Back in 2010, Disney XD premiered this show on the channel. I didn't really watch it mainly because I didn't have the channel. Having sat through half the first season on Disney+, it pains me to say this is NOT an underrated gem I missed out on the decade prior. What we have her is a decently animated cartoon with terrible writing, unfunny humor and a cast of characters that is neither likable nor interesting.
Created by Sandro Corsaro (who would later become the Chief Creative Executive of Fandango), the show follows the titular daredevil as he performs outlandish while living in the town of Mellowbrook. He's accompanied by his best friend, Gunther, and faces many contrivances in his day to day life. I say contrivances instead of obstacles because the first major problem with the show is the conflicts are always forced. In the episode If Books Could Kill, Kick gets his signed book accidentally placed in the book return slot at the library. Instead of waiting until the next day or the librarian simply giving the book (which is NOT property of the library) back, the episode just has Kick break into the library and it's just 11 minutes of mayhem over a book that should've been properly returned in the first place. Episodes like Flush and Release, Snowpacolypse, and Trike X-5 also have the conflict happen due to unbelievable and contrived ways, just to get to the stunt scenes as quickly as possible. Not helping is the fact that it's painfully unfunny. With only 1 or 2 clever gags, most of the jokes are tired, predictable and eye roll inducing. It relies mostly on weak slapstick, cringy puns and a lot of gross out.
As much as I tried to find an actual good character in this show, most of the cast is dull at best and just insufferable at worst. Starting with the title character, Kick is a daredevil...and that's it. His character begins and ends with him being a daredevil who eats, breathes and sleeps adrenalin fueled stunts. His friend, Gunther, isn't much better as he's just there to provide most of the failed gross out humor and be Kick's wing man. The only thing this character has going for him is the vocal performance of Matt Jones (more on that later), and that's not a good sign. Then there's Mr. Vickle, who's the friendly neighbor of Kick and doesn'thate Kick'sstunts as much as everyone else. Had he be in more of the show, I'd say he'd be one of the few bright spots. Not that it would help much as everyone else in Mellowbrook is AWFUL! Kick's parents are one dimensional dimwitts that clearly show favoritism to Kick's sister. Speaking of, I despise Brianna just by her look alone. She's spoiled, selfish, rude, obnoxious and egotistical. Kendall is a spoiled tramp that convinced her father to keep school open on a snow day (if a kid got killed, your father would've gone to jail; hope it was were it -.-), Oskar's just a bad dog, Gunter's parents are stereotypical Nordic people, Glenn just wants to see Kick get in trouble but he never does and Jackie is a stalker who should given a restraining order and not be within 1,000 milles of Kick.
Then there's Kick's older brother, Brad. This character...this freaking character! Like Mitch Williams from Glitch Techs, he single handedly brings this show down a point. He's mean, rude, obnoxious, annoying and pathetic. He frequently calls Kick and Gunther dillweeds, he beats Kick up every chance he gets, he lies to his parents constantly and he's never sorry for any of it. Throughout all the episodes he's appeared in, I kept asking the same question over and over and never get a clear answer: what the flop is Brad's problem?! As the oldest, Brad should be looking out for his brother and setting a good example. Brad should be the first person Kick trusts after Mom and Dad. Brad should NOT under any circumstance be a bully to his brother. I'm a brother and when I made fun of my siblings or hit them in any way, I rightfully got in trouble. There is NO excuse for Brad to be this nasty. If there was an early draft in which Brad and Kick weren't actually related, the creators should've went with that instead of this.
The voice acting from the veteran actors is pretty solid all things considered. For one note as most of the characters are, actors like John DiMaggio, Grey DeLisle, Jeff Bennet and Richard Steven Horvitz were all fairly good in their respective roles. I even though Matt Jones gave a pretty good performance as Gunther as he really sells each line and seems like he was having fun. I also think actors like Brian Doyle-Murray, Kari Walhgren, and Emily Osment were alright in their performances. As much as I despise Brad, Danny Cooksey really shined as the character, making him sound so nasty and surprisingly distinct from his previous antagonist roles such as Hotstreak from Static Shock or Jack Spicer from Xiaolin Showdown. Charlie Schlatter as Kick though was not so good unfortunately. Schlatter sounded less like a daredevil and more like what a non-Sonic fan thinks Shadow The Hedgehog sounds like. He also didn't exert much personality and his tone didn't change based on the character's performance.
Visually, this show looks pretty good and it's clear this is where the creators wanted to hook the audience the most. The character designs are very distint with spherical heads, round eyes and different body types. The character animation is fluid and each character has a smooth walk cycle. The backgrounds are very well detailed as Mellowbrook looks like a real small town with shops, an abandoned bridge and a cul-de-sac. The animation really kicks into high gear during the stunt scenes with some use of 3D animation that blends very well with the 2D.
