Yakari

Just in time for Thanksgiving, so let’s review the last western film for the year, Yakari as part of DEMO OF SERIES’ COLLECTION! It’s Pronounced as Ya-care-ee, not Ya-car-ree. This is when I review in this case of the arc of the series. There was an original series of Yakari in the 80’s, but I couldn’t find it in English.

The first episode, Yakari & The Great Eagle, Yakari has a dream to be to a man and capture a horse named Little Thunder. After he got saved by the Great Eagle, the Eagle gave Yakari his feather as he gained the ability to talk to selective animals for the episode. So Yakari has Wild Thornberry or Dr. Dolittle powers.

“If I can walk with the animals, talk with the animals, run, and sleep, flock with the animals...”

-         Chief Wiggum disguise as Dr. Dolittle.

The second episode, Yakari & Little Thunder, Yakari finally getting to Little Thunder after saving a cougar kitten. The third episode, The First Gallop, Yakari is connecting to Little Thunder, but lost him due to his ego. Yakari has more connection to nature than Pocahontas, but not as much in terms of elements with Moanna.

It’s rare to see a TV show starring a Native American. Anytime there are Native Americans in TV shows, they’re usually the supporting cast, as far as I recall aside from Hiawatha. Please name any animated TV show starring a Native America in the comment.  The cast mostly consist of those who voiced in Arthur. I’ll assume Yakari is voiced by the same actress who voiced Arthur Reed’s Mom. Please don’t point out the race thing, unless they have the Johnny Depp excuse of revealing or process of being 1/ 16^th. Some would say the series would go deep with the history with them. Where in history of America do you need to go to Fantasia with Atryu?

“Gesundheit!” 

-         Falkor dubbed by Chester A. Bum

Yakari is a likable kid, but kinda too happy with little to no range, though this is judging the 1^st 3 episodes. Hopefully there’s more conflict that could make him as human as Steven Universe and less robotic as a Stepford Wives or any stoic actor. The others characters are forgettable at most. I really like Little Thunder. Maybe it’s the G4 Brony in me, or maybe he’s more human than Yakari. Little Thunder has survived as a wild horse, and his experience is interesting. If you want a series to see the rider and horse close to equally human, then go watch Dreamwork’s She-Ra with the extent of Gumby and Pokey. Not counting Lucky Luke with his horse since one was mostly lazy and the other one only nag.

What I can’t like about the series is the Comic Paneling. Yes, this is based on a comic, but much like Ang Lee’s Hulk and Revision Power Rangers; the paneling mostly happened on non-engaging scene as it’s pointless. Yakari is less of an action comic and more of an atmospheric adventure. Think of it as the Bone comic, or something rare like that.

Yakari is an interesting series. For a 15 minute show, it runs in the right pace. Though I think episode 2 and 3 would be better together if you cut out the cougars and waiting scenes. Yes, patience and test of kindness are a virtue, but fillers/ padding are often feels like a sin. If you have the time, check out Yakari mostly on youtube. It’s a little spiritual quest to take. Speaking of quest, I’m getting ready to talk about some Christmas films.

Lucky Luke: The Daltons on the Run

I was going to review West and Soda, but it was purely Spanish and never went to English, as the same thing with Bolek I Lolek from Poland, and My Mommy is in America and She Met Buffalo Bill from France. So the western reviews are going to be a lot shorter than I thought. Instead we gallop to the next Western animated film.

Hanna Barbara went and did their western series with Lucky Luke. Despite it’s a TV series with serviceable animation at the time, but not as cheap as Bolek I Lolek, as they did a movie comprise of three episodes. They are “The Daltons In The Blizzard”, “Ma Dalton”, and “The Daltons Redeem Themselves”. So it counts for me to review it as movie or best of the show, or not. So this is the first on this review as the segment of “DEMO OF SERIES’ COLLECTION”! This is the new segment with me reviewing either a collection provided by the series in the original VHS/ DVD or the arcs of series or the first episode if it’s a standalone.

The story of the series is Lucky Luke has an arrest onto the four identical yet size variant Dalton Brothers. In “The Daltons In The Blizzard”, Lucky Luke searches for the The Daltons close to Canada. (I assure you, this is not going to be a crossover with Dudley Do-Right). In “Ma Dalton”, the Daltons’ mom has broken out her 4 sons. The third one I couldn’t find a English version of “The Daltons Redeem Themselves”, but I have a wild guess the Daltons become good, but will go bad at the end. Luke does it for justice and follows the Code of the West. No connection to C.O.W.Boys of Moo Mesa. BTW, IMDB, why don’t you list that show in the western listing? It’s an obscure western!

What do we know about the Daltons? The tall one is dumb, as the short is smart leader. The middles are forgettable. Personalities are more manchilds yet organized. This is more shown the result of Ma Dalton how overbearing and neglectful she is.  Interesting how the Daltons have their own movie and spin-off show. Lucky Luke got rebooted by Xilan, the French Company who did Space Goof, who is one of those few people who can capture the Hanna Barbara spirit, yet can’t get close with Oggy & The Cockroaches. I’m not going to review the reboot, as it would review almost the same thing.  This might work since the original show is focused more on them than anyone else. The characters are more engaging than A Man From Button Willow. Yes, a Hanna Barbara upstaged Detige. Granted, Lucky Luke is calm and bland, but he’s more proactive than Justin Eagle. The horse nags as much as the prehistoric creatures in Flintstones, yet fitting. The dog is Clumsy Smurf dumb; barely get anything right, constantly saved, and will eventually do right at the end. Unlike Clumsy Smurf and Brainy Smurf, the dog is useful sniffing out the Daltons.

The music was by Claude Bolling, and lyric by Shuki Levy, and Haim Saban. Yes, you read that right, the creator of the music of Inspector and showrunner of Power Rangers. It’s not their strongest music, but a step up from Detige’s sister or wife’s music in The Man From Button Willow. This makes me wonder if Saban reused the Lucky Luke’s music into their later TV shows similar to how the music from their Little Mermaid series, to Masked Rider, to Spiderman, to Richie Rich Christmas, and into Digimon.

Just like The Dragon That Wasn’t, I wish to mention the voice actor, but they only credit the original foreign actors. Maybe it’s an early 80’s thing when they don’t have the budget to redo the end credits. I swear the leader Daltons is voiced by Frank Welker in his Mr. Plotz range.

Overall, Lucky Luke is an interesting western animated TV show. I don’t think I would rewatch this show, but I’ll watch this show more times than Man From Button Willow. The next show to review is first arc of Yakari, the reboot series, not the original series, somehow. Hopefully I can finish some of the westerns films before I get to the Christmas films.