the fearless Cuphead and his inseparable brother Mugman make the leap to small screens while preserving the spirit of video games: The Cuphead series! It is a constant succession of surreal adventures that boldly and successfully drink from classic animation but, at the same time, accommodate what the current public expects. To the Cuphead fans, of course, and also to the little ones in the house.
A series whose dozen episodes have the run and gun from Jared Moldenhauer beyond the artistic, based on small winks and great references, but which has also been produced to fascinate viewers of Sponge Bob, The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse O The amazing world of Gumball. Squeezing the 10 minutes that each chapter lasts to offer pure visual entertainment.
And it is that Cuphead had his own animated series was a minor formality. Mere matter of time. MDHR Studio was inspired by the animation style of Fleischer Studios and the first animated works of waltdisney oh go Warner Bros. to bring a visual identity to a classic and challenging action game. King Features Syndicate and Netflix Animation They pick up that witness, give new dimensions to their characters and take everything to their field.
As a result, The Cuphead Series! works great as a series. Providing surreal humor and the classic formula of two Terrible Child (What Naughty daniel or our loved ones Zipi and Zape) who, based on pranks, end up in all kinds of trouble without ever offering morality lessons. In fact, and luckily for everyone, The Cuphead Series! you don’t need them either.
Logically, finding the right tone for all audiences -more specifically for the smallest of the house- has its consequences: although the animation is fluid and superb, do not expect to find in The Cuphead Series!
In fact, the vast majority of its plot premises and gags are a constant already seen for those of us who have grown up watching the Animated fantasies of yesterday and today waves Silly Symphonies from Disney. Cupheadthe video game, drank from them and The Cuphead Series! even more. Although the result, as we will see, is closer to the current Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon drawings than to the animation classics.
Cuphead and Mugman, the Zipi and Zape of Netflix with two extra cups of surrealism
Like any child his age, the mischievous brothers Cuphead and Mugman they have a special predisposition to get into trouble. Cuphead is impulsive and reckless. He acts without thinking too much about the consequences. Mugman, however, is more cautious and responsible, although not enough to have a history of misdeeds and pranks behind him, to say the least, worrying.
The brothers live in the care of the old man teapot in a house relatively far from the city and his biggest concern in life is how to take time away from his housework to dedicate it entirely to having fun. However, his latest escapade to the amusement park has put the cups in real trouble.
Cuphead ended up losing his own soul to the Devil himself by trying his luck on one of the park’s attractions. Taking into account that in this universe anthropomorphic cups coexist with three-headed dragons, ghosts with a desire for jokes and boxing frogs, it is not the strangest thing that is shown on the screen.
Unfortunately for the prince of darkness, Cuphead and Mugman manage to end up postponing their mortal debt before the end of each episode. And that will generate a dynamic between the brothers and the Devil that is sometimes reminiscent of the cartoons of Tom and Jerry and in others to Coyote’s plans to catch the Roadrunner.
The Cuphead Series! It consists of twelve self-concluding episodes of approximately ten minutes. Something less if we remove the lead and the credits. All of them follow the pranks of the brothers managing to place and give prominence, quite successfully, to the bosses and scenes of the video game. Of course, the biggest difference with the game is that neither Cuphead nor Mugman solve their problems by jumping, rolling or shooting with their fingers, but rather by ingenuity and very little shame.
the tone of The Cuphead Series! inherits the style of the animated classics, mixing comedy and paranormal elements. Rounding it all out with a very careful animation and frequently resorting to clowning and humor out of the blue. Successfully combining the spirit of Fleischer Studios with the surreal humor of Ren and Stimpy O Sponge Bob. And the truth is that the way of mixing both styles works wonderfully.
And even though The Cuphead Series! It is very entertaining, it also has its own Achilles heel if we see it through the eyes of an adult viewer: each and every one of its jokes, plots and jokes have already appeared in those series and animated shorts to which they pay homage. There is room for new ideas, of course, but they are barely given screen footage between the very measured ten minutes of each episode.
Don’t get me wrong:The Cuphead Series! it works and is liked beyond its careful animation and through the chemistry of its characters, its delirious reactions and the tremendous game that its animated world gives, but also its chapters are a succession of ideas, scenes and gags that, at this point in the game, it is quite likely that you have already seen it a dozen times elsewhere.
And despite this, The Cuphead Series! It makes the promised second batch of Cuphead and Mugman adventures that its final episode brings us forward to generate very attractive. Not only for fans of video games or small devourers of animated series, but for those who missed the entertainment and fun of that abstract and not very defined concept known as the cartoons of all life.
iGamesNews’s opinion
The Cuphead Series! It is the perfect example that to properly adapt a video game to the small or large screen, it and its contents They must adjust to the new environment. Netflix does not turn its back on the enormous work of MDHR Studio, but rather uses it as a base to create its own animated project, staying true to its style and tone. And that, no matter how you look at it, it is a complete success.
Because Cuphead and Mugman are relatively recent characters, but they have a very special and exceptional depth that goes beyond the video game. Enough to have his own merch line with Funkos, cereal, art books, and of course mugs. As if to say present in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate through the costumes for the Mii Fighters. As much, as to have its own animated series.
For its part, The Cuphead Series! It represents a very strong boost for the brand that is very well channeled: An overwhelming charm, the episode that puts the finishing touch to this first batch of episodes, has ties with Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course, the long-awaited and long-announced DLC that will give continuity to the work of MDHR Studio.
And, in the process, the final episode of The Cuphead Series! introduces us to its new star: Ms. Chalice, a character who is not only able to keep up with Cuphead and Mugman, but has what it takes to win over the viewer and get the mischievous brothers into new and bigger trouble. Once again, a total success in the face of this adaptation that, very wisely, leaves us wanting more mischief.
The Cuphead Series! continues the tradition of unruly children of the comic initiated long before the animation to which the video game pays homage began to be projected; inheriting and taking to his land the comics of Max and Moritz O The Katzenjammer Kids or their own Zipi and Zape. And despite the fact that none of this has been seen in the video game, it fits like a glove with the series itself as well as with the characters created for the game.
And, in the process, Netflix is consecrated by revalidating its success when it comes to bringing video games to your platform taking into account both video games and the audience they can reach. He already did it with Castlevania, he surprised us again with Arcane and, to everyone’s delight, The Cuphead Series! It has also been a pleasant success.
