Le Cuphead Show !

As of 2017, the run-and-gun game Cuphead has made quite the impact in animation, partially thanks to its tribute to the rubber hose era of American animation in the 1930s. Of course with its success comes a TV series spinoff, made for Netflix no less, along with the assistance of game creators Chad and Jared Moldenhaeur from Studio MDHR. With an announced 36 episode lineup and only 1/3 of those episodes haven released, the show has garnered fairly positive reviews, albeit with some criticism from snobbish animation enthusiasts. But as for how it works on its own, how is the show handling itself so far?

The Cuphead Show, at least as of this first season, follows the impulsive Cuphead and his cautious brother Mugman on random misadventures, including several that spawned from Cuphead owing the Devil his soul. As a fairly episodic series, the show spends a fair amount of time focusing on whatever shenanigans Cuphead and Mugman get themselves into. While sometimes feeling like filler in light of the first episode where the devil is introduced, the series does keep its main narrative intact in regards to how much trouble the devil truly is to the souls on the Inkwell Isle, if not the whole world. As for the other plots, they tend to feel standard to older cartoon tropes and TV episode formats such as a troublesome baby to a ferry boat club filled with ice cream to the cup's Elder Kettle caretaker mistaking them for believing him to be too old for his own good. Admittedly, the show is usually at its best when Cuphead and Mugman have to face the villainous Devil creeping up on them. By contrast, the brothers are fairly one note and don't offer much from your average cartoon protagonists in modern kids shows.

As for other notable aspects, the animation is well done for what the show is aiming to mimic: in this case, 1930s rubber hose cartoons. While there's a lot of rigging going on in the character movements, the work still pays off with fun motion and lavish poses, especially with the blend of stereoscopic stop-motion sets from Screen Novelties and overly colorful effects work. At times the recreation of older animation feels fairly unneeded, like the grain and old timey music, although that could be expected from paying homage by default. Perhaps most obvious with the creative animation comes from the cast, including Tru Valentino as Cuphead, Frank Todaro as Mugman, Joe Hanna as Elder Kettle, Luke Millington-Drake as the Devil and many more veteran comedians and VAs. Given the material on screen, a lot of enthusiasm is needed from the ensemble cast, and they delivered with hysterical spontaneity, even if there may be a bit too many Bronx accents here and there. Admittedly, newcomers could find more appeal in the artwork than the stories.

So while The Cuphead Show sort of has its trouble of finding its own identity in terms of narrative and character, the artwork on display, voice acting and help from its inspirations gives it just enough entertainment value for further viewings. With at least one more season expected sometime later on, there's definitely room for improvement and more down the road than meets the eye initially. I would say this is worth viewing for the time being, especially if you're a die hard fan of the original game (as overwhelming as it is). There can only be so much to expect in the future, so hold on tight for more to come.

The episodes are short and sweet, lasting around 12 minutes each, not counting the credits. It tells a stand alone story for each episode, following the two brothers and their mischievous, wacky and insane adventures, bringing in familiar faces from the original video game. It uses the effects, sounds and music from the game, while adding new tracks into the mix. They build on the characters, whom didn't even have a much of a voice cast in the game, but they do know, and it works wonderfully. The actors do an amazing job at capturing the essence and childishness of the two cups, while the devil and dice sound just as you would have imagined.

It brings over the classic cartoon art style from the game, while middling with modern humor and timing. Cuphead and Mugman have great banter, bringing with it some pretty funny and memorable moments, making you want to keep watching at the end of each episode. The animation is of course one of its greatest selling points, and it's a feat for the eyes. Looking like the game, something out of the animation from the 1930's, just modernized, paying homage to manny of the wacky set pieces and traits of that era of animation. Even if you haven't played the game, fell of it or know nothing about Cuphead, you will easily be able to follow the story and have a fun and light hearted time.

The show does a great job at taking the groundwork from the game and bringing the characters to life. Telling funny and charming short stories, about a cup, a mug and friends, which works wonderfully as yet another addition to Netflix's growing catalogue of video game adaptations!

8/10.

Cuphead is a celebrated video game, praised for being hand-drawn while said to be hard as nails. The game is so popular, we get a cartoon on Netflix called The Cuphead Show.

