Will admit to not being the biggest of football fans, or a fan of sport in general. Am however a long-term fan of animation, and 'Tiny Toon Adventures' is just one example of what makes me love it so much. It is such an entertaining, smart and even creative show, and anybody that loves 'Animaniacs' and 'Pinky and the Brain' (like me) will love 'Tiny Toon Adventures' too. Like them, it has a mix of individual story and segment-structured episodes, with many fine examples of each.
"The Acme Bowl" is one of the episode with just one big story, but it is sadly not one of the best ones. It is above average at least, none of the 'Tiny Toon Adventures' episodes are unwatchable even the disappointments. But considering how many fantastic single story episodes there are, "Fields of Honey" being a prime example, "The Acme Bowl" could have been a lot better and is one of the lesser ones. The show has proven frequently that it is so much more than slightly above average, so it was for me a little disappointing that that was pretty much what this episode was basically.
Certainly, "The Acme Bowl" has good things. The animation is bursting in colour and is rich in detail in terms of the far from sparse backgrounds and expressive character designs. The music is cool and energetic and personally will never tire of the theme song. There are enough moments of very amusing and smart writing, with some of the wacky 'Tiny Toon Adventures' spirit shining through.
Despite not being particularly enamoured by the storytelling generally, "The Acme Bowl" depicts its setting quite colourfully and enough of the excitement and conflict of the sport is captured well. The characters are well written, especially Buster and Plucky who are two of my favourite 'Tiny Toon Adventures' characters in the first place. The voice acting is terrific from all.
It is a shame though that to me the story underwhelmed generally somewhat. It just felt too thin for the running time, too much like a 7 or 8 minute segment over-stretched to three times a length. Which made the episode feel too stretched out and too long. The episode would have been better in my view as two or three sport-related segments or three segments depicting football but through the viewpoint of three characters.
Other episodes also do better in the writing department, "The Acme Bowl" could have had done with having quite a bit more wit (what there was could have been sharper too) and wackiness, both of which not there enough here. More tension wouldn't have gone amiss either. They were here sure, just not enough.
All in all, above average but could have been better. 6/10
"The Acme Bowl" is one of the episode with just one big story, but it is sadly not one of the best ones. It is above average at least, none of the 'Tiny Toon Adventures' episodes are unwatchable even the disappointments. But considering how many fantastic single story episodes there are, "Fields of Honey" being a prime example, "The Acme Bowl" could have been a lot better and is one of the lesser ones. The show has proven frequently that it is so much more than slightly above average, so it was for me a little disappointing that that was pretty much what this episode was basically.
Certainly, "The Acme Bowl" has good things. The animation is bursting in colour and is rich in detail in terms of the far from sparse backgrounds and expressive character designs. The music is cool and energetic and personally will never tire of the theme song. There are enough moments of very amusing and smart writing, with some of the wacky 'Tiny Toon Adventures' spirit shining through.
Despite not being particularly enamoured by the storytelling generally, "The Acme Bowl" depicts its setting quite colourfully and enough of the excitement and conflict of the sport is captured well. The characters are well written, especially Buster and Plucky who are two of my favourite 'Tiny Toon Adventures' characters in the first place. The voice acting is terrific from all.
It is a shame though that to me the story underwhelmed generally somewhat. It just felt too thin for the running time, too much like a 7 or 8 minute segment over-stretched to three times a length. Which made the episode feel too stretched out and too long. The episode would have been better in my view as two or three sport-related segments or three segments depicting football but through the viewpoint of three characters.
Other episodes also do better in the writing department, "The Acme Bowl" could have had done with having quite a bit more wit (what there was could have been sharper too) and wackiness, both of which not there enough here. More tension wouldn't have gone amiss either. They were here sure, just not enough.
All in all, above average but could have been better. 6/10
