This second season of the reboot on Hulu brings more Warner siblings shenanigans and mice Pinky (voiced by Rob Paulsen) and the Brain (Maurice LaMarche) continue trying to take over the world.
Again, the writers on this do a very good and funny job. The Animaniacs reboot has a sense of smart humor to it that a lot of children's comedies don't (rather fills in the gap left by Phineas and Ferb.) There are a couple of particularly fun jokes in this where the show gets self-referential. That having been said, the writers squeeze in a LOT of references. I'm worried that a lot of children won't get what's going on and lose interest. (Yeah, the original show had these too, but they were more subtle. It wasn't like the original writers felt like they needed to insist on references.) The Trump jokes are getting old.
I've seen people online say this was stronger than the last season, but I'm not quite sure. I thought that one had a few more original ideas. The second half is definitely stronger than the first.
Last season, the writing on the Brain got a little off, having him be more immoral than amoral by doing a couple things that felt a little too far for him. I think the writers got feedback as he's a lot closer to form here. I'm especially impressed with the writing of the Pinky and the Brain segments this season. The writers really managed to play around and do more with the old formula of two mice always failing to rule the world than you'd expect.
Even though this show cut most of the other segments and their characters from the original Animaniacs, I like that the writers have made the effort to build their own recurring characters within the Warners and P&B segments. Intensely success-driven and sour CEO Nora Norita (Stephanie Escajeda) really comes into her own here. She steals most of the scenes she's in with some pretty expressive facial animations. She even manages to outshine veteran players Ralph (Franke Welker) and Dr. Scratchansniff (Rob Paulsen).
Animation-wise, the yellowish tinge to the Warners' faces has been noticeably lessened, but not quite gone. Still don't know why the animators can't go straight white like the classic designs.
Overall, highly recommended for adults. I know I said I felt the last season was stronger, but the difference isn't by much. This is just a lot of fun. However, I'm honestly not convinced kids' attentions can be kept through all the references.
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