After being relegated to cereal commercials for the past couple decades, the Flintstones brand has been given new life in this spin-off focusing on Pebbles and Bamm Bamm as little cave children. Despite the admirable efforts of the series showrunners, Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs can't escape the dredded middle ground it sadly placed itself in. For every funny joke and interesting character there's another dull joke and boring character right around the corner just to even things out.
Developed by Mark Marek and Marly Halpern-Graser, Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs follows the adventures of Pebbles, Bamm Bamm and Dino as they explore the wild jungle that is the Crags. Each episode finds them discovering a different species of dinosaur and getting into shenanigans with the creature of the episode. The first problem that becomes immediately present is the fact that the writing is very formulaic. Each episode follows a very standard plotline that has been done before with much better results. The first episode, Mistaking Sides has the basic plot of 2 species of dinosaurs feuding over fruit with Pebbles and Bamm Bamm getting caught in the middle of it. I knew exactly how it would play out and how it would end, and when it played out exactly as I was thinking, I thought for sure this was going to be the show. This is not entirely true though as episodes like Rock Me, Plantasaurus and Dawn Of The Disposals have a good amount of humor to make up for their predictability. Another aspect that makes the writing a step above being bad is the exploring the land of The Crags. It's such a chaotic and fun jungle with a wide variety of dinosaurs that each episode takes the time to study. If there was more world building and stronger humor, I'd forgive the basic writing. As it is though, it's just very basic at best.
The main characters are interesting enough to keep me invested though everyone else leaves a lot to be desired. Starting with Pebbles, she's a curious, smart and resourceful child who gets really giddy when she discovers something new. Bamm Bamm is more slow to the punch and prefers bron over brain. And Dino is just as lovable and funny as always and makes for a great steed for Pebbles and Bamm Bamm. Their parents only appear in a select few episodes and aren't nearly given enough time to be as interesting or as funny as their children. Fred and Barney fill in the roles as the typical Dads, though thankfully Barney remains the aloof one, while Wilma and Betty just fill in the roles of Moms and housewives. Wicky is an information spouting bird (though her musical number in Dino Holds Barred was funny), Soprana is really loud when she sings, Shaley and Moonrock only appeared in Dawn of the Disposals and weren't given much personality and Beatrice Basalt is the standard popular girl with a valley girl accent. I will say this though, Linda from Gonna Fly Now, the garbage disposal zombies, and the alien from Alien vs. Pebbles did make for very effective antagonists so not all of the supporting players are dull.
The voice acting from all the veteran voice actors is really good. Jessica DiCicco really shines as Pebbles, making her sound like a smart girl would loves to discover new things. Jeff Bergman and Kevin Michael Richardson were really good as Fred and Barney respectively as were Tress MacNeille and Grey DeLisle as Wilma and Betty. Eric Bauza was fantastic as Dino, perfectly capturing the dog -like nature of the character and bringing out some of the best laughs. If another Flintstones project were to be made, I would want these voices for the characters. That is except for Ely Henry as Bamm Bamm. This is yet another example of a little boy being voiced by a full grown man and it never sounds convincing or even entertaining. Henry makes Bamm Bamm sound more like he's a young man and not a child. Unlike most other examples of this irksome creative choice though, I don't think Bamm Bamm should've be voiced by an actual child. Rather, I think Kath Soucie should've voiced him as she's no stranger to voicing young boys (i.e. Phil DeVille from Rugrats or Ray Ray Lee from The Life and Times of Juniper Lee). Kath Soucie's even in the show voicing Linda so I really see no reason why she couldn't voice Bamm Bamm.
Visually the show looks pretty good though a bit jarring at first glance. The character designs are much more jagged and eyes come in varying types such as Barney having pure white eyes or Pebbles and Bamm Bamm having no pupils. That said though, it manages to avoid the uncanny valley that Summer Camp Island jumped headfirst into by giving the characters unique facial expressions, utilizing squash and stretch and stylizing them with unique cavemen attire. I especially love the varying designs of the dinosaurs and how they're all distinct from other cartoon dinosaurs. The character animation is limited much like the original show from the 60s thus adding to the show's charm. The backgrounds are very well detailed and lively and the color palette is very vibrant and welcoming.
It's not often I find myself smack dab in the middle when it comes to how I feel about something. On one hand this show has some good jokes here and there solid animation, really good voice acting from the veterans, and engaging main characters. On the flip side of that though, Ely Henry was very much miss cast as Bamm, the writing is very formulaic and almost none of the supporting cast is interesting. While it was an admirable effort to revive the Flintstones brand, this still isn't going to get a strong recommendation from me. You're free to check it out for yourself, but honestly you'll get a lot more substance by just watching the original 60s show.
