My TV Show Review on All Hail King Julien

Yo, what's up, Kemosabes?

This is your friendly film, TV show, and episode reporter here with another review.

Today, for my 28th TV show analysis, and the first to be posted in 2021, I'm gonna give you guys my take of "All Hail King Julien".

Here's the rundown of it:

Taking place before the first film, the series chronicles Julien the 13th's transition from prince to king after his evil uncle, Julien the 12th, retires from ruling over the lemurs.

As Julien rules over the lemurs, he goes on various misadventures that often come as a result of a plan of his backfiring. Accompanying Julien on his journey as a ruler are Maurice, Mort, and Clover. And at many turns, Julien is targeted by several individuals who try to overthrow him, most notably, his uncle, Clover's twin sister Crimson, and a fanaloka named Karl.

Admittedly, this series wasn't something that I immediately wanted to see when it was first released. However, after I read about the positive reception the show received I found myself interested in seeing it since it's a prequel to the first film.

Coming from a guy who saw the series last year, the one thing I didn't like was the show's usage of things like vomitting and farting, as they were more disgusting and annoying than funny. That, and there was a brief moment in the final episode of Season 4 where a male lemur kissed a male kangaroo rat, which was frankly unappealing and disgusting in all sorts of ways.

Other than that, I can see why this program earned such a positive reception. IT'S AWESOME!

For instance, the overall direction and storytelling were marvelously well-done.

Even though much of the show's humor may be inappropriate for little ones, the comedy aspect was nicely worked and helped the show be fun to watch. Plus, I was deeply surprised by the large amount of emotion and heart the series had, and each episode contained a meaningful moral for audiences and characters to live by. Perhaps the series's strongest element in terms of storytelling, though, came from the expansions of Julien, Maurice, and Mort; as well as what had been going on with the three of them before they met Alex, Marty, Gloria, and Melman. Plus, I loved how the show team made references and depictions of modern culture in a way that was wholly innocent and fun.

The animation was amazing as well. The show may not have showcased Dreamworks at its visual peak, but the overall visualization was impressive for something made on a small budget. The character animation in particular was the element I enjoyed, because it gave off a sense of something unexpectedly cinematic and three-dimensional.

Finally, the voice acting, casting, characters, and character development were fantastic!

In regards to Danny Jacobs's portrayal of King Julien the 13th and Kevin Michael Richardson's performance as Maurice...Jacobs is definitely not Sacha Baron Cohen, and Richardson is certainly no Cedric the Entertainer, but each performer neatly killed it with their impressions and successfully captured the spirit of their characters. The developments of both Julien and Maurice were likewise dynamic to see. The series also showcased perhaps Andy Richter's best work as Mort to date, and the amount of other characters he played and the different voices he gave them showed that he's not limited to playing just one character. Mort was pretty fun to hang with too, aside from some moments throughout the program involving him being kinda weird.

In addition to this, I was deeply impressed by the vocal range of voice actor Jeff Bennett. He portrayed a surprisingly vast amount of characters in this program, giving each of them distinct voices and portraying them with incredible commitment and personality. My particular favorites were that of his work as Dr. S and Sage Moondancer, the latter whom surprisingly grew on me as the series progressed.

But, if I had to pick what cast member I believe gave the best performance out of everyone, it'd be India de Beaufort and her portrayal of Clover. I'm actually surprised that she wasn't given an award for her work in the show, because she played Clover with an awesome sense of passion, enthusiasm, and commitment. She gave her character wonderful personality too. The way Beaufort portrayed Clover was especially like she literally became the character instead of just providing the voice. The same with Clover's twin sister, Crimson.

Clover herself was my favorite character in the show, because I loved her feistiness, bravery, authoritative presence, loyalty, and caring side. Her development throughout the show was great too.

A close second favorite character from the show is Karl. I mean, there were moments throughout the show revolving around him that I couldn't help but find to be...kinda creepy, such as his interactions with Chauncey the hissing cockroach. As an antagonist of the show, though, I found Karl to be undeniably charming, intriguing, and fun to watch. As a matter of fact, a lot of times I felt like I'd hardly have enough of seeing Karl and would be all in for seeing him on the screen more. Likewise, Dwight Schulz did a marvelous job portraying the character.

In conclusion, "All Hail King Julien" may not be what I'd classify as the best installment of the Madagascar franchise, but it certainly is quite a fun show. It's something that I particularly believe pre-teens and older would have a great time with.

So, I rate "All Hail King Julien" 4½ out of 5 stars.

To Dreamworks: Whether this would be saying much is something I don't know, but after all my talk about Clover, Sage, Karl just now...I wouldn't mind seeing you guys create a follow-ups to this show either stars Clover and Sage or Karl, because each of the characters hold a great amount of potential for such. I encourage you highly to do so, whether it'd be another collaboration with Netflix, an original for Universal's streaming service Peacock, or both.