James Danton
The first thing that struck me as the fact that I couldn't understand a single word Donald Duck says. That's not good when characters are unintelligible. Then I was taken aback at how much of a jerk people are. Scrooge is a scornful, mean spirited jerk, voiced by a squeaky ex-timelord. How I miss the soothing, seasoned tones of Alan Young. I just don't much like it, made me start watching the original again, though, so that's a plus.
MaximumMadness
The fundamental problems with living in an age of seemingly endless reboots, remakes and re-treads is the simple fact that people get burned out. And when people get burned out, they begin to dissect, dismiss and demean those rare but invaluable examples of reboots done right, just out of a misplaced sense of moral superiority. Case in point- 2017's "DuckTales", a retelling of the classic cartoon series that started thirty years back in 1987. Having grown up alongside the original series, I get it. Our nostalgia is a beloved part of our lives, and nothing could ever possibly measure up to sky-high expectations... Especially not in this case... right? ...right?Well, I'm here to tell you. In every single imaginable way, Disney has pulled it off, with a loving and clever reboot that captures the essence and magic of that original run, while making necessary and valid updates when needed. "DuckTales" is an absolute joy, boasting strong and stylish animation, a wonderful voice-over cast that nails the tone, and some extremely clever writing that took me by a surprise more than once, even as a man quickly approaching his 30's. And it's frankly shocking seeing the plethora of highly critical reviews here... and even moreso shocking to see many of the reviews containing blatant and overblown exaggerations of minor issues or even outright lies about the content of the series, just so they can smugly slap it with an unfair one or two outta ten score and bemoan how their childhood has been "ruined."Just take it from this fan... go in with an open mind, and you'll be thoroughly charmed and thrilled with the results!Grouchy trillionaire Scrooge McDuck (voice of David Tennant) is surprised when his estranged relative Donald (Tony Anselmo) drops off the triplets Huey, Dewey, and Louie (Danny Pudi, Ben Schwartz, Bobby Moynihan) one day, demanding he watch over them while he leaves to be interviewed for a new job. While Scrooge initially ignores the boys, a series of strange events brings them together as he re-discovers his old sense of adventure and excitement. And so, they team up, along with pilot Launchpad (Beck Bennett) and the headstrong Webby (Kate Micucci), and embark on a series of strange and peculiar new adventures in search of fame and treasure. Along they way, they fight fearsome creatures, encounter old enemies and begin a search for the elusive Della... the long-lost mother of Huey, Dewey and Louise.To start with one of the more publicized aspects of the series, I absolutely love the entire cast. Obviously Tony Anselmo is a complete joy as Donald... after all, he's been voicing the character for over thirty years now, including in the original run of the series. Pudi, Schwartz and Moynihan are all excellent as the lead trio, and though they might not sound as childlike, all nail the characters quite well and have that delightful, young sense of glee to their performances- you can tell all three are trying their hardest, and are infectiously engaging. I also really adore Miccuci, and I very much appreciate how Webby has been updated to be a more proactive and academically intelligent character. But the revelation here is David Tennant as Scrooge McDuck. He knocks it out of the park. Absolutely perfect turn as the beloved character.The animation style has been a source of much love and much controversy, but I really dig it. It's stylized to be a bit more stark, contrasted and simplistic... almost like an animated comic book, which is appropriate as comics were the inspiration for the '87 series. Yes, there is a degree of stylistic whiplash going from the old to the new, but stick with it. It grows on you quickly, and it serves the material very well. And the writing is fantastic. It has the same tonality as the original, but brings it a bit more up to speed for modern times. Though don't worry. It's not bogged down by needless references or contrived self-aware meta-humor. It's very much just geared towards things children in this day and age will understand. There's a bit more gadgetry at play, passing nods to modern popular culture, a few jokes about current trends and that sort-of thing. But its never to the detriment of the series, and it's always in the service of the story or world-building.Over the past few days, I've watched the first six episodes, and I have to say... I'll probably keep watching. I adored the original run of the series growing up and was constantly viewing reruns and video-taped episodes on a daily basis. And now, a beloved part of my childhood has returned, as good as it ever was. Though there will sadly always be doubters and those who can't let go of the past and embrace the future, I would highly recommend the new "DuckTales" to open-minded fans old and new alike! It really is as good as the original in every single way. And it easily earns a perfect 10 out of 10 from me! Woo-oo!
vincent_sun
Just watching the first episode left a bad taste in my mouth.First, the animation is pretty much messed up (in my opinion) and many people may agree that they could have done a much better job than this (sadly, the new animations in different series is pretty much messed up too like Pokemon sun & moon just to take it in as an example). In some way it kind of looks like the animation was a little cheap made when they produced the pictures. Of course the original is not very good as well, but compared to the technology they had in that time they did do a super good job, but the new one is super bad compared with all the technology we have today. Animations is one of the core structures in good series and movies, but seems like they did not focus too much on animations this time.Just looking at the characters Huey, Dewey, Louie and Webby gave me a really really weird feeling in a bad way. some of the reasons for that is how they look, color, their heads seems to be a bit squared and do i even need to mention how much their personality has changed compared to the original one? Their personalities do not even seems familiar anymore and they have been at least 10 times more childish than an average 10 year old child. Also Mrs. Beakley now looks like she was a professional wrestler in the past with that build and it looks like she can overpower any security guard by the look.The story is OK and i am not so sure about this, but i always believed that Webby was Scrooge's grandniece and not Beakley's granddaughter. Launchpad McQuack should not have been the driver, Duckworth should have been that. I do not know if Duckworth appears in the new DuckTales, but it will be a big failure to not having him in the story as well. The money bin should be on a hill in Duckburg, not be surrounded by open sea! Not even the comics have the money bin surrounded by sea so this is a big failure.I would like to come with more details, but then i have to watch the rest of the episodes to find other big mistakes and i nearly fainted over how bad it has become so that wont happen...PS: Flintheart Glomgold seems to be way unusually fatThe original DuckTales is at least one million times better than this both in animation and story (trying not to have feelings in the review, but i am new to writing reviews so i need more time practice)
