Greenblatt has obviously learned his craft well from his various previous assignments (which also include The Grim Adventures of Bill & Mandy). Traipsing along for the ride with Chowder and Mung Daal are an assortment of patently strange characters, not identifiably human, but not really anything else, either. There's Schnitzel, the weird, monosyllabic (actually duosyllabic) monster, Truffles, Mung Daal's wife and a sort of anti-TinkerBell fairy type, and Panini, a little girl with an unrequited crush on Chowder. The character design here is fun, if confusing (at least SpongeBob is relatively true to its oceanic setting)--what are some of these characters supposed to be, anyway? Is Chowder a horribly deformed human, or some weird alien species? It's probably of no import to the kids who will be the main audience of the show, but I have to say my initial response when my kids starting watching the show last year was, "What are these 'people'?"

The entire show is minimally rendered in the animation sequences, but always colorfully so. Marzipan City, Chowder's locale, is usually fairly basically drawn, as are most of the backgrounds for the action. The characters also don't have much fluidity and are completely two-dimensional in terms of their mobility. Chowder is not going to win any awards for brilliant animation, though its style is quirky and enjoyable. The stop action sequences are quite imaginative, as when Chowder has a nightmare that he's been scooped into a "Thrice Cream" cone (don't ask) and is about to be devoured by a huge, naugahyde looking monster.

The writing is generally strong, if not quite yet at the consistent level of SpongeBob. While there are some laugh out loud moments with some creative ideas (one episode deals with "Sing Beans," a 'musical fruit' of a different variety than we usually associate with legumes), there's still a bit of rampant noisiness here (no pun intended) in the place of well developed comedy. My sense is the show will settle down into more consistently funny episodes not only as the characters become better known to the audience, but as the writers develop a feel for that fine line between slapstick and verbal humor that SpongeBob traverses so well.

I'll leave the ultimate review up to my 10 year old son, whose input I solicited, since he is obviously in the target demographic for the show. I asked him how the show compared to one of his favorites, SpongeBob. He looked at me with that exasperated gaze that only a child can give a parent and said, "Dad, nothing could be as good as SpongeBob. But Chowder's still pretty good." From the mouth of babes....

The DVD

Video:
Chowder looks quite sharp in an enhanced 1.78:1 transfer, with strong color and contrast, and above average detail (for a minimally animated series). The stop action sequences look excellent.

Sound:
The DD 2.0 is crystal clear, with excellent voice work and some charming musical moments (where you'll hear most of the minimal separation). English subtitles are available.

Extras:
Aside from promos for other Cartoon Network series, there's a pencil sketch storyboard (with soundtrack) for part of the "Chowder's Girlfriend" episode.

Final Thoughts:
Chowder is a fun show with a distinctive visual style. Kids in the 6-10 age bracket will probably be the most rapt audience for the show, which hasn't yet found the sort of consistent humor that attracts adults to SpongeBob SquarePants. Recommended.

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"G-d made stars galore" & "Hey, what kind of a crappy fortune is this?" ZMK, modern prophet