Going into Fancy Nancy, I figured this would be a cute show for my niece to enjoy. However, I felt like the biggest fool watching this show because of how obnoxious it was in its execution. From the terrible writing to the bratty main character, this show doesn't make a very convincing case to live a privileged lifestyle.
Developed by Anne Smith and Krista Tucker, this show is adapted from the children's book of the same name written by Joy O'Connor and illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser. The show follows a young girl named Nancy and how she lives her life in the fanciest way possible. Right off the bat we have a first problem with the show: it's written in a way that portrays it's audience like underprivileged pesents. It goes on and on how important being fancy is and why it's the best way to live while also talking down to the audience as if they're under 3 or otherwise just plain stupid. Each episode has a basic plot done a thousand times and ends exactly the way you expect it too. Nancy tries to teach her friends how to be fancy, they don't like it. Nancy gives her sister, JoJo, an imaginary friend, JoJo spends more time with that than Nancy. Nancy tries helping her Dad work from home, she ends up making things worse. These tired plots are made worse with superfluous daydream sequences that pad out the runtime and 4th wall breaks that explain phrases young kids would be smart enough to know on their own. We now the French word for fantastic is the alsame as the English word but with a "que" at the end, we know "immediately" means right now, we know disaster means "very bad." Constantly explaining what these easy to understand words makes you come across as obnoxious and a passive aggressive brat who thinks very little of your audience. The biggest sin this show commits, though, is not being remotely funny with all the attempts at jokes being very predictable in set up and lousy in execution. I don't remember reading the books, but if the writing is anything like this, I'm glad I don't remember.
The characters are mostly dull archetypes that don't leave a lasting impression. The one exception to this is Nancy herself as she is an AWFUL main character! She makes Mimi Mortimor look like Wonder Woman; that's how bad she is. Nancy is an obnoxious, spoiled, and snobbish brat that cares too much about being fancy to be a good kid. She constantly bosses her sister around and cries crocodile tears to her parents when she doesn't get her way. She also breaks the 4th wall to explain simple phrases. Her parents aren't much better as they enable her bratty behavoir and don't see the long-term ramifications of their terrible parenting skills. Hey Doug, Claire! 10 years from now, your daughter is going to be a mean, nasty, and snobbish teenager who puts other girls down for not being as pretty or fancy as her! And you 2 will only have yourselves to blame! JoJo a typical 3 year old who butts in, whines, pouts and makes a mess. Bree is a parrot for Nancy, Lionel is an unfunny class clown, Rhonda and Wanda are blank twins that go along with everything, and Grace is the generic spoiled brat in the show.
The voice acting for these characters is actually really good. Mia Sinclair Jenness sounds very upbeat and lively as Nancy. Dana Heath sounds very lively as Bree and she and Mia have great chemistry together. Spencer Moss did a superb job voicing a 3 year old with JoJo. Alyson Hannigan and Rob Riggle sounded very natural and upbeat as Nancy and JoJo's parents. Ruby Jay did a really good job giving Rhonda and Wanda distinct voices. Malachi Barton sounded very lively as Lionel. Dialogue director Sam Riegel deserves major props for bringing out the best in his actors.
Visually, the animation is really good, which is no surprise considering it's Disney. The character designs take the illustrations from the book and translate the seamlessly into 3D. The characters have big expressive eyes, unique hair styles and appropriate attire. Given that this is a show that involves characters dressing up, the dresses and costumes are all well crafted and look very vibrant and colorful. The character animation has a smooth flow to them with the characters having very natural walk cycles and unique facial expressions. The backgrounds are also very well detailed with the yard and the house looking very well crafted and having a lot of small details that make it feel lived in. For as bad as this show is, it still has some quality animation from Disney.
