Non-Pony - Hazbin Hotel Review · 10:54pm Nov 24th, 2019
So, if anyone hasn't seen it, a new animated series pilot by YouTube animator Vivziepop called Hazbin Hotel launched earlier this month. It's NSFW due to language and graphic violence, so I'm not going to link it here, but it's really easy to find, and despite some rather glaring flaws, I'd say you should watch it for yourself (if you're into that sort of thing). I'd seen the various trailers and teasers, and was very much looking forward to seeing it. Eagerly awaiting, even. Now that I've finally had the time and energy to watch it... I... well... it definitely happened.
The premise is that, Charlie, the Princess of Hell -- who is way to optimistic and bubbly for her co-denizens -- wants to stop the violence and carnage that occurs on a regular basis (to combat overcrowding), by opening a hotel for rehabilitating sinners, and redirecting them up to Heaven (a weirdly clever variation on Christian Universalist theology). If that sentence seemed a bit clumsy, well, there's a reason for that. Hazbin Hotel is a show that has a lot of potential, which it more or less failed to live up to.
For starters, the good:
Hazbin Hotel is beautiful. I mean seriously. The artwork, the character designs, the animation, the use of colour and lighting, all superb. Much better than even a lot of recent commercial animation.
The characters are nicely done as well. Very distinctive, complex, and with a good deal of growth potential. I particularly like the fact that there is, as of yet, no clear Big Bad, but still a strong hint on who that is going to be. Lots of mystery to be discovered. A lot of the other reviews focused on Angel Dust, who I actually don't care for, but that's more of a personal dislike rather than a flaw (I don't think he's really supposed to be likeable). Now, to stave off the obvious objection -- he's a sleazy villainous LGBTQ character, and brings up some rather problematic cultural stereotypes. Well, speaking as an LGBTQ person, yeah, of course he is. HE'S A DEMON IN HELL! That's the whole point of the character! And he's not even remotely unique or unusual for the world. EVERYONE, except for the lead and her friend, are sleazy, villainous, violent scum. That's why they're there FFS.
Charlie is way too upbeat and nice for hell, but still understands her world. She's optimistic almost to a fault, but not hopelessly naive; and can sink to the level of the rest of the cast when pushed. She has a really cool dynamic with her friend Vaggie, who is much more of a hard-bitten cynic, and very much the voice of reason given the nature of the setting.
Then there's Alistor. A super-powerful demon who shows up to offer his help with what is clearly an unpopular and doomed-to-fail project, out of what he claims is sheer boredom. His stated motivations make sense in context, but it's broadly hinted that his interest in the Hotel is more than just a passing whim, and he has more sinister plans in mind. Remember what I said about the Big Bad earlier? Yeah, my money is on this guy.
I also like that the characters are not idiots. Charlie and Vaggie are genre-savvy enough to know that this guy is bad news, and steadfastly refuse to make any sort of binding deal with him (no deal with the devil to come back and bite them). Hope that level of intelligence keeps up.
Oh, and Niffty is adorable and profoundly irritating at the same time; in that Plaid Stripes kind of way, except more obviously competent than Plaid.
The songs are also fun. There are several of them, and they're all entertaining, seem to be mostly diegetic, and work very well as both exposition, and to set the tone and style of the show.
The voice acting is excellent throughout, very professional, and very fitting for the characters. Oh, and Alistor's singing voice is Black Gryphon, so yay for fandom crossover.
Next, the bad:
The writing is where the show starts to fall apart. Most of it is good, but it gets laboured in spots; and overall, does not really come up to the intended tone of the show. This is an adult-oriented program, obviously, but the writers still try and play it too safe most of the time. They barely even come up to (or sink down to, depending on your perspective) the level of Rick and Morty. I guess they're probably looking at getting picked up by a major studio, which would be more money for the show staff, but IMO would be the wrong path for the show itself. Given the setting and story, it really needed to push the envelope more, get a bit more into the sleaze and violence and offensiveness. Provide a bit more contrast between Charlie's vision and the reality of the world she's in.
Where it really falls flat is the structure. The pacing is a mess. It goes from breakneck in one scene to plodding in the very next, with jarring tonal shifts throughout. It's also told in the wrong order. Characters are introduced too soon, before we have any reason to really care who they are and why they're there, and we get dumped right into the action after an opening-crawl rendition of "Always Chasing Rainbows" that provides the first major tonal mistake. No clue what's going on or why, with way too much exposition which would be entirely unnecessary had the structure been handled better.
The annoying part is that it could have been fixed so easily. Given that the opening montage song is from Charlie's perspective, it would have made far more sense for the show to open with the news broadcast and its exposition, more effectively setting the scene and trimming some fat; and getting Charlie established before bringing in the various other characters to make a mess of things. That would also go a long way to fixing some of the pacing issues as well.
Conclusion:
Overall, it was a rough start, but many shows I've ended up enjoying quite a lot started out similarly rough, so I still have high hopes for this one. As noted, there's a good deal of potential here, once they fix the pacing and structure issues.
I've been one of her Patreon supporters for over a year--thrilled that she finished it! It came out during my October-December "internet blackout", when I was too busy to keep up with anything online. That's why I'm reading this post now. Catching up.
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Yeah, despite the flaws, I'm really looking forward to seeing where it goes.