Pretty much all of the later series from Hanna Barbera included a group of snot nosed teens solving crime along with some odd sidekick. After “Scooby Doo” the company repeated the successful formula thirty times with varied results. Often times it was incredibly awful like “Jabberjaw” and sometimes it was fun like “Space Ghost.” One of the last Hanna Barbera shows to feature that awkward laugh track addition, “Captain Caveman” mixes the studios odd fixation on the stone age, with crime solving teens, and the whole “Scooby Doo” formula to create a pretty decent animated adventure show.
Tag Archives: Comedy
Help! It's the Hair Bear Bunch!: The Complete Animated Series (DVD)
“Help! It’s the Hair Bear Bunch!” is best left for nostalgia fans and animation collectors. While it’s by no means the worst of the Hanna Barbera animated shows, it’s yet another of their derivative titles. If you think you’ve seen “Help! It’s the Hair Bear Bunch!” before then you have. It was called “Yogi Bear.”
5 Shows We're Not Afraid to Admit We're Nerdy About
I often get the “Really? You like this?!” response whenever I speak about my enjoyment for Disney shows. You know what? Some people watch reality shows to pass the time, I watch Disney sitcoms and cartoons to escape from reality, and it offers some genuinely good laughs and entertainment. You’re only as old as you feel, and I am very experimental when it comes to kids’ shows. They’re not always winners, but when I hit one that entertains me, I tune in regularly. These are five we love without shame.
Heavy Nova (2013)
I really enjoy the fact that director Peter Leon has access to these incredible special effects, and pretty much just stages a murder mystery aboard a space ship. This premise could have been set anywhere, and that’s why the movie is so fun and creative. The humor doesn’t always land, but when it does, it’s pretty good. The special effects for the most part are spectacular (including the green screen), and I enjoyed how the establishing shots in space put you in the atmosphere of this science fiction comedy.
Butcher Boys (2013)
“Butcher Boys” is one half “Judgment Night” and one half of “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” but in an urban setting. With a rash of disappearances occurring all over the city, two groups of people find themselves lost in the ghettos of an urban neighborhood. After a prank goes awry, two young men get beaten and killed by three psychotic armed thugs. The group that inflicted the prank realize too late that they’ve come across a lethal and dangerous group of kidnappers, many of whom are taking tourists and locals hostage for nefarious purposes.
The Moleman of Belmont Avenue (2013)
I can appreciate what the director of “The Moleman…” is going for, but with his indie horror comedy, it often felt like a misfire in every sense. The DVD cover is quick to compare this to “Shaun of the Dead,” but while they were losers, they were at least likable. It’s really tough to empathize or root for two main characters who lure an old man to dinner to have him be eaten by the mole man, or are so stupid they leave a box of kittens in the trunk of their car and accidentally suffocate them all. I should be rooting for them, the script says, but in reality I just found them to be complete morons.
Monday Movie Pause: Die Hard 12: Die Hungry
It’s hard to believe that most of us likely found humor in this sketch from “The Ben Stiller Show” because we didn’t think the “Die Hard” movie series would go beyond three parts. Oh boy how wrong we were. How wrong we were.
In either case, this hilarious spoof of the “Die Hard” movies is so accurate, it’s kind of depressing. But still so damn funny.