Are you ready for another adventure with the kids? Gremlins: The Wild Batch is your next binge-watch, with Part 2 now available on Max.
Caution: This post contains some minor SPOILERS for Gremlins: The Wild Batch
After the success of Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, it wasn’t that surprising to find out that there would be a follow-up series. Sam, Elle, and Gizmo head out on another adventure in Gremlins: The Wild Batch, with plenty of lessons about friendship, family, and the Mogwai along the way.
This is a great watch for the whole family, and there’s no need to watch the original movies first. In fact, this is a prequel, and you’ll want to follow up with the movies afterward.
Historical figures and lessons throughout Gremlins: The Wild Batch
Like with Secrets of the Mogwai, viewers are sure to learn a few life lessons along the way. For example, there’s a lesson in change, as Elle meets with the ghost of Bass Reeves. Even Reeves has a lot to learn about how people can change, which brings some wonderful moments between the two characters for a couple of episodes.
What about Gizmo, though? He spends the whole season learning about being a good and bad Mogwai. It’s something that he is deeply afraid of, and there are times when he can’t help it. Considering the character doesn’t speak much and communicates through sounds, it’s amazing how much we can get. This prequel series has added far more personality to Gizmo than the movies ever were able to, making it much easier to root for him to succeed in the fight against being a bad Mogwai.
Even the parents have lessons to learn, and there are plenty of secrets to come out. It makes it clear that parents don’t tell us everything, and sometimes, those secrets can come back to haunt us. They can also help us!
A wonderful adventure of ghosts, magic, and mayhem
When it comes to a TV series for the whole family, an adventure is important. Gremlins: The Wild Batch does not disappoint. We enter many worlds and universes, whether it’s on a train that involves the land of the dead or a mysterious house that seems to have ghosts and a gas that causes hallucinations.
Each episode remains short, offering the perfect burst of mayhem for younger minds. Each episode sees the group at risk of something, with different members of the team finding a way to save each other. In one episode, Sam and Elle need to help get Gizmo out of a scary moment full of fears. In another episode, we see Elle having to do all the saving with the help of Bass Reeves.
For some of the season, the kids and parents are separated, which is a great way for the children to grow and learn. Children can lean a little too much on the adults, or it can seem odd that the adults are willing to let the children go off on adventures. That doesn’t happen with Gremlins: The Wild Batch thanks to parents and children being separated, with the parents going on their own adventure to save the children.
At times, it’s hard to tell which way the story will go. Characters turn on each other in ways you wouldn’t expect, as they struggle with the idea of sacrificing something for the sake of the world. It’s sure to open up debates with the family when particular characters betray their own friends for their own gain.
The animation remains on point in Gremlins: The Wild Batch
I love that this series is animated because it allows for so many more colors when it comes to the magic. The green of the hallucinogenic gas is vibrant, and we can see the waves of color in the spirits when in the afterlife. Animated also allows for much more when it comes to the magic, as it fits with the rest of the scenery around it, offering the chance for it to look realistic within the world created.
The team has done an excellent job of getting the animation to work with the sound. We can see who is speaking, and the mouths look like they’re saying the actual words in the script. Even with Gizmo and Noggin, the mouth movement looks like it could be them, and that’s not always easy to do. I remember an episode of Invincible goes into how animated shows can cheat by putting speeches off the screen to avoid this level of animation from being needed.
The animation doesn’t take away from the suspense. In fact, I believe it helps, as it allows for the monsters and the ghosts to look more threatening, but the benefit here is that it’s still animation, which makes it a little more fun for younger children — they don’t get as scared since the monsters don’t look too realistic.
Overall, this is one of those series that is more than worth watching with the whole family. It brings a wild adventure, bringing a mixture of magic, mayhem, and mystery. With lessons to learn and a new problem to solve in each episode, the kids are sure to then ask about the Gremlins movies to see where the story goes.
Gremlins: The Wild Batch is available to stream on Max.