Over the Garden Wall - Avventura nella foresta dei misteri

As I was watching Over the Garden Wall with some friends, I found myself commenting, more than once, how charming this would be/is for kids. It's got anthropomorphic creations (birds and horses and other things that talk, pumpkin-headed farmers, frogs in a band on a river-bank, magical and funny and weird dreams, or a dream, from a child), and yet it has a sophistication to the writing that kids appreciate; one might think that they will only take in the lowest-common denominator - put on whatever, it's fine, it's for kids - but this is smart stuff. This is also really great for adults, the ones at least who can tap a little into their childhood sense of awe, because of the humor and irreverence. Over the Garden Wall is like taking Adventure Time, transferring the other-worldly into early 20th century Americana, folk tales, even some Alice in Wonderland (the structure for me is very Wonderland, especially with a young character getting lost and on a series of episodes), and adding some songs as well that are reflective of the period.

The story follows Wirt and Gregory (Elijah Wood and the young Collin Dean, who has been on Adventure Time a couple of times), brothers who seem to be lost in the woods and are trying to find their way home. Their main adversary appears to be 'The Beast', who is being stalked by the Woodsman (Christopher Lloyd in a wonderful part - you can't always tell if he's good or bad or both). As one can imagine, or hope for, a lot of wild and crazy things happen to these young people, such as the pumpkin farmers (what are they digging for in the farm?), the frogs on the boat (and suddenly there may be some singing from Gregory's frog, who's name always changes), and John Cleese as both the possibly deranged landowner of a spooky mansion and an old woman. Even Tim Curry gets a good character as 'Auntie Whispers', who is 'protecting' her niece, a possessed girl.

The creators of 'Garden Wall' suffuse many scenes with some nightmarish moments, but it's all with a light, absurd touch, and a lot of this is helped immensely by Collin Dean's performance and the writing for the character of Gregory. This is a little kid who has zero filter; he'll say the truth of something no matter what, even if it's a moment (especially if it is) when the smart thing would be to lie or shut up. That's where so much humor comes in - also watch and listen how he sings ever so cheerfully at times - since in many scenes Wert is trying to get by on a fib or a lie or a trick, or doesn't have that sense of boundless optimism. It's one of the most charming acting voices for an animated character in as long as I can remember, and accentuated by the gigantic pupils - made to make him look cute as a button - and head-gear (he's an elephant, after all!)

There's a real sense of play and, equally, danger (the final episode with the Beast, Auntie Curry), and I found myself laughing a lot, but I also found I took this story a little more seriously than I would an Adventure Time or something else with Patrick McHale's name on it. It takes from some folk tales and fairy tales, but it has an identity all its own. It's creepy and weird and adorable and heartfelt, and it carries both the awe and innocence of being a little kid and the disillusionment of being a teenager like Wert. And did I mention the songs are a lot of fun and contribute to the atmosphere? It's like taking in old ragtime songs (some of the time) and giving them an animated, pop-up book feel. It's tremendous, semi-subversive stuff for kids, and a joy for adults.

This series, without a doubt, is a treasure of animation. Never once has a series or movie ever gotten me so interested. It isn't too long, it perfectly runs its course, unlike other fantastic shows like Adventure Time or Regular Show that can be hard to keep up with. Ten episodes, each about ten minutes, giving practically a feature- length movie that is certainly going to strike you as wonderful. Elijah Wood gives an amazing and realistic depiction of the average modern teen, and Greg provides the comical child-like wonder that we all could relate to our past as kids. Lessons in trust, family, friends, love, and honor perfectly blend with the simplistic yet entrancing artwork, and not since Gravity Falls has a cartoon ever amazed me with its genius concept and plot devices. The series is short and wonderful, and it needs more exploitation. And just as I was growing worried for animation on television like Clarence or Uncle Grandpa which leave little to be desired. If you like the creativity of Regular Show, the quirkiness of Adventure Time, and the art of Steven Universe, coupled with the humor of Amazing World of Gumball, this is without a doubt the best animated creation that has been put out in decades.

In May 2014, Stuart Snyder, the man responsible for single-handedly destroying Toonami, bringing in live-action schlock to CARTOON Network, establishing the "NO GIRLS ALLOWED"* policy for cartoons, declaring that boys only like comedy (as a member of that demographic, I can assure you that such a statement is completely asinine), and ultimately killing every good show the network made resigned as the President of the Network. And oh what glorious day it was.

If Cartoon Network made this series as an apology for the sins of Snyder, then it succeeded. This series is dark, atmospheric, weird and pretty scary at times. It's not bright, it's not dumbed-down, it doesn't hold back on the creep factor, especially for Tim Curry's character, Auntie Whispers, and it takes its audience seriously. And even though the cast has a lot of celebrity actors (aside from Tim Curry, they also got Christopher Lloyd and cast Elijah Wood as one of the two main leads), they got them because they knew these guys were perfect for the roles. The story is revealed a snippet at a time and from what little I've gathered from the two episodes it strikes me as being just as dark as the setting and atmosphere.

