The Following is a Conversation between Mark Henely and Melissa Jouben about the 2017 film: The Jetsons & WWE: Robo-Wrestlemania!
Mark: So, Melissa, it was your idea to watch The Jetsons & WWE: Robo-Wrestlemania! today. What made you want to watch and discuss this film?
Melissa: Well, I’m a really big fan of old Hanna-Barbera cartoons in general, but I’ve really loved the attempts the WWE has been making lately by incorporating their superstars into children’s cartoons. The two Scooby-Doo movies were honestly pretty good, and there was a Flintstones movie that came out recently that I have to assume performed well enough to let them take The Jetsons out of retirement for the first time in, what, 15 years? So I wanted to see what the story was that would be good enough to say “let’s bring back The Jetsons, and have them wrestle The Big Show.”
Mark: I think I have a more cynical view on the movies made by WWE Studios. When I heard about this movie, it never occurred to me that they were making this movie because they “had a good script.” I’ve always been under the belief that Vince McMahon only made movies so that he could tell people that his companies made movies as well. Vince puts his wrestlers in movies that he produced so that he could advertise his wrestlers as movie stars as well. To me, the only reason that they wanted to make a movie with the Jetsons was so that they could say that they made a movie with the Jetsons. But, it sounds like you are a big Jetsons fan. What do you love about the family of the future?
Melissa: Well, I do think all of that is true. I mean, of course it is. But I do think it’s really interesting that they made a couple of Scooby-Doo movies, and then made a Flintstones movie (another property that they don’t really make new movies for anymore) and then decided to resurrect the Jetsons. It’s interesting that they’re making children’s movies and doing so by reviving TV shows most children aren’t familiar with because they’ve been off the air so long. I think it’s a testament to WWE’s current star power that you can sell a new Jetsons movie to children by attaching Roman Reigns to it.
But I’m not actually that huge a fan of The Jetsons. I watched the show a lot as a kid, and I loved the movie, and I loved their version of A Christmas Carol. Both them and The Flintstones did a take on A Christmas Carol and those are both still in my usual Christmas day movie rotation.
Mark: What did you want to get out of a Jetson/WWE crossover and do you feel like this film delivered it?
Melissa: I wanted a film that showcased The Jetsons as I remember them, while also hopefully adding some more personality to them. I think cartoon characters back in those days were usually just really transparent rip-offs of famous live-action shows or TV personalities, like The Flintstones being straight up just The Honeymooners, or Jabberjaw somehow being both one of the Three Stooges and Rodney Dangerfield. And this movie gave us, surprisingly, some backstory for the family and especially George. I also wanted to see what they thought WWE would look like 100 years in the future. It’s very funny to me that they predict themselves as still being around, and being relevant, because I honestly think that might be true.
What were you hoping to get out of this movie? I know you’re not a huge fan of cartoons, but you know a lot more about the present WWE roster than I do. You had to have gone in with much different expectations than I did.
Mark: It’s true, I am not a big Hanna-Barbera fan. I watched the Jetsons as I kid and I guess I liked them, but they were never a big favorite of mine.
However, I am a massive wrestling fan. I wanted to watch this because I am fascinated by the good and the bad of Professional Wrestling. I love when WWE gets it right (like they did with the recent AJ Styles/John Cena feud), but I’m also just as interested in the weird mistakes that they make (like WWE:Crush Hour a 2003 video game rip off of Twisted Metal with WWE Superstars). I was going into this for the potential trainwreck factor. I didn’t think there was anyway that this movie would be any good at all.
Again, I wasn’t necessarily a fan of the Jetsons and while I like some of the wrestlers in this movie, I wasn’t overly impressed with the line-up (Roman Reigns, Sheamus, The Usos, Seth Rollins, Alicia Fox, Vince McMahon). But, I was actually very surprised. This really wasn’t much of a trainwreck at all. There were some goofy parts, but I would say that I thought it was pleasant.
The jokes weren’t laugh out loud funny, but they weren’t groaners either.
Melissa, what were some highlights for you?
Melissa: There are definitely little jokes peppered throughout that I really enjoyed. As someone who spends almost all of my free time watching cartoons, I have to admit that the humor in this movie was way better than what I’ve seen in a lot of what’s on TV right now. It’s really silly on a level that is accessible to children while also sneaking in some adult jokes that are appreciated by anyone who is either watching with their kids, or watching on their own, like us right now. I think that the average person who is either a Jetsons fan or a WWE fan would be like “this is honestly pretty good.” Maybe not something you have to run out and buy on DVD, but even if you did that, I don’t think you’d consider it a waste of money.
But for me the highlight was definitely the robot versions of the WWE superstars from the future. They almost had more personality than the human versions of those wrestlers did. And giving them robot voices really hid how bad some of them were delivering their lines. Although, Seth Rollins did an objectively impressive job. I’d hire him to do voiceover.
What about the low points. Was there anything in here that you DID groan at?
Mark: I feel like the movie gets off to a rough start. It begins at a WWE show in Denver that looks to be taking place in an empty arena. There only seems to be about 10 fans in attendance and all of them are just milling about near ringside.
The art for the WWE superstars is noticeably worse than it is for the Jetsons characters and I thought the movie got off to a really bad start (in fact, I feel like the movie doesn’t really start to come together until the Jetsons are involved).
I also thought it was weird that the movie kept trying to utilize the wrestlers catchphrases as much as possible, even though this batch of Superstars isn’t really known for their catchphrases. Roman Reigns says “Believe That!” at least 10 times in this movie (at one point, he even says it twice in one sentence).
Going into this, I never really thought of “Believe that!” as Roman Reigns catchphrase. When he started saying it in the movie I was like “Oh yeah, I guess he does say that sometimes”, but this movie treats that line like it is iconic. They treat it like it is Roman Reigns version of JJ Walker saying “Dy-no-mite!” in Good Times.
Melissa, what were your low points?
Melissa: I definitely also agree that the movie starts slow. That WWE intro was necessary to set the scene, I guess. They could have added some audience members though. I was also thrown a little bit by how hard they were trying to focus on Roman Reigns. Not just him repeating his catchphrase over and over, but Rosie having a thing for him as well. And Stardust-bot getting a lot of screen time is a cruel reminder of what could have been had he stayed in the WWE.
Mark: It was weird to see Stardust again. Almost as weird as it was to see Seth Rollins use the his long banned finishing move the Curb Stomp on the robot version of himself (never forget that this is a strange movie).
Well, I think that wraps it up for our analysis on this film. I think we both agree that it was much better than it had any right to be, it isn’t necessarily must-see TV. But, if there comes a day where you are flipping through the channels and you happen to find that Cartoon Network is airing The Jetsons & WWE: Robo-Wrestlemania!, then we recommend that you check it out. There are worse ways to spend 82 minutes.
Believe that!
5.5 out of 10 Stars
