Earth sucks, and so does God inExploding Kittens,the entertainingnew animated Netflix seriesfrom creators Shane Kosakowski (You’re the Worst) and Matthew Inman. Inman, in fact, is the sharp cartoonist/card game inventor who co-created the Exploding Kittens card game and went on to birth a behemoth game empire. (See explodingkittens.com.) The immensely popular card game on which this is based was clever and spunky. Players were promptly eliminated when drawing an Exploding Kitten from the card deck and could not “defuse it" using a Defuse card.
The animated series broadens that main premise, spinning a different kind of tale, one that revolves around the fluidity of good and evil. God, you see, gets fired from his job and is sent to Earth in chubby feline form. His new human owners have their own issues, too, but “Godcat” now has a new home. Yin/Yanging into high gear, the creators give us the antichrist herself. “Beelzebub” comes from a fine Lucifer lineage, but she’s too soft — poor girl is concerned that folks will get dehydrated in Hell, so she happily hands out Gatorade. Sure enough, Hell’s top officials shoot her out of there (via a giant red ass portal no less — nice touch!), sending her to Earth in cat form where she can “redeem” herself.
Okay, we’ll bite. Godcat must learn to be nicer. Devilcat must becomeExorcist-y, or something to that effect.That Tom Ellis ofLuciferfame plays Godcat is a bit of casting geniusas his voice talents effectively charm here.Sasheer Zamata (Agatha All Along) is a great foil as Devilcat. Suzy Nakamura, Mark Proksch, Ally Maki, and Kenny Yates round out the voice talents in the laugh-out-loud series. While the show doesn’t reach groundbreaking heights in today’s very crowded field of animated series, it does go down as smoothly as a Starbucks Refresher. Indulge, because should there be a second season, this show could become a recurring go-to.
Exploding Kittens
Earth sucks, so God (Tom Ellis) gets fired and sent to Earth to reconnect with humanity. The catch? He’s trapped in the body of a chubby house cat. As part of his rehabilitation, he moves in with a dysfunctional family and tries to solve their problems, but ends up spending a lot of time chasing laser pointers. And to top it off, Godcat’s next-door neighbor, who is also a cat, turns out to be none other than his nemesis, the Antichrist. The result is the ultimate fight between good versus evil…except, Godcat (Ellis) is distracted by a pigeon he saw in the yard and Devilcat (Sasheer Zamata) is busy napping on someone’s laptop.
Matthew Inman made a splash with The Oatmeal webcomic, and when designers Elan Lee and Shane Small came into his orbit, Exploding Kittens first appeared on Inman’s platform in 2015. While it’s hard and fairly abstract to turn a game like that into a series, Inman and Kosakowski do some fine world-building in this animated version, populating their litter box with an onslaught of outlandish scenarios.
Related:The 20 Best Marvel Animated TV Series
The first episode istresGod-centric, as Godcat is tasked with reconnecting with humanity. We soon discover he’s maintained some of his powers as a kitty. In several fun bits, he’s capable of rallying fellow felines, who are “hypnotized” into stacking themselves atop each other to create a kind of massive Catbot, giving this Godcat some fiery spunk. Angels lend a compassionate wing occasionally. In a bit that’s bound to make you grin and giggle, two of them arrive via a rainbow-splashed unicorn. The hilarity that ensues at an impromptu party for one of the main principles in the show hits the mark.
Those main principles are the Higgins Family: mom/ex-Navy SEAL Abby (Suzy Nakamura), brilliant teen Greta (Ally Maki), her socially wobbly brother Travis (Kenny Yates), and status-quo dad (Mark Proksch). Godcat’s task is to help bring the family closer, which draws in a certainFamily Guyvibe. Devilcat becomes an ongoing obstacle.
Exploding Kittens Showrunners on Lucifer’s Tom Ellis & the Show’s ‘Accidental Cliffhanger’
Creators Shane Kosakowski and Matthew Inman unpack their twisted and fun animated new series based on the popular card game.
Gripe of the Week Coming in Hot
To be sure, this series bears little resemblance to the actual card game, which is just a launching off point. The result feels like a kind of “here’s our gripe/annoyance of the week” show. Miffed neighbors, “Sea World is Hell,” dubstep playing at full volume, a town without internet. Satan of yore musing: “We give humans the physical ability to run a marathon and the punishment is they can never stop talking about it.” Mix and stir. Again and again.
The animation itself is quirky enough to make you look twice. Human legs are thin and far apart from each other. Faces, sets — interior and exterior — are simplistic, which isn’t necessarily bad. It’s a fine canvas on which to paint mayhem. It’s a bright and basic system in many ways, but keep an eye out for some of the more imaginative eccentricities in the art.
12 Best Shows Like Hazbin Hotel To Binge Next
Hazbin Hotel has become a breakout hit on Prime Video, so while you wait for season 2, here are more shows to watch.
Come for the Exploding Kittens, Stay for the Voice Actors
Tom Ellis offers just the right mix of gravitas and frustration as Godcat. Sasheer Zamata’s Devilcat tends to be overshadowed by the Big G occasionally in how things are executed here, but she has a great voice for it. Time in Hell looks, well, devilish and fun.The series, likeHazbin Hotelbefore it, could have some more fun with that moving forward.(However, we must say that we did enjoy the bit that marine life at Sea World are the “vessels for beleaguered villains — from the Mansons to Christopher Columbus.")
In addition to Godcat and Devilcat,the characters of Marv, Abby, and Greta stand out thanks to the wonderfully toned and often dry voices of the excellent cast. And if you like your animated series sprinkled with bits ofSouth Park, Rick & Morty,andFamily Guy,the show should delight. For those craving a glorious explosion into new creative territory, it might fall short. Still,Exploding Kittensis pure fun — or is thatpurrfun? — and consistently entertaining.And those final scenes! Wow.If you make it to the end, and you should, you’ll be left wanting so much more. Here’s to season two.
