Although it was always stuck in the shadow of more mainstream animated hits like Looney Tunes, The wacky and wild adventures of Animaniacs has held an enduring cult appeal for Warner Bros. over the decades since its original 1990’s run. The chaotic cartoon show, produced by Steven Speilberg, featured a wide variety of strange pop culture digs and parodies, complete with zany as hell characters, helping it earn that reputation as a cult classic.
Whether it was the misadventures of the Warners (Yakko, Wakko, and Dot), Pinky and Brain’s attempts to take over the world, or any of the weird adventures from other characters from the series, Animaniacs struck a unique chord that has made fans hungry for a return to the Warners’ backlot after an over twenty year absence. Even as someone who really only caught the show on reruns, I too was wanting to see a return of my favorite animated trio, and Hulu finally granted this wish – and I’m not talking about Wakko’s Wish. While that gem of a film is already available on the platform, Hulu has finally brought Animaniacs back for all new adventures.
The Hulu version of the series is back with some strong returning players. Not only does most of the main voice cast make a return, but Spielberg is even back as an executive producer. However, even with all the right pieces seemingly in place, we’ve seen that reboots can still be a total mess. So, the real question is, does Animaniacs fall into this same trap? For the most part, no.
Right from the hilarious Jurassic Park parody opening of the premiere episode, the return of Yakko (voiced by Rob Paulsen), Wakko (voiced by Jess Harnell), and Dot (voiced by Tress MacNeille) feels right on par with what fans would want. Even over twenty years later, these three are as wacky as ever and getting into some of the craziest, song-filled shenanigans that will make you laugh. While the first episode serves as more of an explanation for their return with them talking about reboots and them returning to the Warner Bros. lot, the rest of the episodes have the Warner siblings going on all kinds of misadventures.
From the trio turning the tables on a pompous conductor to them solving pertinent mysteries like who ate Wakko’s donuts, the Warner siblings are back for some hilarious new adventures and new things to parody. There’s even a really hilarious sequence where the Warners drive a faux Tucker Carlson insane and some of the songs that they bring about cartoons being able to vote, what’s happened in the world since they’ve been around, and Dot wondering what the world would be like cuter.
The Warner siblings aren’t the only returning Animaniacs though, as Pinky and the Brain also make a comeback to do what they do every night, “try and take over the world.” Both Pinky (also voiced by Paulsen) and Brain (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) haven’t really changed much over twenty years, and that’s not really a terrible thing. The theme song and iconic opening and closing lines never get old. It’s still just as hilarious as ever to watch Pinky ruin all of Brain’s plans for world domination, and the new plans that Brain concocts are interesting. With him planning to run for president, inventing a robot son to aid him, and even creating a meme to make everyone know him, there’s a lot of crazy and freshly modern adventures for these two to go on. Hell, even a future version of Brain swings by to help him take over the world and stop Pinky from screwing up again.
Now, having what most people would consider to be the biggest parts of Animaniacs back would surely be enough for it to be perfect, right? Well, that’s not really the case as their schtick becomes really old really fast as they’re the only one to actually return. Maybe smaller sketches and characters like Slappy Squirrel, Rita and Runt, The Goodfeathers, and Buttons and Mindy never hit the same heights of popularity as the Warner siblings or Pinky and the Brain, but they did allow some breathing room to keep things fresh.
Honestly, it’s hard to say that Animaniacs is really back when it’s missing half of the cast and that makes this reboot feel like all of the other ones it makes fun of in the first episode – cashing in on what was popular about the franchise and with little else to offer fans. Without many other sketches, aside from a handful here and there with some nice animation as well as some solid bits, Animaniacs is repetitive as hell and, after a few episodes, you may feel like you’re really just getting the same old song and dance over and over again.
At its core, Animaniacs gives a mostly strong return for the always adorable Warner siblings and hilarious duo of Pinky and the Brain, but it ends up missing the mark with what little it brings in terms of variety. There’s no doubt that there’s a future for Animaniacs on Hulu and, personally, an even greater chance that we could even see Freakazoid! make a return as well, but whether that future will be good depends on how they can create either more fresh sketches with new characters or find ways to bring other old sketches into the modern age of animation.
