Disenchantment episode 1 review: Matt Groening's new Netflix animation is fun but it's not clear who it's for

Tankard of mead in hand, the medieval fantasy is perched between the stools of Rick & Morty and Inside Out but may fall between them

Trying to replicate The Simpsons' glory with new animated series Disenchantment is a tall order for creator Matt Groening as it can’t rely on the iconic cartoon's Nineties sensibility and the forgivable naffness or simplicity that comes with that era. There was a lot of love for his turn-of-the-millennium series Futurama, but this is his first that launches in this bold new internet age where TV is held to the highest standards and characters must fall in line with dominant politics.

It centres on Princess “Bean” Tiabeanie, a Strong Female Lead whose nickname double entendre is no accident. “It’s got a definite feminist point of view,” Groening said of the show in an interview ahead of it, a comment Netflix execs would probably have italicised, emboldened, underlined and applied a thick highlighter to if they could, such is the current climate around TV commissioning.

Bean is a beer-drinking, belching princess who lives in the medieval fantasy kingdom of Dreamland, held back by her father and king who is intent on marrying her off to whatever numbskull serves his reign best politically.

(Netflix)

It’s not a Game of Thrones parody but the HBO show is its clearest reference point and it riffs on many elements from it (there’s even a throne made of swords in the pilot).

The princess (voiced by Broad City’s Abbi Jacobson, a perfect casting choice) runs rampant around the kingdom with Elfo, an elf (if you hadn’t guessed) who escaped from his magical native land where no emotion less than total happiness is tolerated, and Luci, a literal demon on her shoulder voiced by Eric Andre. These aides set up the sort-of literal conflict of emotions that was so successful in Pixar’s Inside Out, with Bean’s best and worst impulses having actual physical manifestations.

The drastically different setting aside though, Disenchantment is not a huge departure from The Simpsons. Apart from some new three-dimensional transitioning shots, the animation style is essentially the same, and the jokes work around a similar apparatus. Most of them land.

It’s the minor recurring characters with which Disenchantment will likely live or die though, Hans Moleman et al having been so crucial to The Simpsons’ popularity. A handful of promising Dreamland residents are introduced in the pilot, including a puritan family obsessed with their own humbleness, a downtrodden court jester in a humourless court, and a wish-granting fairy who’s adopted the business model of a prostitute.

Though somewhat meta and frequently bleak (Elfo is briefly hanged in the opener), Rick & Morty it ain’t. That’s absolutely fine, but it’s not immediately clear who the average Disenchantment fan is supposed to be. It doesn’t try and be cerebral and ‘adult’ like Rick & Morty does, but nor is this a kids’ show. Teens, then? That demographic worked for The Simpsons, but teenagers growing up in the Nineties weren’t routinely exposed to the barrage of violence and pornography and explicit language that they are today, so Disenchantment probably feels more childish than The Simpsons did in its respective era.

Silly and fun, the first episode is a decent start but there’s a long road to the show becoming a hit, and it winds through an increasingly crowded TV streaming market.

Disenchantment season 1 is released on Netflix 17 August.