In my seemingly never ending search for a good modern cartoon, Harvey Street Kids peaked my curiosity as a Netflix show that was a decent match for me based on my interests. Yet watching the first episode proved to be as excruciating as climbing a mountain of stairs. Everything that makes the cartoon exist before me is handled so poorly it makes me feel bad for die hard fans of the original source material who were expecting a worthy adaptation and were crushed by the execution.
Created by Emily Brundige and based on the Harvey Girls comic series, this show follows to misadventures of 3 girls in the eponymous neighborhood. It should've been a cake walk to make a really funny and fleshed out cartoon out of this premise. Unfortunately, this is about as funny as a mutilated monkey getting maced! Like nearly every show I've reviewed this year, this show commits the egregious sin of "tell, don't show" as it gives a long winded exposition dump about how this world works. Nothing is left up to the visuals to tell the story as there's this constant need for the characters to explain everything, from how they know each other, to how the trading tree works, to why they like their favorite toys and so on! This show also has very formulaic plots, so much so you don't even need me to finish the sentence that describes the synopsis to know how it ends. The first episode has the girls help a boy get in a tree house- STOP! The girls use the trading tree- STOP! The girls stay up all night- STOP! Because these plots leave nothing to the imagination, the 11 minute runtime of each episode feels like time slows down around you. What makes the writing even worse is the the severe lack of funny comedy. The puns are obvious, the gags are tired, and the slapstick is criminally weak. I can't for the life off me find a good reason to call this anything but inexcusable writing!
These characters give the gremlins from Thugaboo a run for their money in being some of the worst "kids" in animation history! Starting with our leading ladies, Audrey, Lotta and Dot are an annoying trio of derivative archetypes that have no distinct personalities of their own other than being the most unlikable and idiotic girls in the show. Audrey is the self-centered leader of the pack whose plans backfire in her face and is very obnoxious. Dot is the persnickey brains of the group who tries and fails to be the voice of reasons. Lotta is the big, dumb, muscle of the group that says random things at random times while also being too stupid to turn bread into toast even if the instructions were on the crust. Does that all sound remotely familiar? It should, because these girls are just genderswapped worst versions of Ed, Edd and Eddy! Not only are they conceptually unoriginal, they're also downright despicable in execution as their attempts to make the neighborhood a better place only make things worse. Don't expect anyone else in this show to be much better as Melvin's the typical obnoxious twerp, Pinkeye is a walking unfunny gross out gag, Tiny is the short twerp with an annoying voice, and Frufru is a narcissistic spoiled brat.
You think these characters are bad enough?! Just wait until they open their fat mouths and sound absolutely NOTHING like kids! They don't even sound like exaggerated versions of their personality types in kid form like the Eds, Fanboy and Chum-Chum, or the cast of Jimmy Neutron. No, they all just sound like adults going through the motions and it always takes me out of the illusion. Stephanie Lemelin sounds like a middle aged woman who works at a grocery store and always sounds like she's in a bad mood. Lauren Lapkus sounds more like a nasally teen not unlike Kate Micucci as Velma and not at all hammed up or memorable. Kelly McCreary sounds very wooden and bored, as if she has next to no experience as a voice actress and isn't sure how to convincingly sound like a smart little girl. Atticus Shaffer sounds really good...if he was playing a teenagerbor young adult instead of a mid around 10 years old. Danny Pudi is the worst actor here as he sounds like a man who doesn't like kids putting on a faux kid voice to show how annoying he thinks they are. Grey Griffin is the only one at least trying with the material she's given, but even then her voice is nothing we haven't heard from her before here. This show makes a strong case for why you should NOT hire actors who either don't know how to voice kids or who are too compliant with awful voice direction!
Not even the animation is worthy of a smidgen of praise as this is some of the worst from DreamWorks Animation yet. The character designs are very unappealing with fat heads, eyes that take up too much space, flat attire and generic hair styles. The character animation is restricted to their character models and they lack any interesting facial expressions. There's also a severe lack of shadows and shading, which makes the characters lack depth. The backgrounds are also too simply looking with some scenes only having one color overpower everything else. This neighborhood also feels hollow as you don't see any adults around and the backgrounds don't have much going on when the characters are in the foreground. DreamWorks Animation normally has great animation when it comes to their movies. Their television division, though, tends to look flat and lifeless like this because Heaven forbid they cough up a little extra dough to make the animation look good.
I expected very little going in and what I got was absolutely abysmal! Harvey Street Kids is an abomination of animation and easily the worst show DreamWorks has ever produced. The writing is atrocious, the characters are detestable, the animation is abhorrent and the voice acting is some of the worst I've ever heard. On its own 2 feet it's a travesty, but as an introduction to Harvey Girls, it's even worst! Now I could care less what these characters are like in the comics because this show failed to get me hooked on these characters and their pathetic attempts to make their neighborhood great! As such, it more than deserves the worst fate imaginable for a piece of entertainment: to be ignored and forgotten! Do NOT watch Harvey Street Kids! Don't even bother making the same mistake I made and watching the preview on Netflix. Save yourself the trouble and just watch Ed, Edd n Eddy. The girls might not be good in that show, but the first episode of that show alone blows this entire cartoon out of the water! -.-
