My Review of Over the Garden Wall · 11:02pm Aug 18th, 2022

My TV Show Rating Score:

5/5: It is an awesome show!
4.5/5: it is a great show albeit not perfect
4/5: It’s a good show with minor flaws
3/5: It’s overall okay/guilty pleasure
2/5: It’s bad but not awful
1/5: Look, up in the sky! It’s super bad!
0/5: MY EYEEEESSS!!!

Greetings, everyone! This is Mr. J back with another TV show review for today! This evening, I will be reviewing a 2014 Cartoon Network miniseries entitled: Over the Garden Wall per the request of A Man Undercover. This was one of those mid-2000s cartoons I’ve never seen before; it wasn’t until my pal AMU informed me thereof last year and asked if I can review it. I initially wasn’t going to check it out until exactly last month when I was casually scrolling through HBO Max. I was like, “Hmm, I might as well give it a shot!” So on July 1st, I binged-watched the entire miniseries on the streaming platform in one night. The experience was absolutely amazing and unforgettable!

This cartoon is about two half-brothers who get lost in the woods and try to find their way back home while encountering many mysterious creatures and fantasized characters. This is basically Cartoon Network’s shorter and more different version of Gravity Falls which is just as spooky and mysterious as the latter.

The premise of the story was very intriguing, and it always managed to capture my interest in every chapter thereof. The atmosphere was dark in tone, it had a serious yet light-hearted setting, and the plot remained consistent from start to finish. It had a perfect balance of maintaining serious moments and comedic moments so it doesn’t lose the viewer in any way, shape, or form.

I definitely love the animation of this series. The character models look so well-created, and it fit into the themes of the show. It may not be the best type of 2D animation, but it is up there for sure. Not to mention that the soundtrack/score used for this show was pretty great to listen to.

The voice acting was likewise top-notch. Elijah Wood was really good as Wirt who gave off so many Dipper vibes the more I watched him. In fact, if Jason Ritter was cast as Wirt, it would have made no difference, which alone speaks volumes of how good Elijah Wood was throughout the show. Christopher Lloyd, Tim Curry, and John Cleese were also fantastic in their exceptional vocal performances as their respective characters. Oh, and Greg was so cute as a character. He and Mabel would be the BEST of pals if they ever met.

This guy was both scary, creepy, intimidating, and overall menacing! The Beast was, despite having little screen time, a well-written antagonist who only thrives in the forest just to survive by luring innocent children to him, turn them to trees, and thus fuel his lantern for self-preservation while having the Woodsman as his pawn. You can actually feel his presence throughout the show even whenever he doesn’t appear on screen. Also, it’s fascinating he isn’t a generic type of villain who wants to take over the world or with a twirling mustache. Even though he has little character, he has a very deceptive personality in order to manipulate his victims and lure them into a false sense of security. It makes you wonder how he came into existence and how his soul got stuck in a lantern in the first place. I may not know much about Samuel Ramey, but his voice for the Beast was so powerful and convincing! Seems like he’s a charming singer.

Overall, this show was flawlessly well-done! This shows us that no matter where the harsh journey may lead us, if we never give up hope and keep looking, we may finally reach our destination and be at peace at last. I will rate this a 5/5: Mysteriously Delightful!

Peace!