All Rise...

Judge David Johnson's Mr. Bump is inflamed.

The Charge

What the dilly-yo?

The Case

It's always interesting to get the latest kids show sent over for review. In a way it helps me feel younger than I am. If I can talk intelligently about whatever the big pop culture fad is at the time, it gives my quickly aging self-esteem a nice shot. On the other hand, some of this stuff is so weird and pointless I wonder how it takes root in the kiddo collective consciousness.

That's what The Mr. Men Show is: weird and pointless. The premise involves a bunch of talking goiters with names like Mr. Happy and Mr. Nervous and Little Miss Helpful taking part in 12-minute themed misadventures. And no, these aren't the creepy bald men from Dark City.

The spotlight for this release falls on Mr. Bump, who, judging by his assortment of bandages, bumps into a lot of stuff. He's a little, strung-out blue ball (I guess he doesn't bump uglys—ZING!) and runs point on the first two shows: "Car Wash" and "Flying." Rounding out the episode list is "Trains" and "Cars" and "Boats" and "Inventions." Those titles give you everything you need to know. Each installment has various residents of Dillydale messing around with whatever the title describes. Mr. Bump opens up a car wash, then goes flying and some other guys ride trains and drive cars and boats and invent things.

The art is attractive and the energy level is there, but the show just isn't very amusing. The shorties might get enough out of it and that's the important part. Me? No thanks. The flat script and goofy morals (roll up your window when going through a car wash!) left me disinterested.

That theme song? Genius! Simple and extraordinarily catchy, it's still rattling inside my skull and will be, I presume, for the remainder of time.

Good DVD: a nice 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, 2.0 stereo and some small bonus features, including a find Mr. Bump game and a how-to-draw activity.

The Verdict

I never like slapping these kinds of release with a "Guilty" verdict, but The Mr. Men Show did jack squat for me.

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