Adapting games into screens is a difficult thing, and sometimes even the best actors don’t help. Many films and series based mainly on plots taken from computer games have learned this (I’m looking at you, Michael Fassbender, pretending to be an assassin in “Assassin’s Creed”). Something that works well as an interactive production doesn’t necessarily work as a linear story that the viewer has no way of intervening in.
An even more difficult task is to translate the language of a board or card game into the language of a film or series. Netflix took on this challenge, adapting the card game under the charming name “Exploding Kitties”. How did it turn out?
“Exploding Kittens”. From Cards to Cartoon, Lucifer God
The card game requires players to weave a bit of strategy and scheming into the game, thanks to which the opponent is the first to explode, drawing an explosive kitten from the deck. In addition to the basic version, the game has several expansions, including at least one exclusively for adult players. It is characterized by absurd pictures with cute or not-so-cute kittens and a funny inscription on each card. There is no plot as such here, so the creators of the animation could show endless creativity and invent everything from scratch.
Exploding Kittens – Card Game Photo: private archive
Shane Kosakowski and Matthew Inman focused on drawings that we know from cards, with slightly overdone jokes that can also be associated with the game. Apart from these details, “Exploding Kittens” in the series version is a free-for-all in terms of plot. Here, in heaven, the “board” came to the conclusion that God had become too detached from people’s problems. Therefore, the supreme being must be – literally – brought to Earth, for example in the form of a cat. The cat-god has retained a small part of his powers and must prove to the board that he is in control of the situation and is able to help people when they ask him for it with prayers. In this whole story, there will also be “Beelzebub” and a family in urgent need of divine intervention.
As a result, we got nine short, barely half-hour animations, in which the strongest points were supposed to be two things. First, the voice of God, played by Tom Ellis. This is a perverse move, as the actor is known for his role as… Lucifer in the series of the same title. However, if in “Lucifer” Ellis, in addition to his voice, also had a quite tempting body, in “Cats” as an animal with a significant degree of obesity can fight for attention practically only with his voice, the name on the payroll and… that’s a bit of it. This is not Benedict Cumberbatch, whose voice is automatically recognized. This is not Henry Cavill, whose “hm” is so characteristic that you can’t mistake him for anyone else. This is Tom Ellis, who is nice to look at in “Lucifer”, and that’s not enough to recognize his voice. The second strong point was supposed to be the jokes, which work quite funny in the form of short mentions on playing cards. In the series, unfortunately, most of them are over the top, forced, or simply not funny. Of course, there are situations where you can snort a little under your breath, but to laugh sincerely… It doesn’t really work.
Exploding Kittens Photo: Netflix
Apart from that, there’s not much left in “Exploding Kitties”. The advantages include the length of the episodes. They are short enough to work well as a “quick Netflix before bed” or “episode while cooking dinner after work”. Unfortunately, the lightness of the formula is not as graceful as it should be, and the jokes are less often than not successful. Perhaps can openers for cats will have much more fun, or rather, sorry, I meant to write cat owners. Although the fact that cats knock objects off the edges of tables and shelves with their fluffy paws is not foreign to me, a joke repeated several times loses its charm. Likewise, the obligatory spitting out of the fluff or rolling in catnip – funny, but not in times when it’s really hard to surprise anyone with something when it comes to cat videos on the internet.
Unfortunately for us viewers, there aren’t many fresh animated comedies on Netflix right now that are both short and genuinely funny. If you’ve seen others in this “type” (like the excellent “Tuca & Bertie,” the award-winning “Bojack Horseman,” or the bizarre “Disenchantment”), “Exploding Kittens” is unfortunately a bit lower-quality and less entertaining than any of the aforementioned titles. And if this is your first brush with cartoons that have fallen into the new category of “adult animation,” then… maybe it’s better to start with something else?
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
