I grew up watching Zaboomafo and Steve Irwin Crocodile Hunter, but when Zaboomafo stoppped airing episodes and Steve Irwin passed away I was in a long period of darkness for fun entertaining animal shows. But one day my younger cousins introduced me to Wild Kratts and my life changed forever. After I saw the episode Platypus Cafe I did my best to catch up. The good thing was the show was in the middle of it's first season so I managed to catch up before season 2 arrived.
And I enjoyed every second of the show. It has beautiful animation, cool animals, great science topics, wonderful Wow facts, memorable characters(hilarious villains), great humor, great action, fun stories, creature power suits. It has a mix of everything I always loved as a kid and things that I still enjoy now.
First lets talk about the animation. The Kratt brothers have always said that there are somethings you just can't show in Nature. Which is why the animation is crucial to this show. It brings alive the animals and there habitats as well, and is able to show some things (Like the Sperm Whale vs Giant Squid) that you just can't show. And it's not wacky 2D animation or gloppy 3D animation it's such beautiful and a more realistic kind of 2D animation.
Now lets talk about the characters. We have Martin Kratt the emotional, excited and disorganized, but serious when needs be, brother and Chris Kratt the calm and organized, but still fun and intellectual brother. Both are fun and educational teachers in animation and live-action. They bring the energy to the education of the show and the show in general. And the creature power suits are awesome. Humans gaining the abilities of animals and using there special skills is something that always interested me. As for the other characters we have Aviva, the smart, head strong, optimistic, and competitive inventor who makes much of the Wild Kratts awesome technology, Koki, the coordinated, sassy, sometimes grumpy, communications expert and also helps with Aviva's inventions. And Jimmy Z, the lazy, nervous, but crafty pilot and teleporter of there big turtle ship the Tortuga. All of these characters are so fun to watch and all of them are funny.
But who might be funnier than the leads are the villains. Never have I seen villains so funny and so memorable in any environmental kids show or in a PBS Kids show. We have Zach Varmietech who is a arrogant and whiny robotics inventor and the main antagonist. He likes to turn animals into robots and try to best the Wild Kratt, sometimes by stealing there inventions. He's also got some awesome and funny Robots. We have Donita Donata who is an impatient and easily frustrated, animal fashion designer with her dim witted henchman Dabio. We have Chef Gaston Gourmand, a sly, clever and crafty chef who likes to cook up animals. And we have there most recent villain Paisley Paver, an organized, by the book, engineerer who paves animal homes with her energentic henchman Rex. All of these Villains make me laugh every time there on screen with there egos, there crazy schemes and there interactions with the Kratt Brothers. And when you put them all in the same room you just can't stop chuckling. Even though the voice acting for some of these characters isn't spot on they are still fun to watch.
And last but not least we have the educational value. There are things in this show I have never heard about and even some animals I never heard about until I came across this show like the Yeti Crab, Proboscis Monkey, Honey Badger, Immortal Jellyfish(Wait till season 4) All of these animals are presented so well and in a way that can educate children and adults. Many think that education and fun are natural enemies but that is completely bogus. The Kratt Brothers, Martin and Chris not only make learning fun but also makes engaging stories to go along with it. It provides a lot of education but never shys away from being creative. But that's just my opinion, watch this show for yourself and see if you, like me, can go Wild with Wild Kratts
