Spoilers Below

After watching a trailer with his family on a film starring Hollywood stars in a story wrongfully depicting Mexico, Don Cheto agitated, reacts and takes the family on a trip to show them what the real Mexico is like. Once they pass the boarder things get out of hand as Don Cheto drives loosely with excitement and decides to make a 20-hour drive to Michoacán instead of a quick stop in Tijuana. His wife starts to complain but Don Cheto soon takes his son’s advice to take what seemed to be a shortcut. In the middle of the desert they think they run into a stranded little boy and pick him up out of sympathy. The boy proves to be a thug of some sort when the police suddenly begin to chase them. In the midst of the chase the boy begins to attack the police with grenades and an automatic as he threatens Don Cheto pistol-whipping him and telling to drive faster. Briancito, his daughter’s son, infuriated punches the little thug out of the window and saves
the day, or so they think. Scared they return quickly to home and find themselves at the boarder with a little surprise their friend left them. Right before they pass the check point Briancito asks Don Cheto “hey grandpa, what’s this?’’ as he holds up a ceiled white block.

At first, I was taken back by the bubbly, computerized forms that seemed to be gliding in the stratosphere of animated cyberspace; but as I continued to watch, I was able to find some appeal under the surface of the obvious direction this Latino comedy was taking. The Intro did not impress me, although it did seem it was trying to give off an ironic cheese ball effect, the animations and the tunes made me and my assumption feel as though it might have been too good to be true. Although Don Cheto does not meet the comedic ranks of the AniDom animated series, “Family Guy,” the cultural relevance behind the Don Cheto concept has great potential to hit the spot for Chicano and Mexican viewers. I found myself chuckling more so at Don Cheto’s son, Carnación, who lead this short episode into a hilarious misadventure in his aim to score a stash on his family vacation. His passive, stoned behavior re invoked that same laugh I get from the likes of Tommy Chong.
What I found most impressive was the excellent job they did on the voices for the characters, it presented a very true to life aspect to the show. From all the quick speech and spastic reclamations Don Cheto has to offer, to every remark made by his family, the spitting image of your typical Chicano family is created here with a sincere characteristic. Overall, this episode didn’t offer many laughs for me but still grabbed my attention and sparked some curiosity as to where the creators are deciding to go with this series. I’d say give it a try and a laugh, whether you are a fan/listener of Don Cheto himself or not.

6/10