Recensie Netflix-series ‘My dad, the bounty hunter’
Energetic space adventure for kids, but not very original and sometimes too violent.
in itself the mandalorian It is not a series for children, but it was nevertheless a great success with that target group. Netflix’s animation department came up with a brilliant idea: a series about two boys who discover their father is a galactic bounty hunter. The concept is gold, but the execution isn’t quite silver. Because apart from the fact that the series isn’t very original, it’s quite brutal in a nonchalant way at times. Not the best message for young viewers.
Children Sean and Lisa follow their father, who turns out to have a spaceship. Before they know it, they’re involved in their job to track down and catch someone, and Dad isn’t happy about it. Returning is not an option, so children can come on the condition that they keep quiet. However, Sean and Lisa are more capable than their father realizes and his strict rules soon start to lead to clashes.
My dad the bounty hunter It is not related with Star Wars, but clearly gets a lot of ‘inspiration’ from it. Well stolen is better than ill conceived, as it turns out again. Because you don’t get anything you haven’t seen before, but it’s all well executed. Because the series splits its story into ten short episodes, it feels like an animated movie, which is certainly not too long.
A thumbs up for animation. My dad the bounty hunter It is not made for the little ones, but for those over eight years old, much older. The only thing that has been done too easily is the movements of the mouth. They’re never easy, but it’s visibly the element where the creators paid the least attention to detail.
The voices have been recorded by professional actors, although hearing most of them will not be immediately familiar to you. For example, Lisa’s voice comes from a supporting actor. Strange things. The voice that stands out the most for both enthusiasm and funny commentary is Sean’s, voiced by Jecobi Swain. In the photos he looks like an arrogant kid, but he manages to be bubbly charming as a socially awkward nerd.
Dramatically, the creators have been pretty lazy about the personal entanglements between the father and his two sons. In many episodes, Sean and Lisa ignore their father’s warnings and just do as they please. Only later does he really start to get irritated that both boys know that they are not as inept as he thinks. When the confrontation finally breaks out, the characters don’t seem to have much substance and the conflict is rather flat.
Given the young target group, there is an issue that may bother some parents: violence. It’s somewhat acceptable for adult characters to go crazy, but in My dad the bounty hunter the kids don’t seem to care. The army of bad guys is made up of a kind of Stormtroopers, but in a different uniform. Sean fires at them from a spaceship and Lisa runs them through with an electric sword. Not a drop of blood, but children killing other creatures so casually is quite disturbing.
Fortunately, that violence only makes its appearance in later episodes and is not excessively present. Netflix was already smart to produce a series with this concept and if they are really smart they market Chillas as a toy. Those are a type of creatures that act like Ewoks and look like a combination of Furbies and Stitch. Nothing innovative, just fun. Just like this series itself.
My dad the bounty hunter can be seen in Netflix.