Rick and Morty – Review | Nefarious Reviews

Similar: South Park

Watched in: English

Genre: Science Fiction Comedy Adventure

Length: 11 episodes (season 1), 10 episodes (season 2), ongoing

Positives:

Hilarious.
Creative.
Each episode brings something new.
Outstanding voice work, particularly for the title characters.

Negatives:

Art, though detailed, looks a tad cheap.

Imagine Back to the Future’s Doc Brown as a crazed alcoholic and Marty McFly as his bumbling grandson, and you have a rough picture of Rick and Morty. Rick’s job, as a mad scientist, is to take Morty on crazy adventures through time and space, visiting parallel universes where all sorts of shenanigans go down. Endlessly creative, Rick and Morty is a breath of [disgusting] fresh air for comedy.

The longer you look, the weirder it gets.

Every episode is an adventure. You never know where it’s headed, what comedy gold mine they will tap, unexpected jokes at every turn. I could not decide which episode was best. Was it the Magic School Bus/Jurassic Park parody inside the human body? Or when they mock Shyamalan by out-twisting twists to see which twist is best in a world of twists? But then they visit Pluto and we learn the truth behind Pluto’s demotion as a planet. Let us not forget the inter-dimensional TV, which allows viewing of TV shows from other dimensions. These aren’t meme-filled, in-joke spewing episodes either; even if you don’t see the parody, it works. As soon as I thought, ‘That’s the best episode,’ they hit with another clever idea. Episode after episode, I laughed to the bounds of life support.

At its centre, Rick and Morty shines from its title characters, their dynamic flawless – truly superb – made all the more incredible by knowing the same actor (Justin Roiland) performs both Rick and Morty. This is South Park levels of acting brilliance and snappy, natural dialogue.

Like South Park, Rick and Morty makes great use of social commentary for political incorrectness, making fun of the protected “harmless” classes. There are so many jokes, so many types of jokes, infinitely quotable, that you must pay attention. One probably needs several viewings to catch them all.

“Where are my testicles, Summer? They were removed, where have they gone?”

After seeing Rick and Morty references everywhere, I assumed it another lowest-common-denominator show that fans would kill into the molten core before forgetting it and moving on – something good, but not special. My assumptions could not have been further from the truth.

Art – High

High detail, plenty of animation, disgusting imagery, all great, but it does look a little cheap with the characters at times.

Sound – Very High

The voice work by Justin Roiland, who plays both Rick and Morty, some of it improvised, is fantastic. He’s a natural. This reminds me of Matt & Trey’s ability to play every character at once and just make it up as they go. I love the cameos as well – Rob Paulsen as a talking dog in search of his testicles made me lose it.

Story – Very High

Morty, an ordinary kid, embarks on crazy adventures through time and space with his drunk, potty-mouthed grandfather. Every episode takes unexpected turns in the story, creative in their approach, and always fresh.