i agree that yeah, cartoons can be a lot more engaging and deep than this one appears to be, but this isnt one of those cartoons. they made the two small kids the focus of the show because, believe it or not, the show is for kids and kids relate better to other children than a 40 y/o man.
kids relate to other kids because they're well-fleshed-out characters and are actually relatable, not solely because they're kids
it's kind of hard to see yourself in a walking stereotype that's as bland as dirt, even when you're very young and naive
op is throwing a fit about how this animation has been dumbed down and lost its credibility, but thats the point.
why would it be a smart move to make a cartoon that could be enjoyed by everyone into a cartoon that could only be enjoyed by brain-dead children?
earlier you explained that they're trying to widen the viewer base, but that right there is a glaring contradiction
its more child friendly,
child-friendly is a meaningless loving word
the Sprout channel calls itself "child-friendly", but so does ROBLOX, a website where every few months a game about mass orgies will sneak up to the front page, and a website where you can find plenty of games about guns, dismemberment, and raw violence
remember when Don Bluth said that removing the risk from a story was the best way to appeal to an audience?
oh wait
he actually said that it doesn't matter how dark a story is; if it has a happy ending, kids will be able to take it
if your idea of child-friendly is safe, risk-free entertainment, then I hate to break it to you but the original "Powerpuff Girls" cartoon was not child-friendly by your standards, nor were shows like "Samurai Jack", "Ed, Edd n Eddy", "Steven Universe", and even some episodes of "Looney Tunes" (not even the tribal ones)
yet these cartoons were most popular among kids and even parents could enjoy aspects of it
you see, when I think "child-friendly", I think "watered-down", and that's why I take such issue with it
it still has the same slapstick humor,
no, it has slapstick humor
not the SAME slapstick humor
the reason the slapstick humor was so funny in "850 meters" was because the editing of the short intensified it with moody atmosphere and typical action tropes
you can't take that out and replace it with NOTHING
and the female character is thrown in to appeal to a wider viewer base.
that'd be true, if she were actually a character
im sure if, given the resources, the original creator would have loved to create an entirely different show that held truer to his original animation, but thats not the case. he was given an offer by CN, a channel that makes tv shows primarily geared towards children. and lo and behold, this rendition is geared towards children.
CN makes cartoons
it does not make cartoons exclusively geared towards kids
if that were the truth, a lot of the shows that elevated CN to its current status would not have been aired
and frankly, IDK if it's Joeri's fault the cartoon is like this
if it is, that'd be sad because judging by "850 meters" he had a lot of show-making potential
CN is trying to make money by appealing to the majority of their viewers, not appeal to the much smaller minority of teens that devotedly follow cartoon series.
fair enough
that doesn't excuse it being blander than bland though
