Once a week, I will turn on Netflix and select the first show listed under New Releases. This week’s show is a children’s series called PJ Masks.
PJ Masks follows three 6-year-olds, Connor, Amaya, and Greg, who lead relatively normal lives by day, where they are neighbors, classmates, and friends. However, at night, they become Catboy, Owlette, and Gekko, and fight crime as the PJ Masks, a superhero team. Together they go on adventures, defeat criminals, solve mysteries, and learn valuable lessons.
The show is produced by Entertainment One, Frog Box Entertainment, and TeamTO and based on a French book series called Les Pyjamasques by Romuald Racioppo. It is a Disney Junior show that first aired in 2015.
The graphics are smooth and brightly colored which should grab the attention of any pre-schooler. There are two episodes per 25 minute segment, breaking it down nicely for the small attention spans. Each episode has a lesson to teach – patience, conquering fears, etc.
The narrator style and the hero reveal remind me of the Power Puff Girls, and the music has the feel of the campy Batman TV series. Unfortunately, that is where the enjoyment (at least for an adult) ends. The character voices are whiny and annoying.
For a show that is teaching lessons to pre-schoolers, the villains do a lot of name-calling. There also doesn’t seem to be any repercussions for the villains, no parental figures and no sign of any authorities.
As a parent, I put this in the same category as Caillou, not something I would watch with my child. And definitely not something I would let him watch on a regular basis.
As an adult that likes cartoons, I say avoid this show. It seems like they are trying to do the best pieces of the popular cartoons and slap into another, hoping the formula might just work. And I guess for the pre-school age group, it might just be working, at least looking at the merchanidising out there…but it is Disney, so what else do you expect?
