SummaryThe reboot of the 1980s cartoon finds the orphaned Adora (voiced by Aimee Carrero) leaving her life with the evil Horde after discovering the Sword of Protection that transforms her into warrior princess She-Ra and joins up with Glimmer (Karen Fukuhara), Bow (Marcus Scribner), and Catra (AJ Michalka) to defeat the Horde.
SummaryThe reboot of the 1980s cartoon finds the orphaned Adora (voiced by Aimee Carrero) leaving her life with the evil Horde after discovering the Sword of Protection that transforms her into warrior princess She-Ra and joins up with Glimmer (Karen Fukuhara), Bow (Marcus Scribner), and Catra (AJ Michalka) to defeat the Horde.
Despite some pacing issues that make it feel like She-Ra is racing to the finish line, Season 5 is solid. Ultimately, not every ship might sail the way fans want it to in the end, but the major relationships that have been developed along the way pay off with huge dividends in the final chapter, scripted by Stevenson.
This season is short (seven episodes), and it too-patiently table-sets toward larger revelations ahead. but showrunner Noelle Stevenson evolves her robo-fantasy saga in exciting directions. [19/26 Apr 2019, p.89]
Stevenson honors the basic plot layout and the birthday-cake radiance of old-school She-Ra. But the original cast of characters has been casually diversified, and newly illustrated to boldly suggest human beings have all shapes and sizes.
Season 4 of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power goes to some dark places and leaves viewers with the biggest cliffhanger yet. But while Season 5 hopefully holds the answers we’re anxiously awaiting, Season 4 just turned in one of the best runs of the series so far.
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is back in a big way in Season 2, with plenty of action, humor, vibrant animation, and a colorful array of characters of all sorts. It’s only shortcoming is in Netflix’s decision to cut the season down to a too-short 7 episodes.
In rebooting the beloved series, Stevenson has created something special, a cartoon that both honors and improves on the original by amplifying its characters’ feelings, and emits equal parts electricity, joy, and warmth. Like its titular hero, She-Ra is so full of heart that it’s easy to recognize its humanity, even with all the super-powered hijinks going on.
Its an amazing show with very well written and understanding characters that you're constantly rooting for both sides because of how real they feel and understanding. Oh and the story telling and world building is great too but that cant compare to how great the characters are.
This show was recommended to me from multiple sources and after finally watching the show to its end, I feel that I can half-heartedly agree that this She-ra reboot is worth anyone's time. The writing makes no sense; the world building is weak, most of the characters feel 2 Dimensional, there's little surprise to what's going to happen, and it feels like a missed opportunity. What I did enjoy about the show, however, was how its antagonists presented some of its conflict. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Because the good guys always win and this is a kid's show for crying out loud, I knew there would be little consequence in the story or in the action. I didn't root for the good guys because they could not lose, nor were they fleshed out enough to have me invested in their plight. The bad guys caught my attention because that cast of characters was far more interesting to me. From what I've been told, they've steal the show, and I can see why. There's some that are cast in shades of gray, some that have dynamics with multiple characters, and then some that pose serious threats to the Heroes enough to make you wonder "how are the good guys gonna get outta this one?". The answer is usually deus ex machina + the power of love, but I'd be damned if I wasn't left a good impression just from their presence.
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Aesthetically, the cartoon is pretty typical as far as western action for kids goes. It's like Ben 10 but with princesses and amazon warriors. The animation quality is very generic, but it's a wonder to see that there's actually cartoons like these still being made for western audiences. The sound design is weak, but not terrible. It frequently uses stock sound effects and LOTS of what I call "drama thumps". Some more filters, panning, and fade outs could've been done with the sound overall, but I guess you wouldn't really look for good sound quality in a damned kids show.
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She-ra and the Princesses of Power has some redeeming qualities to it, but is held back by its weak writing. The highlight of the show was its antagonists and I might revisit the show some day for that alone. I recommend this show for people that want to do some research on writing characters or for people that just don't care and want to watch princesses bashing things.
TV-Y7 derivative stuffing with no worldbuilding where all problems are solved by throwing plot convenience space magic and friendship. The diversity in character designs is great and makes a lot of sense given the scale of things, being superior to the OG in every way as far as that goes. Unique and thoughtful designs > copy-paste action figure molds every day. Adora is a fun protagonist, but the circular nature of the show and plot progression through constant obvious screw-ups by the main cast just isn't fun to watch at a point, at least for me. The power system is interesting, but is quickly TV-Y7'd into just being more plot convenience. All of the external conflicts are really poorly done and honestly wouldn't have any reason to be there other if not for it being a remake. The whole premise is really stupid. You never get to see the 'countries' (two dozen people at max) interact or fight together in interesting ways beyond their princesses, and the things each one of them brings to the table aren't unique enough to support the themes of the show. The only place that matters on the planet is Bright Moon and no episodes bother to stray from the main cast to say anything interesting. How can a group of characters be 'diverse' when all of their cultures are pretty much different flavors of copy-paste that are never expanded upon? Seems like a missed opportunity. All in all it's sparkly ship-bait for those desperate for LGBTQ+ representation, don't use your brain or it all falls apart very quickly. The choreography is really, really bad too, and the animation leaves a lot to be desired.