Created by Hulu and produced by Steven Spielberg, The Animaniacs return for their third and final season, going out with one last set of misadventures. After two really good seasons of this revival, I was saddened to learn that this third season would be their last, so I was hoping it would end on a good note, especially if this was really going to be the last time we see these beloved characters.
After watching all 10 episodes I can say that they were great as a season, delivering a fun batch of comedic misadventures, featuring the Warner Siblings, Pinky & the Brain, and other characters, but as a series conclusion I definitely feel it could have been way stronger, especially with its ending.
But before discussing the issues let’s discuss the main positives of the season starting with the animation, voice acting, and sketches. The animation is perfect across the board just like with previous seasons and it was fun to see them again explore new animation styles for certain skits that made them all the funnier. All the expected slapstick hijinks are still present and absolutely hilarious thanks to the slick animation, but mainly it’s the writing and voice acting that truly carried the comedic charm of this season.
Rob Paulsen, Jess Harnell, Tress MacNeille, Maurice LaMarche, and countless others gave their full effort in their performances, giving us great jokes and keeping true to the insane nature of the characters even after all these years. Everyone is passionate about all these characters and didn’t hesitate to be their very best for this final season, and we even have some characters evolve a bit through new stories and over-the-top parodies. It was amazing how much was layered into this season, with a frequent amount of jokes that most younger audiences wouldn’t get but adults certainly would. You have easy hits such as the aforementioned parodies of pop culture that include things like Mad Max Fury Road and Groundhog Day to name a few, as well as frequent jabs at big franchises, famous celebrities, video games, and of course their favorite target being the Warner Bros studio, which after the controversial few years the studio has had the Animaniacs had a lot of material to work with.
But there were also a lot of jokes outside of pop culture that were cleverly written and wonderfully executed by the cast and animation team. And then there were some really edgy and intellectual jokes that they throw out that may go over the heads of some people but I certainly didn’t miss them and I ended up having to pause at some points because of just how hard I was laughing. They were able to get away with a lot just like the first season and I absolutely loved it. That combined with some hilariously written songs all sung brilliantly by the cast, it felt like an endless supply of comedy to enjoy at every level.
So with so many good sketches and absolutely gut-busting humor, I was hoping it was going to build up to an ending that was going to be so off the rails zany that it would really cap the revival off with a bang.
(What should have been a big bang felt like a rushed bang in the final sketches of the last episode that tries tying up everything all at once even though it seemed earlier episodes were setting up for something else entirely. A lot of things were left hanging and the way they chose to deal with it in their final episode felt a bit underwhelming. I thought things could have been a lot crazier and go all out, delivering a series ending that would be memorable for fans of the show especially if this was going to be the last time seeing these characters. But sadly I feel it didn’t really do that despite the sketches of the final episodes themselves being funny.
Now granted I do understand that the cast of these characters isn’t getting any younger and that they are potentially ready to retire from this series for good so I get why they would want to stop at three seasons. I wish though that the ending could have been a lot better. The revival as a whole is awesome and I don’t believe this conclusion ruins the series in any way, compared to something like Dexter, but I only wish that it finished as strong as it started. This third season is worth watching because it’s guaranteed to give you good laughs and joy on any day that you need it. I’m definitely going to miss these characters and their zany antics but they certainly left an awesome legacy behind that I feel doesn’t get appreciated enough. I’m going to give Animaniacs Season 3 a B+ = 89.
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