Une famille maudite!

DreamWorks, a production company known for its iconic animated franchises like Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar, and The Prince of Egypt, has released a new series called Curses!, which premieres on Apple TV+ today. The ten-episode first season follows siblings Pandora and Russ, along with their mother Sky, as they work together to stop a decade-old curse that haunts their family. The show is executive-produced by John Krasinski, a well-known comedian, actor, and director. The cast includes Lyric Lewis as Sky Vanderhoven, Andre Robinson as Russ, Gabrielle Nevaeh as Pandora, Rhys Darby, James Marsters, Robert Englund, Reid Scott, and legendary Rhea Perlman. Curse! Begins with a flashback to the family's history, beginning with the actions of their Great Great Great Grandfather Cornelius. Cornelius takes a treasure he wasn't supposed to, causing a curse that impacts every generation from his point on. Russ and Pandora, unaware of the curse, stumble upon the problem and their lives are forever changed. The curse takes the form of their stone father, Alex, who has been turned to stone as if he stared at Medusa for too long and paid the price. Curses! Is a heartwarming and scare-filled animated series that will appeal to both children and adults. Curses! Is a children's series that follows the Vanderhoven family as they attempt to stop a curse that has turned them into stone and restore their father to life. The series follows the Vanderhovens, their mother, and mystical helpers Stanley (Darby) and Larry (Marsters), who use the skull of a long-dead pirate to help them solve the problem. The series uses a formula similar to many children's series, with each episode focusing on a new problem the family must solve to move closer to solving the overarching issue. Unlike many children's series, Curses! Uses the formula to its advantage, creating an engaging story that keeps viewers engaged regardless of the packaging. The characters are interesting, especially non-human ones, giving the series a mix of Legend of the Hidden Temple and Indiana Jones vibes. The series is aimed at a younger audience, making it easily accessible to children. However, as an adult, the series did not feel tired and the characters were engaging. The creators of Curses! Have another hit on their hands, and the show is definitely working as they continue to explore the lore and legends behind the artifacts.

So "adventure archaeology" has been a stapple of popular culture for decades. Usually it focuses on obtaining artifacts, unfortunately ignoring the realities of colonialism and its unlawful theft of culturally important items.

So what if there was a show inversing that, restoring what has been lost to its rightful owners?

A show like that, with nice cel-shaded CGI animation, emotionally mature writting, extensive research into various cultures and mythologies and with mix-race family representation?

Yeah, all of that. This first season has been a blast, and I cannot wait for the promised season 2.

A lot of reviewers, including parents ranked this a 10....greatest animation ever, and not scary for kids. I found some of these episodes and artifacts, extremely scary and surprised about these comments. I found that the family and the fellow creatures they encounter, to be very blasé about the artifacts surrounding them. The episode of the puppet from India that takes over the body of the son, was very disturbing, yet the entire family travels to India with their son trapped by this puppet not upsetting at all. It took me several episodes to get used to Larry, the rolling pirate skull and the goofy wood thing with the antlers.

It also took a while to get used to the kids with their gigantic eyeballs, and their smarty-pants attitudes, but halfway through the first season, I got used to them.

Love the rough/sketchiness of the cartoon. Love the animation of the rolling skull and the wood creature. They walk and move like Lego creatures, which are my favorite cartoons to watch (especially lego Batman and Lego Scooby doo).

I knew this would happen before I even watched it, but the episode with the Cowboys and their horses in New Mexico bugs me as a NM artist. What is about cartoonist, animators, illustrators, and script writers, that they always have to add saguaros (cactus that has arms and looks like a person) to anything with a western theme? Saguaros only grow in the Sonoran desert, which is located in AZ and Northern Mexico. They can't grow where there is snow and New Mexico's higher altitude with the Chihuahuan desert and Rocky mtns., receives snow all the time. It bugs me because there's an episode about Australia and its plant life, which looks authentic...Why can't they do the research in their own US?

I thought the story built up pretty well, the episodes connecting very well and the overall look pretty cool. The younger kids, seven and five seem to really like it and it wasn't too scary for them. I found some moments, pretty creepy myself, but it didn't seem to bother the little ones. I thought it looked good and sounded good. Good casting for voices, with some notable star voices. Looking forward to another season of this.

This show is the holy grail of family TV shows- kid appropriate but well written enough to keep the parents entertained. The comic book inspired art style is beautiful, the characters are well developed and not one note, and they fit a lot of adventure into a 23 minute episode. It's sort of a kid-centric Indiana Jones reminiscent adventure story or a more grown-up Wild Thornberries. It's got enough teenager to keep the school-aged kids engaged, and the adventure is fun but mild enough that younger kids can watch with their older siblings without getting scared. Can't wait for Apple TV to put out season 3!