Season Review: Toon World Express Season One
Overview (Spoilers Below):
A late-night animated comedy ride to Toon World delivers twisted shorts from indie creators like David Firth, Michael Cusack, and more.
Our Take:
It’s usually nice to see animation thrive on streaming, especially when it’s made by some young creators whose ideas are bigger and bolder than Hollywood’s and AI. While some of their animated creations are admired for their unique presentations, others go far beyond their “harmless” appearances with their layered meanings and nightmare fuel. This latest animated series from Tubi is no different, as these creators come together to showcase their creativity during this wacky train ride to who knows where. Toon World Express is another example of the phrase “don’t judge a book by its cover”, in which it has an appearance of a kid-friendly, late-night-like educational program, as evidenced in Conductor Dave’s segments. However, at its core, it’s essentially an adult-rated series of various acid trips filled with language and disturbing content that’ll leave people scarred for weeks.
I would describe Toon World Express as a late-night skit show that Adult Swim would usually air at midnight, particularly “Robot Chicken”. While it contains several short films that parody pop culture, such as “Mythbusters” and Spider-Man, it mostly consists of original skits that highlight the creators’ twisted imaginations. In a way, it’s akin to viewing various creepypastas on YouTube at midnight, except you can view them anytime and still get pretty messed up in the head. First off, I do admire the creativity in the show’s various animation styles, especially those akin to those on YouTube created by Adobe and Toon Boom Harmony. However, when it comes to the shorts and the host segments in between, this train ride can get a bit too weird for its own good.
There are several short films I liked a bit more than others, including those by Steve Cutts, which feature his metaphorical reflections. One such example is “Happiness”, which follows a rat as it tries various ways to be happy, often ending in depression. It provided a basic yet layered metaphorical reflection of false happiness in a world populated by thousands of rats. As for the others, they tried a bit too hard to emphasize their weirdness, while some suffered from draggy pacing and dull comedy, including the Sonic shirt skit. Not to mention, the host segments weren’t as witty with their misdirected appearance as they hoped they would be. In short, Toon World Express is no “Robot Chicken”, even if the animation styles were worthy of their various creativities. You might be better off watching animated YouTube videos.
