Review: Our Cartoon President “State of the Union”

We’ve got our speech.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

The debut episode of Our Cartoon President sees the leader of the free world, Donald Trump, pissed off because his approval ratings on Fox & Friends are down. To fix this, Donald spends the whole episode trying to come up with a motherfucker of State of the Union address that would increase his likeability and get him the ratings that he deserves. Fortunately for him, his ratings do increase, not to perfection, but they are numbers that should be good enough for him. To help celebrate his anniversary in the White House, he tries to make Melania the national bird but that doesn’t go through, so he comes up with an adorable gesture for his sexually frustrated significant other that doesn’t get him laid anyway.

Our Take

For my money, best Donald Trump parody on television is Comedy Central’s The President Show, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t seen other attempts at taking advantage of taking down the President one peg at a time. From singing Trumps on AGT to the growth of stand-up comedy impressions (I hear Steve Byrne has a really good one) to Alec Baldwin on SNL and yes, animated depictions of Donald Trump…everyone’s trying to get in on the action before the end of the first term.

The problem is, this administration’s actions are so bat-shit crazy, that the best way to really go after this fucker is via a variety or a talk show that would be able to keep up. Unless if your animated series’ processes are built like South Park, you’re going to be fighting a losing battle in animation because most cartoons take several months to produce before they air. Fortunately, the producers of Our Cartoon President have managed to find a way to stay relevant to current gags despite the show being animated.

The voice cast is probably as strong as it could possibly be. It features Mel Blanc padawan Jeff Bergman as “Donald Trump”  who gives us a Trump that you may have heard 100 times before, but it’s correct. From Donald’s trademark “Yuuuuuge” to being able to mimic a man that sounds like he’s all sorts of speed, Jeff nails the President to the wall. The rest of the voice cast is very strong with contributions coming from James Adomian, John Viener, and even a guest appearance from the executive producer himself Stephen Colbert.

The art direction is definitely a highly stylized take on the White House that probably owes an allegiance to MAD Magazine in terms of frame of reference. Jeff Sessions’ ears look like they were ripped right from Dumbo and Eric Trump’s upper lip is very off-putting, but it’s fantastic. Moving forward, I’m hoping the series will be able to truly grasp the conventions of animation with that being that there are no conventions and the producers continue to stretch the boundaries of the character designs (Stephen Miller is by far the most deliciously horrifying of the lot) and settings that only animation can provide.

If you’re a die-hard Trump hater, you’re gonna like Our Cartoon President a lot. It features a bevy of the punch lines that you know but with the exciting weapon that is animated television, the bar in the sky is set a bit higher. For those a bit tired of Trump jokes or are conservative, this show may not be for you. I’m not sure the dialogue is that well-written that it truly differentiates itself from the pack of other Trump parodies nor does it take full advantage of most of the voice talent that is onboard here.

In terms of the episode’s premise, it’s actually not too different than what you might see in a Family Guy or The Simpsons. The male head of the household has an issue and spends most of the episode trying to figure out how to fix it. Only, this house features quick access to a nuclear briefcase that any other show would’ve pressed by now. I do like the litany of characters presented, but I would like to see a more bipartisan approach to animated parody, Chuck Schumer, and Nancy Pelosi get off kind of easy,  but the ambition is here and is one that I’m looking forward to seeing more from.