Tony Cavallario: I didn’t think I could be floored by a cartoon until one night I turned on the TV, still on Cartoon Network from my kids, and stumbled into Patrick McHale’s stunner Over The Garden Wall. The miniseries mixes Brothers Grimm-style creepiness with sweet protagonists and heaps of non-saccharine childhood wonder. The worst I’ve heard about this series is that it’s too twee. You think Miyazaki is twee? You think Daniel Danger prints are twee? Nightmare-fuelling lysergic Disney passages? References to Richard Scarry books and Betty Boop? Goofy Huck Finn-era Americana? Music that I would buy on LP? It’s all there in 10 scant episodes. There adventure and gags for your kids and existential dread-fodder for the grown ups. If there is justice in this world, this series will become an autumnal rite of passage, and if I’m honest, I can’t wait for October so I can watch it again. If this is what is coming out of the Adventure Time side-project pipeline, my children are in good hands, and for this and a million other reasons, I’m grateful to have them around, calling me out on my cynicism and leading me to what’s good.
Video after the jump.
