The Anonymous Post: Kim Possible
Anonymousxcxc Hey guys, Anonymousxcxc here, and for those of you who are wondering (or who actually read these reviews) no, this post series is not dead. Before I get started with the review I would like to say that I have decided that reviews will be posted on Fridays and Sundays since those days will be when I (hopefully) am the least swamped with homework, however this may not always be guaranteed. Also, constructive feedback on these posts is highly encouraged so if there's anything you think I could have done to make the review better please let me know in the comments below or by message.Anyways, let's examine today's case: Kim Possible.
So for those of you who don't know, Kim Possible was a Disney Channel cartoon that ran from 2002-2007 created by Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle (who will also be creating the upcoming Big Hero 6 cartoon series). It follows a redheaded highschool cheerleader named Kimberly Ann "Kim" Possible (played by Christy Carlson Romano) who with her best friend Ronald "Ron" Stoppable (played by Will Friedle) partake in many adventures that involve with saving the world from a colorful cast of villains, particularly the dynamic duo of Dr. Drakken and Shego (played respectively by John DiMaggio and Nicole Sullivan), while also trying to balance the day-to-day struggles of being a teenager.
Okay, so when this show came out it was insanely popular, in fact so popular that the show even got an extra season by popular demand, and it had given the Disney Channel a massive influx of viewers all over the world. In addition, even 15 years after its first release the show still remains to be beloved by both children and adults and when I watched the show it's not hard to see why. Kim Possible was one of the few children's shows at the time that had a female lead that wasn't portrayed as a meek damsel in distress or complete ditz, but rather a strong, smart, and independent role model that little girls could look up to. In addition, it resonated with many viewers at the time because it took place in the modern day and addressed some issues that many of the viewers could relate to themselves. However, while this factor did help it become popular among audiences, it is not what I personally think stands out the most in the show. To me, Kim Possible's strengths lie in its humor and characters.
First, let's talk about the humor. It's all over the place, you can tell that the minute you watch the show that the tone is obviously very humorous. Joke after joke comes across every episode and most of the time they truly stick with you. However, the jokes are not in this show so much that the entire thing just becomes a major joke, there are a fair number of serious moments as well. But it was clear to me that when I watched the show that the writers clearly knew their strong-point in their humor.
However, much of the humor could not have worked without the energy put into the characters of the show. Nearly all of them have a distinct personality and charisma in them that make them very memorable to the viewers and the voice acting to the characters is done nicely enough and makes them sound more real and organic. Although if you wanted to get more specific, the strongest group of characters would probably be the villains. While they are over the top, they're supposed to be and that as a result makes the villains stronger as characters.
For example the interactions between the main antagonists, Dr. Drakken and Shego, are priceless, with Drakken being an egomaniac who constantly fails at world domination yet still thinking that he is one of the greatest villains of all time and Shego being a snarky and sassy villain who clearly doesn't care about her boss' authority whatsoever. Their odd relationship is arguably the strongest one of the whole show and many of the jokes come from their interactions with one another.
However, it is not just the interactions between Drakken and Shego that are strong, but also the interactions of Kim and Ron with other villains like golf-obsessed Duff Killigan and monkey-obsessed Monkey Fist and even the interactions of the villains with each other remain strong, the latter probably being the most humorous and highly regarded set of interactions of all of the characters.
But the relationships with the heroes aren't bad either. The chemistry between Kim and Ron feels very real and the interactions made at their high school, and with their families and friends (particularly with a computer genius named Wade, played by Taj Mowry, who helps them on their missions) make their lives seem more believable and make audiences relate to them better. However, it is with the heroes where I feel that there may be some weaker points. For instance, I found sometimes that Kim may have come off as a little too perfect and Ron, while not a bad character, did get a little too annoying at times and sometimes his voice was very grating to listen to. However, these characters were overall still pretty interesting and I had fun watching them grow and develop.
As a result of the sharp humor and grounded characters, the action in the show felt more interesting to watch and it had greatly enhanced these already sharp characters and jokes. Even outside of the spy missions and fight scenes the humor and characters still remained strong and small daily actions done when not working on saving or taking over the world still had a fair amount of humorous scenes that worked quite well.
Now, I know that I've praised Kim Possible a lot so far, but it is still a show that's far from perfect and while these aspects of the show aren't necessarily bad, nitpicks really, they do get in the way from making it an even better show for me.
For instance, there are more stereotypes thrown into the show than I would like such as how a lot of the girl characters like shopping and shoes and many of the teen characters are often concerned with finding romantic partners. Also, I sort of dislike how they had the "mean" cheerleader stereotype thrown in with the character Bonnie Rockwaller, Kim's school rival (played by Kirsten Storms). I don't know, it just felt kinda forced. In addition, some of the slang talk from the teenage characters got a little annoying too, but I can understand why it's there so it wasn't too much of a problem for me.
Also, sometimes the show felt a little too 2000's for me. I mean I get that it was to help keep some of the younger viewers around, but especially in the earlier seasons I didn't get some of the jokes or references made (for instance there was an episode that guest starred the '90's band Smash Mouth, most popular for the song "All Star", which was used in the movie Shrek, and the characters were hyping it up but I was really confused as to who they were talking about the entire episode until the end of it), probably because I was born literally two weeks after the show came out so I didn't really grow up with it. However, this and the stereotypes problem were really just minor nitpicks.
Also, the art style wasn't the greatest for me. I loved how colorful the sets looked and that the characters looked, well, pretty human, and I liked that it had a nice cartoony look. However, the art didn't always stand out to me as much as I would have liked, but like the past two weaknesses, this one is indeed a nitpick.
Finally, this next point is very subjective, but I never got completely sucked into the series because of the fact that the episodes were mostly standalones. Now don't get me wrong, this plot structure works very very well for the show and I understand that many Western cartoons have this common episode structure, however I've always personally preferred a show with an overarching story or a series of developed story arcs so eh, the show didn't sell me as well on that aspect. But again this is all a personal preference so it didn't bother me too much.
So to conclude, my final thoughts on Kim Possible are that it's a good show. It has its flaws sure, but its positives outweigh the negatives. With solid humor, relatable and likeable characters, and fast paced action, this show was one that I had a lot of fun with and is one that I think anyone can watch at any time.