It's not every day you come across a show like Redwall. Despite being made for children, this show never sugarcoats themes of love, death, and war. From remarkable animation to memorable characters, this show has the grand scale of Lord of the Rings yet it's made easily accessible to young children for the better.
Each season is based on 3 of the classic books by Brian Jacques: Matthias, Mattimeo, and Martin the Warrior. Matthias is our introduction to Redwall through the eyes of a young orphaned mouse who was taken in by the keepers of Redwall Abbey. During this time, the Abbey is attacked by Cluny the Scourage, a merciless rat dictator who seeks to rule the abby. Mattimeo is the follow-up to Matthias and focuses on the children being kidnapped by Slaygar the Cruel and it's up to Mathias and the other inhabitants of Redwall to rescue them. Martin serves as the prequel season, telling the story of how Redwall was founded and who Martin was as a character. Each season is 13 episodes long and each episode has really strong writing, dedicating enough time to fleahing out the characters and world while also being evenly paced. It also helps that there's a good amount of humor thrown in, but nothing too juvenile to the point where it becomes distracting.
The characters themselves offer alot to like about them and are easily the best part of the show. Starting with Matthias, he starts out as a curious, yet really brave and smart mouse. As the show would transition into its second season, he would show that he's not only a good leader, but also loving and caring father to his son, Mattimeo. Speaking of, he's very much like his father, though with more of a short temper. As the season progresses he very much becomes heroic like his father before him. Then there's Martin, who was built up as this noble warrior who help founded Redwall. The 3rd season did not disappoint as Martin is every bit as brave, smart, noble and caring as he was made out to be. Many of the supporting character are excellently crafted, making this among my favorite supporting cast. Cornflower is smart, caring, a team player and has great chemistry with Matthias. Father Abbot is the wise old mentor who's serves as the father figure in Matthias' life. Basil Stag Hare is as funny as he is cunning and he's a true friend and ally to the Abbey. Jesse Squirrel is an expert climber and look out, Formale is an efficient digger and Log-a-Log is has the best battle cry next to of course "I am that is!" Lastly, Constence is the powerful warrior of Redwall and ask as the surrogate mother to Matthias.
Then we have the villains who are all wonderfully developed and all kinds of entertaining. Cluny is a merciless dictator who takes no prisoners, and also has a strong fear of Martin the Warrior. Slagar was given a strong motivation and he definitely lives up to his name as a truly cruel fox. Badrang makes the perfect foil for Martin, being both cunning and dastardly. My personal favorite villain though has to be Asmodeus, a giant snake that's most notorious for the haunting way he says his name.
Credit should also be given to the voice actors for bringing these characters to life. Tyrone Savage nails the personality of Matthias and his voice aged gracefully by the time we got to the second season. Allison Pill was brilliant as Cornflower, Janet Wright brought the right amount of gruff and stoutness to Constance and Richard Binsley excells as Basil. Diego Matamoros gave a terrific performance as Cluny, as he chews the sceneray in every scene he's in. Tim Curry does a wonder job as always as Slagar, making him sound menacing and cunning in every scene. Michael Seater did a terrific job as Mattimeo as did Amos Crawley as Martin. The voice cast in general did an amazing job and deserve a round of applause for their efforts.
Visually, the show looks incredible and still holds up to this day. The team at Nelvana did an excellent job bringing the characters to life with unique character desgins, fluid animation and very well crafter background. The cinematography also makes the show look cinematic during the actions scenes, which is where the animation truly shines.
Of course though, the most memorable part of this show is the score. Daniel Fernandez and Jack Procher created an excellent soundtrack that give Redwall a grandiose feel. The opening them incorporates brass and wind instruments as well as a backing choir to make deliver an iconic them of music. Theres a soothing melody played during the more important scenes and the brass instruments also kick in during the action scenes.
Overall, Redwall is a fantastic show with great characters, excellent animation, a wonderful soundtrack and really strong writing. It's a shame this show never adapted the other books let alone have the books been adapted again since this show ended. Still, I highly recommend giving this show a watch if you haven't already.
