shenamere

The recipe is pretty simple. Gather a group of cute teens and pre-teens. Give them characters that are like those of a fairy tale, but make everything sound very serious. Use lots of moody, mysterious music during wide-eyed face close-ups. There has to be a death of a loved one to get an emotional foundation. Then add a bit of wizardry and newly discovered powers. Finally, a dash of hope and mystery to stir the plot into a trajectory of wondering discovery. Nothing is as it seems, trust those you can trust and true virtues always win the day. It's classic Dizzy and hints at some potential appeal for grown-ups, but ultimately fails to satisfy. The episodes wander like a board game or a video game. Just remember, nothing is as it seems because there really isn't anything to begin with!

A group of Grade school students could have written a better story and probably better acted this as well. Every plot element is a cliche or copied from countless similar movies. Then the hopelessly optimistic stunts where only the bad people get hurt. The movie has the standard attempts at emotion grabbers with impending births, deaths and daring feats of mindless adventure. The exotic settings to helpless, needy, emotion laden, but more capable than they know teens. Who can resist the concept of normal people being transformed into super heroes who really don't need their super powers to be super human-beings! Give it a pass unless it's raining outside and you have extra crisps and popcorn to waste.

The moody music, the sugary nostalgia, Americans are best at everything gets sickening very quickly. As a Canadian, my father served in the RCA and this kind of American swagger was repulsive to him. This series had the potential to highlight period technology, period culture and relationships. Instead, it turned into a soap opera and a swaggering recruitment advertisement for Americans. Compared to "Lessons in Chemistry", another period series, this series is a joke. It had huge potential, but I can barely sit through any episode without fuming. It comes across as silly and frivolous as though the intended audience is too daft to connect with a richer historic context. Without the moody music, there would be little sense of "drama". Note how the viewer ratings break down by nationality. Only Americans give it high scores. This series has the likes of Tom Hanks and Spielberg as Executive Producers. Dig deeper guys. Remember when "life is like a box of chocolates"?