Oh, and just to put icing on the cake, they stuck the old Cartoon Network Studios animated logo on to the end of it like they used to for shows like Samurai Jack and Power Puff Girls, followed by the classic Cartoon Network logo with the Cartoon Cartoons theme dubbed over it.

They're back, and this is only the beginning of what I hope is another era akin to that of the late-90s/early-2000s.

*IMDb does not allow me to spell the word "GIRLS" with a backwards "R". Please pretend that it did.

I recommend Over the Garden Wall to kids, teens, and adults, (maybe a little scary for tiny tots) looking for a super fun, aesthetically-pleasing fairy-tale-Halloween mystery. The unique characters are likable and break a lot of cookie-cutter-character clichés. The atmosphere is dark and eerie while humorous and exciting. Each episode contains its own cool twist, and the series overall contains several bigger twists. I don't wanna drop any spoilers but there's lots of super awesome twists. You will love it! It's wonderful! I want to watch it again right now. I also recommend watching all ten episodes in one sitting like a movie.

Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, this show, this sweet little mini series, this golden show! I am always looking for good cartoons, in a weird way the shorter the better (short and sweet right). However, most short cartoons were canceled (for example: Clone High or Mission Hill). This is not the case for OTGW, which plays like a movie, 10 episodes multiplied by each episode's 11 minute run time is only 110 minutes (or an hour 50 minutes). Yet what I imagined would simply be some odd Adventure Time show about two brothers in the woods turned out to be so much more.

The animation is sweet, dark and fluid. The backgrounds are very well done, especially because they are of nature. This really helps keep a deep and real feeling throughout the show, as these two simple cartoons are traveling through a dark and dementedly palpable world. Speaking of the world may I mention that it has two great things going for it (and these two things blend well together). One: it takes aspects form the 1700's, 1800's and early 1900's and Two: this fantasy world is American. I'm not some horn tooting nephew of Uncle Sam, but I am proud to see any show or animation really take advantage of 350 odd some years of "American" (Europeans in America) history, music, culture and atmosphere. This can add to the creep factor, but also grows on you. This show feels like it was made by an American Hayao Miyazaki; in the same way HM uses his Japanese culture to heighten the world. The magic and old time world in this show and Hayao's worlds are so familiar in a completely different way. Plus the two have old women with giant heads, spirits, magic, nature, human like frogs, adventure, strong females, and young protagonists in a fairytale environment. The world actually feels like the "Frog and Toad" books I read as a child.

Don't let me forget that this show is also a musical in a sense. As many cartoons do now (I'm looking at you Adventure Time) the characters sing in every episode, accompanied by fantastic music (that matches the various American eras), and I quite enjoy the opening song as well.

The voice acting is superb with Elijah Wood, an actual child (which I appreciate in animation) by the name of Collin Dean, and Melanie Lynesky taking center stage. Yet Christopher Lloyd and many others provide there talents too. The characters themselves are very real and multidimensional. Wirt is one of the best heroes in a long time, with a fantastic arc and a very unsure demeanor, Greg (his brother) is an adorable, optimistic and surprisingly bright boy who lives in his own cute little world, but not so cute that he doesn't also live in the real world, and Beatrice is a sassy, brave and loyal friend. I also like the clean character designs, I mean they're simple but also fluid, fresh and different.

I don't want to spoil any part of the story, but I will say all your questions are answered and everything wraps up beautifully. The episodes are unique but they are all touched upon again, connect, and add to this singular plot. Sometimes you will start somewhere unexpectedly new (or rather without precise context) and this can be disconcerting, yet it does make sense. And more importantly the episode will start somewhere and stay somewhere, 11 minutes never flew by so quickly on a river ferry or a grammar school (the music also contributes to the speed of the episodes). Nod of course to writers: Tom Herpich, Amalia Levari, and Patrick McHale. Also the director Nate Cash (this show also has great directing)

Over the Garden Wall is so great, and I'm writing this right after finishing the show, that's how great it is. It is dark and bizarre at times (not too dark for most children), but it is also a true adventure with lots of light and hope inside bleakness. And it is the perfect blend of real and surreal that fantasy deserves, there's plenty wacko s@#$ but the story and motives aren't wacko. By episode 2 I was definitely hooked, and by episode 6 I was pretty sure it was going to get my 10/10. I had some doubts with episode 8, yet I was won over during the episode and of course with the show's end. An end that perfectly wraps up everything in a neat bow. Episode 9's "surprise" is also so exciting and sets up the tenth to be a sort of finale, but again this is really just a movie, and its so short that there is no fear that one wouldn't finish it and consequently love it.

And that's its beauty and why it is a ten starred masterpiece. Kids movies are very rarely so, long, weird, and have such a unique flow (and all the other great stuff from earlier), children's shows will have extra stories and characters than they often need (and again not have all that stuff from earlier). This is like the "True Detective" of children's animated television shows. And the world, oh my gosh the world, I know I already talked about this but whatever. I've just never seen anything like this, and when you wrap all these great elements together you get a perfect show. I recommend everyone see this show and I will be going back over the Garden Wall very soon, to enjoy it even more...

p.s I forgot to mention it's funny too