Tom Ellis’ Godly Cattitude Is A Winner In Easter-Egg Heavy Netflix Animation

Summary

• Exploding Kittens
  is a unique adaptation of a tabletop card game, with Tom Ellis playing a lazy God turned cat to regain empathy for humanity.
• The show incorporates elements from the game, including cards like the cat mech suit and Devilcat turning into a sea monster, making for a fun translation of the source material.
• The show’s worldbuilding is intriguing, but the story feels too safe, relying on a formulaic dysfunctional family narrative.

Netflix and Tom Ellis already proved to be a match made in Hell after the streamer saved Lucifer from cancellation, and while their latest effort with Exploding Kittens may not reach the same heights as the DC/Vertigo adaptation, it does continue the winning streak of this partnership. The show marks the rare first adaptation of a tabletop card game, as studios and creatives have typically adapted tabletop board games for the screen, ranging from Clue to Battleship and Ouija.

Co-developed by game creator Matthew Inman and Shane Kosakowski, Exploding Kittens finds Ellis flipping his most iconic role by playing God, albeit one who has become lazy and stopped caring about humanity while relaxing up in Heaven. When the Board of Angels becomes frustrated with his aimless direction, they send him down to Earth in the body of a cat and with only a limited number of powers to regain his empathy for humankind, by first bringing a dysfunctional family together. Godcat’s efforts will become complicated with the arrival of the Devil in cat form, who’s on a similar journey towards redemption.

Exploding Kittens May Not Follow The Game’s Rules, But It’s Just As Fun

Given the game has a fairly straightforward structure of drawing cards and trying to avoid one with the titular feline, translating Exploding Kittens to the screen presented a unique opportunity for Inman and Kosakowski to develop a new and unique story. The duo certainly do an interesting job of laying the groundwork for how the show plays out, namely with the introduction of a board of angels just as powerful as God himself.

Even with this expansion into an original story, the creators find a fun and exciting way to stay true to their source material. In particular, Inman and Kosakowski do a great job incorporating many of the cards from the game into the show beyond just Godcat and Devilcat. Some of the more notable include a mech suit made entirely out of cats, Mark Proksch’s Marv using Godcat as a wig in order to impress his boss and Devilcat turning into a large sea monster akin to the kraken Shuffle card.

The Majority Of The Jokes Land (Even If Some Feel Outdated)

As expected from a show involving God as a talking cat, a dysfunctional family and both Heaven and Hell in complete disarray, Exploding Kittens never allows itself to stray too seriously from its comedic foibles. Whether it’s poking fun at the various downsides of humanity, including a twisted version of Chuck E. Cheese, or coming up with bizarre creatures for its Hell-related adventures, including vampire pugs that turn those they bite into pugs, it uses its off-kilter premise and world to great comedic effect.

Many of these references also end up feeling a little too dated for their own good, seeming like going after easy targets that have been the butt of jokes for the past decade or two in comedies.

The show also frequently pokes fun at various real-world figures, including Elon Musk and jokes about everyone from Mark Zuckerberg being possessed by multiple demons to Roseanne terrifying even Godcat. Unfortunately, many of these references also end up feeling a little too dated for their own good. The series goes after easy targets that have previously been the butt of jokes in comedies, rather than finding their own niche for its humor.

Exploding Kittens’ Worldbuilding Is A Delight (But The Story Feels Too Safe)

Exploding Kittens shows both a lot of promise and feels a bit underwhelming in the way its story plays out. The initial setup of God coming to Earth to reconnect with humanity is a novel concept, as is Beelzebub being sent to Earth to learn how to be more evil after inheriting the title of the Devil from her father and failing to impress the other demons. The overall worldbuilding of Heaven and Hell is similarly intriguing, particularly with how they interact with Earth and people’s general acceptance of seeing angels and demons.

Ultimately, it’s the dysfunctional family at the heart of Exploding Kittens‘ story where these unique ideas begin to falter. Aside from the mother, who was once a Marine in Canada and embarked on some bizarre missions, the rest of the Higgins family that Godcat is tasked with trying to bring back together are very routine characters — the nerdy son, scientist daughter and timid husband. This, in turn, leads to some very formulaic character development in which Godcat is frequently reminding them that they should understand each other and embrace their differences out of unconditional love.

Given the show also ends on a pretty final note, it’s unclear whether Exploding Kittens will expand beyond its upcoming release and, as such, correct some of the missteps of its debut season. However, with the ending also setting up a unique new dynamic for Godcat and Devilcat, and the worlds of Heaven and Hell, the show could very well move beyond the routine dysfunctional family formula, do something truly fresh with its source material and let Tom Ellis and Sasheer Zamata go even further with their characters.

Exploding Kittens is now streaming on Netflix. The series consists of nine episodes.