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REVIEW: "THE BOONDOCKS" |
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Aaron McGruder's TV adaptation of his comic strip "The Boondocks" (airing 11pm on the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim) is smothered in "racial satire," but its got bite behind it. You can tell the creators spent some time and effort on the visuals, hinting a innocence found in the popular Japanese "anime" style. The first episode I watched tonight hits you over the head with the "n" word, but has the ''from the mouths of babes" humor, where cute little cartoon kids deliver brutal, unadulterated opinions about politics and pop culture." It's falls somewhere between "South Park" and edgy ''Chappelle's Show."
In that first episode, Riley and Huey Freeman (8 and 10-year old brothers) moved into white suburbs by their well-meaning ''Granddad," Robert Freeman. A funny segment has the militantly Huey talking about "How Ronald Reagan was the devil" only to be applauded by rich white people (so insulated from reality they keep saying, "you are so well spoken."). Another part has a rich white kid who thinks he is a gangsta -- and acts very ghetto. There is also the black butler who "despises ambitious blacks such as Granddad." It's not always comfortable to watch and some people will compare the racial rants to ''All in the Family" digging into our own hang-ups. It's not for kids, but will no doubt be a big hit with the college age audiences who are open to such discussions.
By Henry Cruz
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