Kick Buttowski is yet another unfortunate example of concept over execution. Despite pretty good animation and not too shabby vocal performances from the veteran voice actors, the show is still plagued by terrible writing, an insufferable cast of characters, weak humor and a dull leading performance from Charlie Schlatter. Best to just avoid this and watch Wander Over Yonder instead.
Created by Sandro Corsaro (who would later become the Chief Creative Executive of Fandango), the show follows the titular daredevil as he performs outlandish while living in the town of Mellowbrook. He's accompanied by his best friend, Gunther, and faces many contrivances in his day to day life. I say contrivances instead of obstacles because the first major problem with the show is the conflicts are always forced. In the episode If Books Could Kill, Kick gets his signed book accidentally placed in the book return slot at the library. Instead of waiting until the next day or the librarian simply giving the book (which is NOT property of the library) back, the episode just has Kick break into the library and it's just 11 minutes of mayhem over a book that should've been properly returned in the first place. Episodes like Flush and Release, Snowpacolypse, and Trike X-5 also have the conflict happen due to unbelievable and contrived ways, just to get to the stunt scenes as quickly as possible. Not helping is the fact that it's painfully unfunny. With only 1 or 2 clever gags, most of the jokes are tired, predictable and eye roll inducing. It relies mostly on weak slapstick, cringy puns and a lot of gross out.
As much as I tried to find an actual good character in this show, most of the cast is dull at best and just insufferable at worst. Starting with the title character, Kick is a daredevil...and that's it. His character begins and ends with him being a daredevil who eats, breathes and sleeps adrenalin fueled stunts. His friend, Gunther, isn't much better as he's just there to provide most of the failed gross out humor and be Kick's wing man. The only thing this character has going for him is the vocal performance of Matt Jones (more on that later), and that's not a good sign. Then there's Mr. Vickle, who's the friendly neighbor of Kick and doesn'thate Kick'sstunts as much as everyone else. Had he be in more of the show, I'd say he'd be one of the few bright spots. Not that it would help much as everyone else in Mellowbrook is AWFUL! Kick's parents are one dimensional dimwitts that clearly show favoritism to Kick's sister. Speaking of, I despise Brianna just by her look alone. She's spoiled, selfish, rude, obnoxious and egotistical. Kendall is a spoiled tramp that convinced her father to keep school open on a snow day (if a kid got killed, your father would've gone to jail; hope it was were it -.-), Oskar's just a bad dog, Gunter's parents are stereotypical Nordic people, Glenn just wants to see Kick get in trouble but he never does and Jackie is a stalker who should given a restraining order and not be within 1,000 milles of Kick.
Then there's Kick's older brother, Brad. This character...this freaking character! Like Mitch Williams from Glitch Techs, he single handedly brings this show down a point. He's mean, rude, obnoxious, annoying and pathetic. He frequently calls Kick and Gunther dillweeds, he beats Kick up every chance he gets, he lies to his parents constantly and he's never sorry for any of it. Throughout all the episodes he's appeared in, I kept asking the same question over and over and never get a clear answer: what the flop is Brad's problem?! As the oldest, Brad should be looking out for his brother and setting a good example. Brad should be the first person Kick trusts after Mom and Dad. Brad should NOT under any circumstance be a bully to his brother. I'm a brother and when I made fun of my siblings or hit them in any way, I rightfully got in trouble. There is NO excuse for Brad to be this nasty. If there was an early draft in which Brad and Kick weren't actually related, the creators should've went with that instead of this.
The voice acting from the veteran actors is pretty solid all things considered. For one note as most of the characters are, actors like John DiMaggio, Grey DeLisle, Jeff Bennet and Richard Steven Horvitz were all fairly good in their respective roles. I even though Matt Jones gave a pretty good performance as Gunther as he really sells each line and seems like he was having fun. I also think actors like Brian Doyle-Murray, Kari Walhgren, and Emily Osment were alright in their performances. As much as I despise Brad, Danny Cooksey really shined as the character, making him sound so nasty and surprisingly distinct from his previous antagonist roles such as Hotstreak from Static Shock or Jack Spicer from Xiaolin Showdown. Charlie Schlatter as Kick though was not so good unfortunately. Schlatter sounded less like a daredevil and more like what a non-Sonic fan thinks Shadow The Hedgehog sounds like. He also didn't exert much personality and his tone didn't change based on the character's performance.
Visually, this show looks pretty good and it's clear this is where the creators wanted to hook the audience the most. The character designs are very distint with spherical heads, round eyes and different body types. The character animation is fluid and each character has a smooth walk cycle. The backgrounds are very well detailed as Mellowbrook looks like a real small town with shops, an abandoned bridge and a cul-de-sac. The animation really kicks into high gear during the stunt scenes with some use of 3D animation that blends very well with the 2D.
Kick Buttowski is yet another unfortunate example of concept over execution. Despite pretty good animation and not too shabby vocal performances from the veteran voice actors, the show is still plagued by terrible writing, an insufferable cast of characters, weak humor and a dull leading performance from Charlie Schlatter. Best to just avoid this and watch Wander Over Yonder instead.