Animation Monday: Napoleon Dynamite

I remember the 2004 movie Napoleon Dynamite very well. It was a low key indie film that exploded into the mainstream. I was in high school and many people were imitating the “Vote For Pedro” t-shirts. And it was in the mainstream culture for a while. It has recently faded into our fragile memories until now. The guys at FOX has restarted the franchise with the Napoleon Dynamite animated series. Last Sunday two new episodes were aired in the premiere of the series. So far many of the critics out there have not liked this series and are hoping for its quick cancellation. But I am here to tell you I thought the two episodes were pretty good.

The first episode “Thundercone” had Napoleon having acne trouble and the acne medicine he got was so powerful it was smoking on his head. The second episode “Scantronica” involved an computer which paired couples into romantic couplings which does not turn out very well. All of your familiar characters from the 2004 movie are in the animated series. And I thought the story line was written very well. The animation was drawn very well. I thought the animation was better that what you see on Family Guy. But many TV critics out there have already said this needs to disappear for good. The ratings for the first two episodes last week were very good. Most likely because of NFL overrun. The next episode is next Sunday so we will see if the ratings stay high or will the critics be smiling. I do hope this series stays on TV for a long time.