The Life and Times of Juniper Lee

What's impressive about "Juniper Lee" is that her voice actor, Lara Jill Miller is excellent. The first show I've ever heard her voice was "Digimon: Digital Monsters," eventually she moved on as minor characters in Japanese Anime, but this show about an 11-year-old Asian girl is really out-of-sight! Her younger brother Ray Ray, can be a nuisance, but what surprises me the most was who knew that Lara could even sing? That one episode of when June performed at the talent show. It's impressive, creative, and enjoyable to even listen to. Through all the Japanese series that I've heard her voice through, this would be a first.

Hardly worth more than a secondary glance, this half-baked cartoon adventure suffers from a bland, inconsequential presentation, for which the only meaningful reaction subscribes to a perpetually bemused, "What was the point?"

Granted, the fact that the creators have gravitated toward such a generically inept slogan as "You can't stop the girl" should be ample warning as to the show's readily-apparent lack of sophistication. Furthermore, despite the best efforts of the production team, the leading protagonist never truly resonates with the impositions of true hero. HArdly inclined toward even a broad definition of "butt-kicking", this supposed martial arts expert, more often than not, resorts to simply bouncing her foes into submission, Super Mario Bros-style. To add insult to injury, Juniper Lee herself is far too often relegated to the role of damsel in distress, thereby awaiting the heroic deeds of her little brother or Scottish terriers in order to prevail. Frankly, the prospect of being rescued time and time again by your own baby brother or even the noble deeds of man's best friend doesn't sound particularly heroic, in my book.

Despite the comical distortions of the characters, Juniper Lee is surprisingly devoid of humor, augmenting its so-so foundation with an insufferable tendency for taking itself far too seriously. Perhaps the creators might have benefited from a more serious presentation, ala Ben 10 or Teen Titans. As it stands, Juniper displays a cognitive confusion of combining elaborately "Bugs Bunny"-like characters with nary a single joke in sight.

Right now, there are two cartoon shows that are vaguely similar to each other in their mix of Asian heroes, magic, monsters, and talking dogs: Disney's "American Dragon: Jake Long" and Cartoon Network's "The Life and Times Of Juniper Lee". For my money, "Juniper Lee" is the way to go.

One reason that I like "Juniper Lee" is that the characters are generally less annoying than the cast of "Dragon". I can't sit through an episode of that show; I can watch Juniper Lee's adventures. Another plus is the show's slightly wacky tone; you're not supposed to take most of this stuff seriously. The voice acting is really good here, and once again Lara Jill Miller impresses me (she is the title role).

When you find yourself struggling to find an entertaining kid's show, turn on "The Life and Times of Juniper Lee".

I'm currently watching this show for research, and I have to say....this show is AWFUL, and annoyed me a lot. I don't even understand how it has fans. How, you may ask? Let's delve into the rabbit hole and see how far it goes.

For starters, the pacing is pretty bad. Episode 2 is a good example of this, as it jumps from plot to plot without rhyme or reason, and raises a whole lot of questions that go unanswered. For example, where did the men who raised the mummy from the dead come from all of a sudden? Where did they get the gem that brought him back to life? Why, despite it being established that he's from ancient Egypt, is the mummy a COWBOY? How does he know about fast food? Why does the episode bring zombies into the equation if they never ACT like zombies or enemies? All of this is never explained, and it served to annoy me even further.

The character design choices are another reason this show makes me cringe. The humans are all right, but then you have the magical creatures suddenly appearing, and it immediately throws you off on how goofy they look. They look and act like they're cheap extras from Space Jam. It throws any suspense away because you simply can NOT take them seriously, no matter how dangerous the show says they are. If the show gleaned a little more from various mythologies and put more effort into the magical creature designs than 'generic Sesame Street monsters', it'd be awesome. But they're not, and you almost pity the muppets, especially when all that's beating them down is a hero who does little more than punch and kick bad guys.

The jokes...my GOD they are bad. I have not laughed once at the badly written jokes, partially because they are cliché and predictable. The first few episodes I saw tried way too hard with the self-referential humor, a perfect example of it being the Batman ref in the very first episode. It is not helped by the stock characters the show has for a cast. Juniper is the Hero, Ray Ray is the annoying sibling, Goth Chick is Gothic, blah, blah, blah. There is nothing endearing about any of them, least of all Ray Ray, who is an annoying little troll that adds nothing but shrill annoyance in any scene that he is in. As a matter of fact, characters come in two flavors in this show: Bland and boring or annoying as hell.

Juniper also suffers from Designated Protagonist syndrome - she's supposed to be a bad ass hero with magical powers, but people watching the episodes from the very beginning will be disappointed that all she does is punch and kick, with limited degrees of success despite punching through a concrete wall. In the first episode, she basically CHEATS to win her battle, by using a genie as a Deus Ex Machina. We're not watching this show to see a GENIE win, we're supposed to be cheering for JUNIPER! If you can't get this right from the first episode, what hope do you have? Also, writers, your youthful 'magical' hero shouldn't be acting like a disgruntled cop stopping some kids from jaywalking. What's with this, "Stop right there?!" nonsense? I'm sorry, but she's a very boring hero overall. There is almost nothing that makes her stand out from a typical cop, when she should be demonstrating a wide variety of powers that her lineage indicates that she should have.

I'm sorry, I'm giving this show as much of a chance as I can, but it is painful to watch. The writing is bad, the pacing is atrocious, the characters are unlikeable and can't be related with, and the jokes fall flat on its face. Stay away from this one, it's not worth your time to watch it.

My favorite part is the color palette. So beautiful and rich. I've screen grabbed several often to add to my photoshop and illustrator swatches. Several scenes in which the sky is yellow, then pink, are so masterfully combined, i am sure no one notices.

The characters are all so unique and wonderful ....their interaction with their ah ma is lovely. Reminds me of my grandmother Mama Clara. Although I am hispanic, my sister in law is Japanese and i see many commonalities in these multicultural families. Read that the author's wife is Korean.

Voice overs are wonderful. Kathie Soucie (sp?) should get an award for her work as Ray Ray. She can make him sputter, laugh, giggle, snort, shout and withhold his breath...all in one sentence. And Juniper has a lovely rasp to her voice.

Check this out its fun....better than the kid who tuns into a dragon.