For a city called Big Apple City, we sure spend a lot of time NOT exploring the city. Where's the park? Where's the other cool hangout spots? Where the beach? Where's the view? More importantly, where are the actual people? All I've seen so far of this city is a bunch of mindless sheep with not unique personalities or opinions of their own. Take my advice as an amateur writer: slow the fridge down! The audience isn't going anywhere. Take your time when telling the story.

The characters could have been really fun and entertaining...if this show's atrocious pacing actually gave them time to do so. The characters are so underdeveloped that it's practically impossible to care about them. Strawberry Shortcake is the new girl in the big city learning to fit in. There are glimpses of her being bubbly and kind, but for the most part she's just generic new girl who's not used to the hustle and bustle of the big city. Lemon Meringue is the inventor, Orange Blossom's the snarky girl, Blueberry Muffin's the zen girl, Lime Chiffon is the nerdy girl and Raspberry Tart and Bread Pudding are just the stereotypical bullies with Sour Grapes being an emotionless emo. The girl's pets have some quirks, but because they don't talk its hard to really care about them. The best character is Aunt Praline, who's so energetic and smart. It's just too bad she's not the protagonist.

The voice acting's actually not to shabby Adrienne Lindsay givinv solid voice direction. Ana Sandi does a great job making Strawberry sound bubbly and sweet (kinda reminds me of Tara Strong) and she did a really good job making Aunt Praline and Custard sound distinct. Diana Kaarina was wonderful as Blueberry Muffin, making her sound quirky but also very calm. Margarita Valderrama was really good as Lime Chiffon, making her sound very smart and punctual. Bahia Watson sounded great as Orange Blossom, making her sound very snarky and friendly. Andrea Libman was really good as Lemon Meringue, making her sound like a natural tomboy. Tabitha St. Germain was really good as Raspberry Tart, making her sound really nasty and sneaky. Vincent Tong did a really good job as Bread Pudding, making him sound really smug while also making Huckleberry Pie sound really friendly. The characters may be flat but the actors did a really good job with the material they were given.

Visually, this show looks really good with animation provided by WildBrain. They gave the character designs a unique yet welcoming redesign with the characters having round heads, big expressive eyes, and fitting modern attire. The character animation feels bouncy and exaggerated with characters having a wide variety of different facial expressions, naturally flowing hair and unique walk/run cycles. The backgrounds are also really vibrant with lots of bright colors and stark contasts. I especially like the way the make the food as it all looks so sweet and appetizing.

This show also has some musical number and surprisingly they're pretty good. They have catcy beats, well written lyrics and the actresses have really good singing chops. No Ordinary Berry is such a bubbly and happy song about Strawberry exploring the city (gee, that would've nice to see in episode 1 as opposed to episode 3). Get Spooky makes for a really good Halloween anthem with it's chilling atmosphere and lyrics about dressing up. Be Your Berry Best is a really catchy song about finding what look works vest for you. And Bet Back Up is a really up beat song about never giving up and getting back up aftering falling down. Special thanks to Daniel Ingram and Trevor Hoffman for making these songs so upbeat and catcy.

This show should definitely get a ticket for speeding. Strawberry Shortcake: Berry In The Big City is yet another disappointing reboot of a classic children's merchandise franchise with horrible pacing issues (just like Polly Pocket before it). The animation, voice acting and songs were good, but not good enough to save the show from going so fast it crashed into a guard rail. Best to not even board this wild racecar of a cartoon and stick with the more evenly paced 2000s show.

If you ever watched Tom and Jerry or the roadrunner and the Wiley Coyote you can see there's a lot of classic cartoon antics and over expressions that are just pure cartoon! Unlike the duo dynamic of many old cartoons, this features a group of friends and even the villains can become friends. It's super upbeat without toxic positivity. My favorite change in this rendition of strawberry shortcake is the pets they take a more starring role and are cuter than ever. I love the overdramatic bold loud storytelling. A really solid short form cartoon for children. Kind of wish they might have a longer episode and go into deeper lore about berry works and the her lucky spoon.

Got nostalgic and looked up the show but bruh this ain't it bring back the one from the mid 2000's lmao.

I've been watching this series because Strawberry Shortcake was something I was into when I was younger, and it's definitely something I would've enjoyed if it had been around back then.

Where the show shines is in its cast of main characters, its humor, and in the unique and important lessons it teaches, which usually manage to be a bit outside the scope of what you'd expect to see. For a kid's show, I think it's impressive when its resolutions are ones that I tend not to see coming.

With that said, the show flounders just a bit when it comes to worldbuilding -- which may seem petty when I'm talking about a kids' property like this. The main, recurring cast of characters are all distinct, funny, and likable, but the big-city and background characters all feel just a bit too ordinary. Supposedly, this all takes place in a world where everyone is themed after a type of desert or something, but you wouldn't glean that just by looking at the background characters. It's usually only their names that fit the theming, which makes the names feel out of place.

It might not be something a lot of kids would take issue with, and that's all fine and good. I just think that a little more effort could be put into the worldbuilding and character design, is all. But other than that, the show's pretty great.

Firstly, instead of cartoons like Popeye, which inspire kids to eat spinach, here's a cartoon which overwhelms kids with sugary characters. Names. Puns and literally everything.

Secondly, plot is pretty dumb even for little kids. I have no idea why would anyone want to watch this, except for the protagonist which is a fun and sweet character.

Why is this show even on air? There's no audience for which this show is apt, no age group would feel enticed by this show and even if they would, this would still be a show about desserts with brainless plot even for a kids' show. Although, one more thing that it's got going for it is that the runtime is less, so at least that's good.