When I saw this show advertised, I thought that it was going to be great, what with all the ingenious shows Cartoon Network have created in the past few years.
I was wrong.
It has a good concept, but the execution is all wrong; the main characters are all unlikeable, the episode plots are utterly bizarre, and it has none of the intelligence that shows like Adventure Time and The Amazing World of Gumball have.
The creators are using a formula that's been used a million times before; children going through school, and all the trials they have to face while doing so. Not to say it's a bad formula; it can be used to brilliant effect. But Clarence brings nothing new to the table, and simply focuses on annoying characters doing annoying things. It tries to idealise the imagination and innocence childhood, but tries too hard, and ends up making the whole thing a surreal mess that's simply a Mind Screw at best and incredibly creepy at worst.
The whole reason that Cartoon Network succeeds is its freshness; Adventure Time is great because it blends a complex backstory and brilliant character development with surreal situations and characters; Regular Show is great because it's so utterly off-the-wall that you never know what's going to happen next; Gumball is great because it's so self-aware, so willing to hang lampshades and mock every trope in the book. Clarence is simply your archetypical kid's show, except the characters are stupid and often utterly unlikeable, the plots make no sense, and it doesn't present any new spin on the cliches it uses, other than making very old character and situation tropes unlikeable and creepy.
Clarence Review: Annoying, rather lazy, and mildly creepy
When I saw this show advertised, I thought that it was going to be great, what with all the ingenious shows Cartoon Network have created in the past few years.
I was wrong.
It has a good concept, but the execution is all wrong; the main characters are all unlikeable, the episode plots are utterly bizarre, and it has none of the intelligence that shows like Adventure Time and The Amazing World of Gumball have.
The creators are using a formula that's been used a million times before; children going through school, and all the trials they have to face while doing so. Not to say it's a bad formula; it can be used to brilliant effect. But Clarence brings nothing new to the table, and simply focuses on annoying characters doing annoying things. It tries to idealise the imagination and innocence childhood, but tries too hard, and ends up making the whole thing a surreal mess that's simply a Mind Screw at best and incredibly creepy at worst.
The whole reason that Cartoon Network succeeds is its freshness; Adventure Time is great because it blends a complex backstory and brilliant character development with surreal situations and characters; Regular Show is great because it's so utterly off-the-wall that you never know what's going to happen next; Gumball is great because it's so self-aware, so willing to hang lampshades and mock every trope in the book. Clarence is simply your archetypical kid's show, except the characters are stupid and often utterly unlikeable, the plots make no sense, and it doesn't present any new spin on the cliches it uses, other than making very old character and situation tropes unlikeable and creepy.