Craig of the Creek sets out to be a fun slice of life show about a group of kids going on adventures by their local creek. As much as I wanted to get behind the show based on its premise alone, its execution was far too boring for my taste. From the formulaic writing to the one note characters, this show has the unfortunate distinction of being among Cartoon Network's most forgettable shows.
Created by Steven Universe alumni Matt Burnett and Ben Levin, this show follows 3 kids as the go on adventures in and around their local creek. The premise makes this show show far more interesting than it actually is. In practice, each episode follows a very basic plot with little to no surprises. I knew exactly who had the last book in The Final Book, I saw the chaos Craig would ensue by freeing the dogs in Wildernessa a mile away, and I audibly groaned when I easily predicted Craig committed blasphemy in the climax of Dog Decider. Not helping is the show is not funny with its humor being either gross out, predicable awkward situations and weak prat falls. There's also this running gag of Kelsey narrating to herself, which comes across more like a distracting road block than a funny gag. The only thing that sets this show above Cartoon Network's worst written shows is the clever world building. They really made a strong community at the creek with a local store, their own currency, different demographics hanging out and unique games for them to play. I especially like the idea of Bring Out Your Beasts, which is clearly inspired by Yu-Gi-Oh. That episode was painfully boring, but the way they explain the rules of the card game was nonetheless clever. The best episode I saw before calling it after 20 was Vulture's Nest due to the inclusion of a very reasonable and helpful band called Bad Moves. As alright as that episode was, it was no where near good enough for me to continue watching, especially when the rest of the cast is just flat.
The characters in this show are all varying degrees of one dimensional and dull. Starting with our titular hero, Craig is a young explorer and the defacto leader of the trio...and that's it, he never grows or changes beyond that. He's a very basic kid that just goes through the motions of each episode. Kelsey's character begins and ends with her being a "mighty warrior" with her canary Mortimer resting on her head. John Paul (JP for short) is the tall dimwitted kid that says random things and is generally clumsy. If that sounds oddly familiar, that's because JP is basically Ed from Ed, Edd n Eddy but not nearly as memorable, quotable or even as funny. Other characters such as the Junior Forest Scouts, the Elders of The Creek (actually a trio of teenagers), the Horse Girls and the Tea Timers begin and end with their respective archetypes. Craig's family though is underwhelming at best because they're also lacking in much personality and only make small appearances in the show. Nicole (Craig's Mom) seems caring enough, Duane (Craig's Dad) seems fun enough, Jessica (Craig's sister) is very smart and precocious, and Craig's grandparents are a couple kind and wise old folk. The worst character in the show though is Bernard, Craig's older brother. Like Brad from Kick Buttowski, he has this strong resent meant for Craig for no specified reason, he's generally rude and is a big suck up for his girlfriend. He's made slightly less of a jerk by the end of Bring Out Your Beast, but I still hated that he resented Craig even when they were younger. While he's not as bad as Brad, he's still a bad older brother who should know better.
The voice acting is passable, but not too many outstanding performances pop up. Phillip Solomon gave an alright performance as Craig, making him sound chipper and optimistic enough. I honestly wish though that he was given more material to work with. Noel Wells did a pretty decent job voicing Kelsey, but her voice doesn't always come out like a child and often Kelsey sounds like a teenager when she's supposed to be 8. H. Michael Croner falls into the unfortunate miscasting of voicing an 11 year old JP as he sounds absolutely nothing like a kid. Maybe if this show were more exaggerated it could work, but as it is it's just very distracting. While it's nice to hear Phil LaMarr's voice, the voice he gives Bernard sounds too similar to one of his most famous performances, Virgil Hawkins from Static Shock. Terry Crews, Kimberly Hebert Gregory, Lucia Cunningham, Phil Morris and Saundra McClain all gave solid performances as the rest of Craig's family, though I wish they were in more episodes to grow their personalities (I'm not watching the rest of the show so don't ask -.-). Most of the other actors as well as the shows creators gave decent enough performances as the other characters in the cast but Andree Vermeulen was very good as Eliza. I actually though the character was voiced by Grey DeLisle due to her devilsh personality, so I was pleasantly surprised when I found out otherwise. The cast does a decent job voicing the characters, but only a select few go above and beyond with their performances.
Visually, the show does have some nice animation. The character designs are very unique and reflects the personality of each of the characters. JP is the tallest of the trio yet his shirt is noticable too big for him. Kelsey is the shortest yet feels larger than life with the addition of her sword (which is actually a PVC pipe). I really like the way the black characters are designed, as they have simplistic yet distinct appearances to them. The character animation moves smoothly and the animation really pops during moments of action. The backgrounds are also very well detailed and the creek itself looks like a quaint wood area with a flowing stream, lots of trees and large wide open spaces.
While not one of Cartoon Network's worst shows, Craig of the Creek is still nonetheless a disappointment. Good animation and clever world building weren't enough for me to get pass the formulaic writing, unfunny humor, one dimensional characters and passable at best voice acting. If you're looking for a good slice of life show that takes place in the woods, Little Bear is available for free on YouTube. It's unfortunate that my opinion on the show hasn't changed since I watched the pilot back in 2018. To conclude, Craig of the Creek is most certainly among Cartoon Network's most forgettable shows and I'm not likely going to think about it after this review :/
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