WondLa is now obtainable to stream on Apple TV+.
Take a kid-friendly model of Prime Video’s Fallout adaptation, mix it with Max’s spectacular Scavengers Reign, subtract a number of the violence, and also you’ve obtained WondLa. Alas, if solely the outcomes have been as enjoyable as that sounds. Within the animated Apple TV+ sequence, there are some components which have carried over from Tony DiTerlizzi’s The Search for WondLa, a fancy but nonetheless accessible youngsters’s sci-fi novel about life after the tip of the world. But for each facet that hints at the way it would possibly thoughtfully construct upon the deeper concepts and shocking darkness of the supply materials, there are lots of new makes an attempt at increasing the story that go nowhere. Though showrunner Bobs Gannaway is an animation veteran with a résumé stuffed with Disney movies and TV exhibits, WondLa lacks something approaching the attraction and creativity of these tasks. Instead, it proves to be a superficial adaptation that merely goes by means of the motions.
Right from the bounce, the way in which that WondLa appears instantly feels off. The design of the underground “sanctuary” the place younger protagonist Eva (Jeanine Mason) has been raised is devoid of any of the main points current within the guide, and the character fashions typically really feel stiff. This is most felt with Eva’s robotic caregiver, Muthr (Teri Hatcher), who appears like a knockoff Mii with restricted expressions and not one of the vibrancy that was current within the illustrations from the novel. Changes are inevitable in even the perfect page-to-screen translations, however already there’s a way that this model of WondLa is content material to play most issues down the center and keep away from taking any dangers.
The world outdoors is barely higher, with brighter colours that pop off the display screen, however the designs of the animated landscapes nonetheless can’t maintain a candle to DiTerlizzi’s placing descriptions. It’s this setting that Eva is thrust into on the evening of her sixteenth birthday, after the sanctuary is attacked by the huge Besteel (Chiké Okonkwo). Guided solely by a torn scrap of paper bearing the phrase “WondLa,” she and Muthr encounter mysterious creatures just like the lanky alien Rovender (Gary Anthony Williams) and the telepathic water bear Otto (Brad Garrett) on their journey to discover a new dwelling.
WondLa is the second main venture from Skydance Animation – following 2022’s lackluster Luck – and it gives an additional glimpse of what to anticipate from the studio beneath the steerage of disgraced former Pixar and Disney Animation head John Lasseter. Though this sequence has a stronger basis than Luck, it additionally runs into most of the identical issues when it comes to the way it’s put collectively. (A cutesy reference to Luck doesn’t do it any favors, both.) Both create obstacles that really feel like they’re there because of a insecurity in and endurance with their world-building. A random fetch quest early on in WondLa bogs down the proceedings; you wouldn’t suppose a seven-episode season the place the episodes clock in at beneath half-hour would want padding, however right here we’re. But the strangest allusion to WondLa’s artistic lineage arrives when a personality says they’re not flying, however gliding. It’s inconceivable to not hear this as a rip-off of the long-lasting falling-with-style scene from Lasseter’s unique Toy Story – solely with out the emotional payoff Buzz and Woody earned.
That lack of feeling is WondLa’s largest disappointment. Kids are able to appreciating tales with considerate and complex character dynamics – the recognition of The Search for WondLa proves this. But WondLa misses out on the chance to put out extra considerate journeys for its motley crew by lowering most of them to broad archetypes: Muthr the nagging matriarch, Eva the petulant teen, and Rovender the ornery loner. Rather than authentically develop and alter, they simply bicker for the needs of principally grating, hit-or-miss comedy. Season 1 ends with a tease for extra WondLa on the horizon, which might be promising: DiTerlizzi has two extra books that Gannaway and group would possibly do a greater job with. But the way in which they rush by means of – and even contradict – most of the key closing notes of The Search for WondLa doesn’t precisely instill confidence.
