Review: Kirby Buckets ”Cars, Buses, and Lawnmowers”
Spoilers Below
Programming and the overall idea of having an imagination is a practice that is all but dead now. Instead of kids going outside to build forts or run around in circles until they fall down, we’ve seen them turn into mobile device zombies that are more obsessed with getting a bunch of Facebook likes rather than needing to wash their hands and face before dinner after an afternoon’s worth of play.
Kirby Buckets is the first-time a live-action series has successfully taken the charm of old-school TV featuring kids playing Cowboys and Indians, and meshed it with the modern age. For those that don’t know, Kirby Buckets is a live-action series featuring a kid with a wild imagination whom wants to one day grow up and be a professional cartoonist. His friends, Eli and Fish, do everything they can to back their buddy up as Kirby deals with the trials and tribulations of being a growing boy. Whether it’s dealing with a ‘Clown Town’, avoiding bullies, or fighting off Kirby’s evil sister Dawn, Eli and Fish do what they can to stave off the outside world all the while Kirby is meshing the real world with an animated one. Kirby’s parents seem like easy-going and chill peeps who do their best at holding on to their kids sneakers while he floats off into la-la land.
Jacob Bertrand plays the role of ‘Kirby’, and right away you can’t help but draw comparisons to a Seth MacFarlane Jr. He’s got Seth’s smile, quick joke reflexes, and has a good stomach for gross humor. And yes, in terms of over-the-top, Kirby Buckets is as crazy a show as Disney has ever aired and it’s hysterical. Fart jokes and puking is readily available here, and even the Titmouse-produced cartoons show shades of the old-school Ren & Stimpy variety from the mid-90s. Mix that in with a live-action series that is produced and directed differently than anything else on Disney XD. No fake laugh tracks, and genuinely funnier dialogue makes this one stand out from the tired live-action formulas that seem to inundate Disney XD.
That’s not to say Kirby Buckets is without its flaws, Cade Sutton (Eli) and Mekai Curtis (Fish) are good but fit predetermined molds. Eli plays the lovable, heavy-set oaf that says dumb shit and eats whatever. Fish is a bit more of a lost cause as he wears ridiculous outfits and acts as the one kid among the group that is maybe a bit-too grounded for his peers. Olivia Stuck is pretty good as ‘Dawn’, though I think she has to dial things back JUST a tad as sometimes she tries a bit TOO hard in some scenes.
Look, the last-time Disney XD tried an animated character in a live-action sitcom setting, we got Crash and Bernstein and that really went nowhere. Kirby Buckets fixes that, and while Star Wars Rebels may be getting the hot press, viewers should be keeping tabs on this one…your imagination may thank you one day.