I've never felt so insulted by a show for small children. Fancy Nancy is an obnoxiously bad show with terrible writing, an awful main character, flat supporting characters and nonexistent humor. Sure the animation and voice acting are good, but that's not nearly enough to give this a good recommendation. If you want a really good show about a girl living a fun lifestyle, watch JoJo's Circus. It's a show about a young clown girl living in the circus. The best part is, JoJo doesn't talk down to it's audiences like Fancy Nancy -.-
Developed by Anne Smith and Krista Tucker, this show is adapted from the children's book of the same name written by Joy O'Connor and illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser. The show follows a young girl named Nancy and how she lives her life in the fanciest way possible. Right off the bat we have a first problem with the show: it's written in a way that portrays it's audience like underprivileged pesents. It goes on and on how important being fancy is and why it's the best way to live while also talking down to the audience as if they're under 3 or otherwise just plain stupid. Each episode has a basic plot done a thousand times and ends exactly the way you expect it too. Nancy tries to teach her friends how to be fancy, they don't like it. Nancy gives her sister, JoJo, an imaginary friend, JoJo spends more time with that than Nancy. Nancy tries helping her Dad work from home, she ends up making things worse. These tired plots are made worse with superfluous daydream sequences that pad out the runtime and 4th wall breaks that explain phrases young kids would be smart enough to know on their own. We now the French word for fantastic is the alsame as the English word but with a "que" at the end, we know "immediately" means right now, we know disaster means "very bad." Constantly explaining what these easy to understand words makes you come across as obnoxious and a passive aggressive brat who thinks very little of your audience. The biggest sin this show commits, though, is not being remotely funny with all the attempts at jokes being very predictable in set up and lousy in execution. I don't remember reading the books, but if the writing is anything like this, I'm glad I don't remember.
The characters are mostly dull archetypes that don't leave a lasting impression. The one exception to this is Nancy herself as she is an AWFUL main character! She makes Mimi Mortimor look like Wonder Woman; that's how bad she is. Nancy is an obnoxious, spoiled, and snobbish brat that cares too much about being fancy to be a good kid. She constantly bosses her sister around and cries crocodile tears to her parents when she doesn't get her way. She also breaks the 4th wall to explain simple phrases. Her parents aren't much better as they enable her bratty behavoir and don't see the long-term ramifications of their terrible parenting skills. Hey Doug, Claire! 10 years from now, your daughter is going to be a mean, nasty, and snobbish teenager who puts other girls down for not being as pretty or fancy as her! And you 2 will only have yourselves to blame! JoJo a typical 3 year old who butts in, whines, pouts and makes a mess. Bree is a parrot for Nancy, Lionel is an unfunny class clown, Rhonda and Wanda are blank twins that go along with everything, and Grace is the generic spoiled brat in the show.
The voice acting for these characters is actually really good. Mia Sinclair Jenness sounds very upbeat and lively as Nancy. Dana Heath sounds very lively as Bree and she and Mia have great chemistry together. Spencer Moss did a superb job voicing a 3 year old with JoJo. Alyson Hannigan and Rob Riggle sounded very natural and upbeat as Nancy and JoJo's parents. Ruby Jay did a really good job giving Rhonda and Wanda distinct voices. Malachi Barton sounded very lively as Lionel. Dialogue director Sam Riegel deserves major props for bringing out the best in his actors.
Visually, the animation is really good, which is no surprise considering it's Disney. The character designs take the illustrations from the book and translate the seamlessly into 3D. The characters have big expressive eyes, unique hair styles and appropriate attire. Given that this is a show that involves characters dressing up, the dresses and costumes are all well crafted and look very vibrant and colorful. The character animation has a smooth flow to them with the characters having very natural walk cycles and unique facial expressions. The backgrounds are also very well detailed with the yard and the house looking very well crafted and having a lot of small details that make it feel lived in. For as bad as this show is, it still has some quality animation from Disney.
I've never felt so insulted by a show for small children. Fancy Nancy is an obnoxiously bad show with terrible writing, an awful main character, flat supporting characters and nonexistent humor. Sure the animation and voice acting are good, but that's not nearly enough to give this a good recommendation. If you want a really good show about a girl living a fun lifestyle, watch JoJo's Circus. It's a show about a young clown girl living in the circus. The best part is, JoJo doesn't talk down to it's audiences like Fancy Nancy -.-