Each season is based on 3 of the classic books by Brian Jacques: Matthias, Mattimeo, and Martin the Warrior. Matthias is our introduction to Redwall through the eyes of a young orphaned mouse who was taken in by the keepers of Redwall Abbey. During this time, the Abbey is attacked by Cluny the Scourage, a merciless rat dictator who seeks to rule the abby. Mattimeo is the follow-up to Matthias and focuses on the children being kidnapped by Slaygar the Cruel and it's up to Mathias and the other inhabitants of Redwall to rescue them. Martin serves as the prequel season, telling the story of how Redwall was founded and who Martin was as a character. Each season is 13 episodes long and each episode has really strong writing, dedicating enough time to fleahing out the characters and world while also being evenly paced. It also helps that there's a good amount of humor thrown in, but nothing too juvenile to the point where it becomes distracting.
The characters themselves offer alot to like about them and are easily the best part of the show. Starting with Matthias, he starts out as a curious, yet really brave and smart mouse. As the show would transition into its second season, he would show that he's not only a good leader, but also loving and caring father to his son, Mattimeo. Speaking of, he's very much like his father, though with more of a short temper. As the season progresses he very much becomes heroic like his father before him. Then there's Martin, who was built up as this noble warrior who help founded Redwall. The 3rd season did not disappoint as Martin is every bit as brave, smart, noble and caring as he was made out to be. Many of the supporting character are excellently crafted, making this among my favorite supporting cast. Cornflower is smart, caring, a team player and has great chemistry with Matthias. Father Abbot is the wise old mentor who's serves as the father figure in Matthias' life. Basil Stag Hare is as funny as he is cunning and he's a true friend and ally to the Abbey. Jesse Squirrel is an expert climber and look out, Formale is an efficient digger and Log-a-Log is has the best battle cry next to of course "I am that is!" Lastly, Constence is the powerful warrior of Redwall and ask as the surrogate mother to Matthias.
Then we have the villains who are all wonderfully developed and all kinds of entertaining. Cluny is a merciless dictator who takes no prisoners, and also has a strong fear of Martin the Warrior. Slagar was given a strong motivation and he definitely lives up to his name as a truly cruel fox. Badrang makes the perfect foil for Martin, being both cunning and dastardly. My personal favorite villain though has to be Asmodeus, a giant snake that's most notorious for the haunting way he says his name.
Credit should also be given to the voice actors for bringing these characters to life. Tyrone Savage nails the personality of Matthias and his voice aged gracefully by the time we got to the second season. Allison Pill was brilliant as Cornflower, Janet Wright brought the right amount of gruff and stoutness to Constance and Richard Binsley excells as Basil. Diego Matamoros gave a terrific performance as Cluny, as he chews the sceneray in every scene he's in. Tim Curry does a wonder job as always as Slagar, making him sound menacing and cunning in every scene. Michael Seater did a terrific job as Mattimeo as did Amos Crawley as Martin. The voice cast in general did an amazing job and deserve a round of applause for their efforts.
Visually, the show looks incredible and still holds up to this day. The team at Nelvana did an excellent job bringing the characters to life with unique character desgins, fluid animation and very well crafter background. The cinematography also makes the show look cinematic during the actions scenes, which is where the animation truly shines.
Of course though, the most memorable part of this show is the score. Daniel Fernandez and Jack Procher created an excellent soundtrack that give Redwall a grandiose feel. The opening them incorporates brass and wind instruments as well as a backing choir to make deliver an iconic them of music. Theres a soothing melody played during the more important scenes and the brass instruments also kick in during the action scenes.
Overall, Redwall is a fantastic show with great characters, excellent animation, a wonderful soundtrack and really strong writing. It's a shame this show never adapted the other books let alone have the books been adapted again since this show ended. Still, I highly recommend giving this show a watch if you haven't already.