recently, someone at tlegram showed me a pic from a series, the designs called my attention, i asked the person where they were from, he told me it was from a series called THE LIONHEARTS. the name gave me a vibe totally opposite to what i found when i started watching the series on youtube
it's actually a sitcom...A FAMILY SITCOM WITH A LION FAMILY. and the father is not any lion...HE IS LEO THE LION, THE LION THAT ROARS ON EVERY MGM MOVIE INTRO. lol, i know, sounds like a colossal wtf idea...just the kind of cartoon ideas i enjoy the most :)
so, yeah, leo is the dad, he has a wife and 3 kids, he works at mgm and tries to be the father of his pride (imagine father of the pride, but pg 13) so, i sat down and watched some episodes. it is a funny, simple series.
the best things are:
CHARACTER DESIGNS: though simple, the main character designs have personality, nothing flamboyant or flashy, just...you know, a regular cartoon lion and his family.
VOICE ACTING: this series' voice cast is amazing, WILLIAM H. MACY VOICES LEO THE LION! yes, that william h macy. the rest of the voices are amazing too, specially lana's, leo's wife, played by PERI GILPIN, her voice is amazing, it has a very nice mother in charge voice, and since lionesses are the ones actually leading in the wild life, yeah, her voice suits the character perfectly. EVEN THE KID CHARACTERS HAVE AMAZING VOICE ACTORS PLAYING THEM, i mean, judy, the youngest kid, she is around 6 or 7, and she is played by a girl that age, and man, her work is amazing...for a kid her age, come on.
THE CONCEPT: slice of life, family sitcom, moral stories...with lions. nuff said. i like it when cartoons go out of the bounds, but keeping some restraint, i know it sounds weird, but it can be done, and when done right, i do enjoy the final result.
unfortunately, the series isnt perfect, it suffers the classic 2 MAIN FLAWS MGM ANIMATION CAN'T GET RID OF
NOT SO GOOD ANIMATION AND SLIGHTLY BLAND STORIES. the low budget animation is not an issue, there are moments here and there that make it less annoying, but the other one...the series is too vanilla. too safe and not so daring to experiment and explore the concept. but, being an obvious marketing tool as it is, it is quite enjoyable.
i can see why this series went into obscurity, an amazing idea, a good cast of characters...but a script that goes too vanilla and bland sometimes to actually cause an impact. it aired in 1998, and unfortunately, the competition was fierce. i mean, this series had to fight for a place with others like HISTERIA!, THE POWERPUFF GIRLS, GODZILLA: THE SERIES...the lionhearts just were not ready for that battle.
BUT I DO STILL RECOMMEND IT, it is bland, yes, it is silly, yes..but, it has that special charm old cartoons used to have, and certainly an episode or two will be of your liking. here's a link to it on youtube, not the best quality, but, the best i could find.
