I am not sure how many card or board games like Exploding Kittens have been made into feature films or television series. However, the idea is hardly objectionable, given the success of franchises like Jumanji, Pokemon, and last year’s hysterical Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. You have more hits and Battleship-sized misses.
However, Exploding Kittens is an idea that is a breath of dark, rank air. Executive-produced by great comedy writers such as Greg Daniels (The Office) and Mike Judge (Beavis and Butt-head), Exploding Kittens is the “what the f*ck” animated series we have been waiting for that reinvigorates the genre. I loved every hilarious, edgy, and subversive moment of it.
That does not even take into account how smart and savvy the series is by the season’s end.
Netflix’s Exploding Kittens Review and Synopsis
Netflix’s Exploding Kittens tells a tale as old as time. You know the deal when God’s colleagues get sick of his sanctimonious act and send him packing as a pudgy white house cat. That’s what happens to God (voiced by Tom Ellis), who finds himself under the roof of the Higgins family, a clan of out-of-shape, socially challenged, and behaviorally frenetic humans that Godcat cannot stand.
The problem with God is that while he acts all high and mighty, he performs very few good deeds. He hopes to ‘help’ the Higgins family so he cannot return through those pearly gates. However, standing in his way is Beelzebub (Sasheer Zamata), who has taken over for the Devil, and her ingenious torture methods lack the traditional flair expected from the Devil’s advocates.
Together, they find that they may need each other more than they realize. Of course, how can you have a heaven without hell?
Exploding Kittens is a Hilariously Irreverant Animated Comedy!
The animated Netflix series Exploding Kittens was created for the streaming screen by Matthew Inman and Shane Kosakowski as an adaptation of The Oatmeal’s uber-popular party game of the same name. Inman and Kosakowski expand on the game’s spirit by subverting expectations with a hilarious take on the fine line that separates heaven and hell.
This is brilliantly depicted in the series’ second episode, titled “Tartar Recall,” in which both former governing bodies discover they have more in common than they thought while embracing joy and despair, good and evil, that can easily cross over, all while working in Marv Higgin’s big box store with side-splitting hilarity.
I’m not sure you will see a more self-assured and irreverent comedy all year.
Is Netflix’s Exploding Kittens Worth Watching?
Netflix’s Exploding Kittens is worth watching for the voice cast and the brilliant comedy team of Inman, Kosakowski, Daniels, and Judge, who have their fingers all over this series. Ellis and Zamata are pitch-perfect here. Also, let’s not forget Shortcomings and the Big Door Prize’s Ally Maki brings a frenetic, crazy energy that is on point and somehow balances out the show nicely.
The series takes relatable characters in everyday situations and combines the absurdity of cats with anger problems with a sharp wit and social commentary that is hard to find in most comedies. Give Netflix’s Exploding Kittens a chance before it blows up in your face.
You can stream the animated series Exploding Kittens only on Netflix.
8/10
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