Review: Munch Rexford: Legendary Poacher “Holy Lion”

Australian-produced animation continues to churn out producers like crazy and this last year is evident of that. Michael Cusack is staring down the third season premiere of Yolo tomorrow night on Adult Swim, Adam Elliot just lost an Oscar in a VERY competitive field for his film Memoir of a Snail, and the underground is just as rife with talent that is ready to make a name for itself here in the United States and possibly world. Enter Millie Holton’s Munch Rexford: Legendary Poacher. 

Munch Rexford was bitten by a dog when he was eight years old and now he’s on a mission to bag rare trophies before his rival Miriam does. In this week’s episode, the target is a Mufasa from Lion King ripoff known as the “Holy Lion” who wastes a lot of time trying to explain to Munch why he shouldn’t kill animals and ends up on the slab anyway.

The art aesthetic is already indicative of a lot of other Australian productions and I love it. Blob characters, gritty backdrops, and an over-the-top premise rife with hysterically-written characters already has me rather interested in seeing more because everything’s funny. The animals and even the look of the woods very much remind me of the good ol’ days of Mr. Pickles when the ravenous Satanic dog also dealt with poachers on a regular basis.

I’m not sure if I’m supposed to be rooting for Munch Rexford to win at his job. At the end of the day he’s trying to exterminate rare species of animals, but the premise of the series is a really good one that could go on for eons if given the chance to. Adult Swim has had good success with Australian-born animation producers before and if they want to make sure they stay ahead of the trend they better get this one right quick otherwise someone else will.