Basically, like the game it's based on, The Cuphead Show invokes the element of the golden age of cartoons, as after the amazing theme song, each episode opens with its own title card (designed like the old time Looney Tunes and Walt Disney ones), and the animation is basically as vintage-looking as those while still being digitally animated, as each episode shows Cuphead and his brother, Mugman, getting into various misadventures on the Inkwell Isles. Cuphead is the impatient star who decides to do stuff leading to such misadventures, despite the objections of the wise and understanding Mugman, who at the end, decides to go with it anyways, usually leading the two to danger, with villains like The Devil, boxing frogs Ribby and Croak, and King Dice, while meeting new friends like Miss Chalice.

This is actually a good cartoon. The voice acting is good, the humor is on par with the classics the game it's based on takes inspiration for. If there are a couple of things I don't like, it's the fact the final episode basically ends the season on a cliffhanger (which is basically annoying) and some of the episodes I do not like the plot of.

The devil is the best character and every episode with him in is great, but the rest of the show is nothing special and the characters are very One note.

Set in the surreal and fantastical world of the Inkwell Isles, the series follows the misadventure of two young anthropomorphic cups, the brash and impulsive Cuphead (Tru Valentino) his brother the cautious and timid but comparatively more level headed Mugman (Frank Todaro). The two cups often cause headaches for their caretaken Elder Kettle (Joe Hanna) and are often involved in run-ins with The Devil (Luke Millington-Drake) after Cuphead unwittingly ended up owing is soul to him and rand from the debt.

The Cuphead Show! Is an adaptation of the video game Cuphead by Studio MDHR. The game received praise not only for it's engaging "Bullet Hell" style gameplay, but also its impressive animation which utilized many of the animation techniques of its stylistic influences. With creative influence from Studio MDHR and featuring some impressive animation techniques that mostly successfully mirror both the game and its Golden Age animation influences, The Cuphead Show! Is an enjoyable ride through surreal comic nonsense.

The animation looks fantastic. While the show didn't use the exact same technique due to time constraints, the show still maintains the same aesthetic appeal seen in the games with some great inclusion of stop-motion animation for certain sequences interacting seamlessly with the 2D figures. The environments of the Inkwell Isles are loving crafted with familiar locales from the games showcased and expanded upon for Cuphead and Mugman's misadventures. Some scenes sometimes do break the illusion of immersion such as a party scene in the episode Root Packed where some of the party goers look static and/or floaty on the physical backdrop, but the show's ambition makes up for flubs like that.

Cuphead and Mugman are fun characters with Cuphead's more carefree irresponsible attitude counterbalanced by the more cautious and unfortunately all too aware Mugman with their dynamic creating solid comic friction as the duo encounter. The show also gives expansion on the personalities of various bosses and side-characters from the games with boxing frog brothers RIbby and Croaks, Cuphead and Mugman's parental figure Elder Kettle, the trio of freeloading vegetables The Root Pack, and hands down the best character The Devil whose portrayal by Luke Millington-Drake gives a dry affected vaguely British sounding delivery to the character whose explosive rage and frusturation at not getting Cuphead's soul reminded me of David Warner's performance in cult show Freakazoid! As The Lobe who exhibited many of the same traits.

Uncommon for this era of streaming, there's not really a "running narrative" compelling viewers to binge the series with each episode about 10 minutes long and being relatively self-contained. Aside from the first episode setting up Cuphead owing his soul to The Devil, it's not a primary focus and is more used as an excuse to create comic friction with a recurring antagonist and still allows the cartoons to function as self-contained comic set pieces. The show also features some really good music and songs, done by Ego Plum, throughout the series with a particular standout piece being the episode "Ghosts Ain't Real" with some really fun and even a little macabre that harkens back to horror themed animation shorts like Swing You Sinners or The Lonesome Ghosts. The show does "season bait" in its final episode which sees the introduction of new character Ms. Chalice, and for the most part the character's introduction is really well done with the character feeling very reminiscent in both personality and design like Betty Boop or Steamboat Willie's take on Minnie Mouse if you filtered the character with a little bit of intensity seen with Dot from Animaniacs. I wasn't terribly bothered by the ending, but given how it ends it probably could've still ended the same way and still been self-contained.

The Cuphead Show! Is a mostly faithful expansion on the world and characters of the Cuphead game and gives us some solid visually interesting misadventures that capture the surreal strangeness of the "rubber hose" animations of the 30s. With plenty of charm coming from the voice cast as well as the animation the show constantly keeps you engaged with its efficiently and effectively delivered surreal nonsense.