What does this have to do with anything? I guess if that kind of remark fits a video about a Logan Paul movie, it'll fit a blog about a cartoon about a fast food joint. Also to hell with Quinton Reviews.
I've been debating which of these videos I wanted to review. I've seen two of them and I was considering reviewing both as part of a double header. However, beyond the plots, the structure of every episode is the same and I'd find myself repeating details. So, I pinned it down to the series itself, since each installment shares the same structure.
Background
The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald was a series of videos released by McDonalds between 1998 and 2003. While it'd be easy to write this off as a hilariously disastrous attempt at scoring brownie points with people who'd pay an arm and a leg to see a Morgan Spurlock production, apparently this turned out to be a success, so successful they had to renew their tape stock.
This was also successful retrospectively, well, successful enough to the point people don't shit on it endlessly. Since McDonalds is pretty lax when it comes to copyright, the videos found their way to YouTube and have been on there since they day they were put up. Thanks McDonalds.
It's impossible to talk about something like this without bringing up the studio behind it. Klasky Csupo produced the animation, and let's be honest, it's impossible to miss anything by them, they have that distinct of a style. As a result, they need no introduction, you're bound to have seen a show by them at some point in your lives. Given that they've helped build many of Nickelodeon viewers' childhoods, and since they've proven they could be in on a joke (Splaat anyone?), I have no beef with this company, well, beyond All Grown Up but that's just me.
As a result of them producing the animation, the characters have been altered to reflect this, and it's hard not to draw parallels to other existing characters. Birdie has Eliza Thornberry's hair, Hamburglar looks amazingly like Otto, all beyond that, everyone is certainly recognizable, and honestly it'd be kinda awkward if they tried to mimic the real life designs of these characters.
Onto the characters, aiding Ronald McDonald are his pet dog Sundae, exclusive to the show. He has a sarcastic wit and always seems to have something to say regarding a situation. That's how you know this is gonna be good. Along with him we have Birdie, Hamburglar and Grimace. We also have the Chicken McNuggets, characters that have appeared in advertisements geared toward their own product who seem to be around for comedic effect. There's also the Fry Kids, former regulars at McDonaldland until they were retired in 1996. I bring up the year because this was the latest they were brought back.
Mayor McCheese is said to have appeared in one of the episodes, and sad to say that in spite of the meme credibility it would've had, Mac Tonight isn't in this. Bummer.
Animation
It's impossible to talk about something like this without bringing up the studio behind it. Klasky Csupo produced the animation, and let's be honest, it's impossible to miss anything by them, they have that distinct of a style. As a result, they need no introduction, you're bound to have seen a show by them at some point in your lives. Given that they've helped build many of Nickelodeon viewers' childhoods, and since they've proven they could be in on a joke (Splaat anyone?), I have no beef with this company, well, beyond All Grown Up but that's just me.
As a result of them producing the animation, the characters have been altered to reflect this, and it's hard not to draw parallels to other existing characters. Birdie has Eliza Thornberry's hair, Hamburglar looks amazingly like Otto, all beyond that, everyone is certainly recognizable, and honestly it'd be kinda awkward if they tried to mimic the real life designs of these characters.
Onto the characters, aiding Ronald McDonald are his pet dog Sundae, exclusive to the show. He has a sarcastic wit and always seems to have something to say regarding a situation. That's how you know this is gonna be good. Along with him we have Birdie, Hamburglar and Grimace. We also have the Chicken McNuggets, characters that have appeared in advertisements geared toward their own product who seem to be around for comedic effect. There's also the Fry Kids, former regulars at McDonaldland until they were retired in 1996. I bring up the year because this was the latest they were brought back.
Mayor McCheese is said to have appeared in one of the episodes, and sad to say that in spite of the meme credibility it would've had, Mac Tonight isn't in this. Bummer.
Actors
Probably owed to their earlier works and their recognition, this does have plenty of recognizable voices. First up, Ronald McDonald was portrayed by Jack Doepke, the real Ronald's original actor from 1991 to 1999, only to be replaced by David Hussey after the third installment. Given that McDonald's is bankrolling the project, it would've been insane for Ronald to be repped by anyone but his prime actor.
That covers one of two of the live actors... Sundae has one as well and holy shit is it creepy.
But enough on the blatantly obvious. For the live action portions, he is portrayed by Verne Troyer, but his voice is given by Dee Bradley Baker. I found it interesting because Baker gave a portrayal I never heard him do before.
Birdie is portrayed by Christine Cavanaugh and... I'm not too keen on it. As blasphemous as it is to say, I was never that big of a Cavanaugh fan, the voice just rubbed me the wrong way. I mean rest in peace but we can't just ignore key aspects, besides the body has been cold for years. Regarding her voice, it just sounds... off. I mean it's accurate to the voice Birdie has in the commercials, so maybe they're right and I'm wrong. I just find it weird that she's not voiced by Russi Taylor, the one who voiced her in the commercials. It's doubtful she was too busy with the Simpsons if she could be the official voice of Minnie Mouse, but whatever, do with what you got I guess.
