Review: Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur “Moon Girl Landing”

Jesus Christ, for the most part, I’m sick of DCU/MCU films and TV shows. I just think they’ve all become so boring and formulaic and I think the movie-base is responding when they make sequels to Top Gun and Avatar billion dollar box office winners and why Black Adam, even with Dwayne Johnson at the helm, falter. Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse kind of reset everything, but furthermore, it showed the world that you can get a bunch more profit with an animated film that costs a hell of a lot less than the aforementioned efforts and still make $400 million. Sure, Spider-Man is a bit more kid-friendly, but then Demon Slayer: Mugen Train cost even less to make, and made even more at the international box office, so there goes the notion that “animation is for kids”.

Of course, Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur is a kid-friendly animated comedy, but it follows in the zeitgeist of Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse in both its aesthetic and even a premise. In the Disney series, we follow the brilliant, altruistic Lunella Lafayette accidentally brings a dinosaur to the Lower East Side, she finally has the brawn to match her brains and protect her community.

The series stars Diamond White as Lunella/Moon Girl; Fred Tatasciore as Devil Dinosaur; Alfre Woodard as Lunella’s grandmother, Mimi; Libe Barer as Lunella’s best friend and manager, Casey; Sasheer Zamata as Lunella’s mom, Adria; Jermaine Fowler as Lunella’s dad, James Jr.; Gary Anthony Williams as Lunella’s grandfather, Pops; and series executive producer Laurence Fishburne in the recurring role of The Beyonder, a curious and mischievous trickster.  In the premiere episode, we get Alison Brie (“GLOW”) who guest stars as the sinister Aftershock, Utkarsh Ambudkar (“Ghosts”) guest stars as Anand, and Michael Cimino (“Love, Victor”) guest stars as Eduardo.

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles studio Flying Bark Productions does the animation alongside Titmouse and it shows in the technical proficiency, especially in the climax scene, a torrid-paced effort that should satiate fans of Spider-Verse, with a voice-cast to match to boot. Tatasciore’s take as Devil Dinosaur is excellent, a true Clifford the Big Red Dog to pair with White’s “Moon Girl” that works with the latter even getting to showcase some of her X-Factor experience in a bit of song.

The effort is one of the better examples of a Disney network that is going back to taking chances with its animation efforts. Instead of trotting out cookie-cutter shit or trying to match Cartoon Network, Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur is a great way for Disney-Marvel to understand that maybe the future of comic book adaptations is more animation.