Rated A for Awesome

Note: This page was copypasted from the original TS&EW due to its deletion in January 2023.

Rated A for Awesome is a Canadian CGI animated television series created by Asaph Fipke. It aired on Disney XD and YTV. The series was produced by Nerd Corps Entertainment (now merged with Studio B Productions to become Wildbrain Studios Vancouver). It premiered on September 3, 2011, and was canceled on February 25, 2012, after one season.

Plot

Four kids and a monkey attempt to make the world awesome by atomizing everything boring, including school and detention.

Why It's Rated B for Bad Qualities

1. While the CGI animation is sketchy and zany, it can feel dated at times, as the lip-syncing is rather weak, due to the CGI animation. Not to mention, when the characters' mouths move, they look like wooden puppets, like Lars making this face in one of the episodes.
2. Laughably bad and awkward dialogue, such as the words, "Awesomize" or "Awesomization".
3. Some of the characters are stereotypical, unsympathetic or one-note. These characters include:
   • Lester Awesome is a generally unlikable protagonist and he often acts like a jerk to his three friends. Speaking of which, he was at his worst in the episode "Go Away Day" where he grabs Noam's force field remote so summer vacation could last forever, and then he accidentally drops the remote in the sand causing Team Awesome to be trapped in the field forever.
   • Lars is a stereotypical foreign student who provides most of the show's gross-out and toilet humor. Not to mention he has an annoying and shrill voice. He is like Owen from Total Drama franchise, but with less charm.
   • The Thrisas are stereotypical "dumb blondes" and their voices are annoying.
   • Chet Glickerman is the worst character in the show as he antagonizes Team Awesome for no reason, he treats other people who aren't wealthy like him and he is the stereotypical "rich jerk" character that has been done to death in a lot of cartoons. He was also at his worst in the episode "Best Frenemies Forever".
   • Burt is just your stereotypical "dumb jock" stereotype.
4. Some of the jokes consist of toilet humor and gross-out humor, mostly from Lars.
5. The episode plots are just rather nonsensical.
6. The character designs, while decent, don't translate well in 3D and look a bit like they belong in The Fairly OddParents.
7. Like The Day My Butt Went Psycho! and Freaktown, the action scenes are kind of boring and a bit of a letdown.
8. The voice acting, while okay, can sometimes be rather obnoxious, especially from Lars. Not to mention, Lars' screaming can be ear-grating and annoying to the point where it will get on your last nerves.
9. Tons of mean-spirited moments, especially in "Best Frenemies Forever".

Rated G for Good Qualities

1. The intro is decent.
2. Although the animation looks dated, it's sketchy, zany, and charming and it gives off League of Super Evil vibes.
3. Some likable characters, such as Thera, Noam, Twitchy, Max, and Angelina.
   • Lester and Lars can also be considered likable at times despite being mostly unlikable.
4. There are a bunch of surprisingly good episodes here and there.
5. The premise of four kids attempting to make the whole world awesome sounds interesting, though the execution is weak.
6. Passable voice acting, except for Lars.
7. The title cards in each episode are creative and well-drawn.
8. Although the designs of the characters look like The Fairly OddParents rejects, they're decent and they were done by Peter Ricq (creator of League of Super Evil, Oh No! It's an Alien Invasion and Freaktown.)

Reception

Rated A for Awesome generally received mixed-to-negative reviews. It currently holds a 4.9/10 on IMDb and a 62% on Google, as many have called it a "Phineas and Ferb ripoff" (despite the differences between the two shows) and have also often criticized it for its CGI animation. Likely because of the mediocre reviews the show had, as well as its incredibly short run, the show quickly fell into obscurity, to the point where it is arguably one of the most forgotten cartoons to date, as it is still constantly ignored by the cartoon community (as with a lot of Canadian shows in general). However, the show received positive reviews from the infamous reviewing website, Common Sense Media, as it earned 4/5 stars for promoting "good morals and teamwork".

Trivia

• The show was distributed by the same studio as Kid vs. Kat (Wildbrain) and both are made for YTV and Disney XD.
• Despite the show's high obscurity, the entire show is available on Pluto TV.
• The show was created by the same person behind Slugterra, Storm Hawks, and Endangered Species.

Comments

Loading comments...