Home Movies - Season One (1999) Review

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(More customer reviews)My fandom of the Adult Swim block on the Cartoon Network began with the underrated but ingenious "Home Movies" and ended with its departure. It was originally aired on UPN and was cancelled after this first season. The truth is that Home Movies belonged to a special niche and the people in charge of the Adult Swim made the brilliant decision to pick Home Movies up and give the show the chance it deserved... and they haven't made a decision that good since.
Home Movies was one of the few shows on the Adult Swim one can honestly say was smart enough to actually be for adults. The situations, the characters and their backgrounds, and the socially-advanced way these 8 year olds communicate with each other, and the child-like way they approached life is what makes Home Movies the gem it is.
The loose dialogue and seemingly unrehearsed improv the characters perform gives the show a unique feel of maturity, especially in this first season. One could say that in the first season the characters and their conversations are almost too adult (in an intellectual sense). In later seasons the dialogue seems less improvised; more structured and scripted, but still holds its comic edge.
What costs Home Movie Season 1 a star in my review is this little thing known as "Squigglevision". Those of us familiar with shows like Dr. Katz or "Ed, Edd and Eddy" will know what squigglevision is. It is a very annoying method of animation where all the lines "squiggle" to give the art a more hand-drawn look as if each frame was done by hand and then animated. It bothers me, but it doesn't take away from the shows humor which is what makes Home Movies what it is and is not used beyond season 1.
Since the cancellation of Home Movies the Adult Swim block has fallen into a quagmire of dumb shows that use what I like to call "random comedy". In other words shows that tell no story, but simply have left-field events take place with no core or anything for me to relate to. Their new shows--- such as "Squidbillies" and "Tom Goes to the Mayor"--- demonstrates how shows like Home Movies made Adult Swim Comedy the perfect Sunday night treat that it once was (for me), and now how badly Adult Swim's creative people need rehab (in my opinion).
Thanks to Soup 2 Nuts, Brendon Small and Loren Bouchard for giving me such a warm and intelligent comedy program. I wish it had another 5 seasons, but the Home Movies DVDs will become a beloved addition to my DVD library. I hope this review helped a little, and many thanks for taking the time to read my worthless opinion.
Adult Swim still has the Venture Brothers, Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law- still some of the best comedy on TV, but it hasn't gotten better than "Home Movies" for me, and after seeing the random direction Adult Swim seems to be taking their comedy block, I strongly doubt it ever will.


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Seen for four seasons on Cartoon Network's [adult swim] – Home Movies is now on DVD in a deluxe 3-disc set! Home Movies Season One features the first 13 episodes of the favorite series seen on Cartoon Network's [adult swim]. The irreverent animated comedy hit television series chronicles the life of pint-sized, aspiring filmmaker, Brendon Small. Brendon - a jaded third grader who happens to have the brain of a twenty-something - uses his video camera to cope with the trials of his eight-year-old life. Plus these special features: -Interviews with Brendon Small, Jon Benjamin and Loren Bouchard - Real home-made short films by Home Movies stars Brendon Small and Jon Benjamin -Animated menus from the Soup2Nuts creative team -Commentaries from the cast and creators -Closed Captioning -Animatics (episode storyboards) -Animation Galleries

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