SummaryThe animated fantasy-adventure series about seven adventurers who go on a journey to save Exandria from dark magic after running up a large bar tab in this adaptation of a role-playing game (RPG) campaign.
SummaryThe animated fantasy-adventure series about seven adventurers who go on a journey to save Exandria from dark magic after running up a large bar tab in this adaptation of a role-playing game (RPG) campaign.
The tight friendship of the Vox Machina group, combined with sharp animation, funny jokes, rich action, and raw, honest drama, will win over new fans and satisfy old ones. The Legend Of Vox Machina is a critical hit.
Vox Machina is a fun, chaotic ride through the world the players in Critical Role have been building upon for years. It takes the characters viewers are likely already familiar with, and establishes a story that both fans and newcomers can get into without catching up on the series.
The Legend of Vox Machina is a competently produced story decidedly informed by the sensibilities of a new generation of players, the kind of series that shares DNA with the ’83 cartoon and the disastrous 2000 film, but also looks absolutely nothing like either of them. And while it won’t net Hasbro any royalties, it unquestionably moves the phenomenon one step deeper into the mainstream.
The first episode feels a bit drawn out, and a few cuts would have still left a tight rollicking fun time. But it’s easy to forget your gripes once the fun picks back up, and the rest of the series lacks the meandering asides of the first episode, and introduces character backstory and threads of intrigue to sink your teeth into.
Not every show is for everyone, but this is certainly for me. Fascinating and fun characters, equally engaging villains, a tight and twisty story, excellent animation, and some of the most fun I've had watching anything in a long time. A strong recommendation to those who enjoy fantasy, quality animation, or just a great story explored by great characters.
If you're a fan of the original 'actual play' you'll almost certainly love it. If not it probably depends on whether or not you like your fantasy with gore, nudity, and plenty of poop and fart jokes. If yes, add 1 or two points to the score, if not take them away. Either way its a competent but far from ground-breaking cartoon version of the D&D tabletop game. It certainly had the misfortune to come out the same year as Arcane, a show that makes almost all other animation pale in comparison and really highlights how old-school TLoVM and many other shows have become. It has a fast-moving story but, again, this is a love it or hate it point; it rapidly jumps from bawdy gag to action but doesn't take a lot of time from any real character development or world-building. Perhaps this was done with fans of the show (who already have plenty of both) in mind but for a new viewer it gives the show a slightly superficial feel.
Imagine Game of Thrones except it's only Bronn and Tyrion getting drunk, swearing and banging hookers and literally nothing else at all. Most will have a hard time watching past the halfling bard defiling immersion by breaking into a rap sequence.
The only saving grace is the animation and I suspect that's going to get worse as the episodes wear on. Believe it or not DnD used to be a somewhat wholesome game and this gutter trash series craps all over it without offering any redeeming adult themes in return. What parent would let their kid play this game after seeing something like this?
Swear. Vomit. Swear. Character's pants fall down. Vomit. Swear.
Definition of s**ting where you eat.
Really in disbelief as to all the hype - it feels like only diehard Critical Role fans will really dig this. The 3/10 is for the crisp animation quality. It was obvious this show had a good budget, which is to be expected from the Kickstarter. The action scenes are also enjoyable. It's just too bad about everything else. I love crass humor, but this is just cringe. The writing overall is really bad; I'd go so far as to say it's the worst aspect of the show.
They try to give every character screen time and dialogue, even when there's nothing interesting for them to do, and all of them have the same boring speech cadences and a kid's idea of college-aged sense of humor, filled with too many f-bombs, vomiting, etc. It's like an edgy kid's idea of what a fantasy show for adults would be. The end result is that with a few exceptions, each character feels like a shallow pool of cliches, totally interchangeable outside of their combat roles and one or two traits. There's nothing but trope after trope in these first 3 episodes, which really weighs the whole thing down.
I'm just so disappointed that such quality animation is wasted on such a bland story and thinly-sketched characters stuck in arrested development. Really couldn't care what happens next because there's so little consistency and detail paid in regards to the world-building and plot holes abound, especially in the third episode. There's nothing at all clever or new here.
If you want great fantasy comedy, there are other options: the hugely underrated Disenchanted, Dragon Prince, Avatar, etc... even Your Highness is funnier than this. If you want to see a great D&D campaign story, check out the Record of Lodoss War series. The original animation series and light novel series still holds up to this day. It's funny, epic, and consistent, to boot. Heck, just read some books by Terry Pratchett, William Goldman, Robert Lynn Aspirin, etc. The whole conceit has been done so much better before, so many times.