Charlie Adler provides the voice of Hamburglar in this. Interestingly, he voiced the character in the McDonalds commercials plenty of times, so in this case it's a match made in heaven. Compared to the Hamburglar from the era, this one is played straight, you don't hear him say robble, but the mischievous nature is intact, fair game. In this he resembles Otto from Rocket Power. I would say this predated Rocket Power, but for all I know the pilot predated this.
One other actor that stands out to me is Alex D. Linz, who has made appearances in numerous familiar materials. Did you know he starred in Home Alone... 3? Well at least he starred in Max Keeble's Big Move which is certainly a better role. He also voiced Arnold from Hey Arnold! for two episodes. Interestingly, his participation in these tapes is singled out on his Wikipedia article.
Also, given that Grimace is a dumb character, you'd think he'd have Bill Fagerbakke voicing him, and you'd be wrong. In this he's voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson. He gets the character down pretty well and I find him to be one of the more endearing characters. Well done Kev-O.
One other actor that stands out to me is Alex D. Linz, who has made appearances in numerous familiar materials. Did you know he starred in Home Alone... 3? Well at least he starred in Max Keeble's Big Move which is certainly a better role. He also voiced Arnold from Hey Arnold! for two episodes. Interestingly, his participation in these tapes is singled out on his Wikipedia article.
Also, given that Grimace is a dumb character, you'd think he'd have Bill Fagerbakke voicing him, and you'd be wrong. In this he's voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson. He gets the character down pretty well and I find him to be one of the more endearing characters. Well done Kev-O.
Structure
The series follows a very specific structure.
- Opening sequence
- Live action bit with Ronald and Sundae which segues into the main plot of the day.
- Ronald and Sundae traveling down a side and becoming animated, usually following with commentary on their means of travel.
- Meeting up with the other characters present for the day.
- A song, three typically appear.
- The plot in between each song.
- A final bit with Ronald and Sundae, non animated, which sums up the main plot of the day.
The opening sequence is a bit of a mixed bag. On the downside, the opening song is rather poor. Not because the person can't sing, but because she seems to be struggling to keep up with the tempo. Beyond that, there're some pretty good visuals, and I like how they show transitions between the real and animated versions of the McDonaldland characters. I'd give it an 80 out of 100, this is above expectations for a fast-food promotion.
The live action bits show Ronald or Sundae doing something, usually hinting at what they'd be doing for the day. In Sacred Silly, they're watching a scary movie and will experience a campout with scary implications. In Search for Grimace Island, Ronald's building a model ship in a bottle, and he uses that ship as their means of transport. In between, Ronald communicates with his friends via videophone, and they're repped through low-grade CGI. I would've suggested using the real versions of the characters, but it'd look too jarring. At least it's contained in very short bursts.
I don't know the mechanics behind the live action to animated transitions during the slide scene, but whatever, you should be happy you don't have to put up with Sundae's subpar design. This is played straight, with plenty of jokes and commentary. The McNuggets tend to serve as extra comedic relief, Hamburglar goes through some mischief, Birdie acts borderline snobby, Grimace actually gives some of the better lines, and Ronald is as good as he needs to be.
I forgot to mention, there're two kids who're exclusive to the show. There's Tika, the... girl. There's little I know about her other than that she likes to get stuff going on her end and that she's a terrible singer. I guess even the creators didn't care for her much because her appearances aren't as common. There's also Franklin Quizzical, son of a genius who has an eye for challenge, is helmed by a more competent kid actor and I dunno, he's harmless. They come the most often, as opposed to the rest of McDonaldland. I take it the first episode was an experiment to see if they could get away with putting in a lot of characters, and chances are it didn't go so well so they decided to use characters that seemed to be the most important or could pull off that week's comedic effect.
Speaking of songs, you'll run into these a lot. Typically, they have limited verses, are kinda catchy and not bad to the point you want to skip them when they come on. Strangely, I found myself unable to skip them, I never did it once. I guess the songs are like a McDonald's meal, you know it's bad, but it'll be over before you know it.
The episode ends with a live-action scene, summing up everything that happened along with the moral of the day. Or, they just do something comedic. Nothing more to say here other than it works for this kind of series.
The episode concludes with a stint from Ronald McDonald, it being a hope that kids would see him at McDonalds. Let's hope they don't find him in Adelaide.
This may seem repetitive, but that only applies to the overall structure. The premise isn't repetitive, and heck, they find ways to make them seem interesting. All they needed to do was throw in funny bits along with some moral and poof, we've got something to further expand our greasy empire.
Overall
When I first heard of this, I had no idea what to expect. I thought it would be a half-hour commercial, encouraging kids to pursue a calorie-ridden death. But no, they actually tried to breathe some life into it. It has some excellent prop work on the live-action front and a formula that works well. The animation is good by direct-to-video standards and the characters are well thought out.
If you're looking for some cringeworthy advertisements, you're in the wrong place. This is actually worth a purchase along with a small Diet Coke or vanilla ice cream cone.
This is Channeleven, and I hope to see you on Twitter.
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