''The Cuphead Show!'' is an animated

slapstick comedy Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such as ...

television series developed by

Dave Wasson Dave Wasson (born September 11, 1968) is an American animator, storyboard artist, director, producer, writer, and voice actor. Wasson created the Cartoon Network original series '' Time Squad'', before going on to develop '' Star vs. the Forces ...

for

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

based on the 2017 video game '' Cuphead'' by Studio MDHR. Chad and Jared Moldenhauer, the creators of ''Cuphead'', serve as executive producers, along with Wasson and CJ Kettler from

King Features Syndicate King Features Syndicate, Inc. is an American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product License, licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, columnist, newspape ...

, and Cosmo Segurson serving as co-executive producer. The show was released on February 18, 2022, as a Netflix Original Series. It received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its animation, voice acting, music, humor, and tone. However, some felt it lacked substance, with the episodes' plots being criticized for being "too fragmented" and "often repetitive." The second season of ''The Cuphead Show!'' was released on August 19, 2022, followed shortly after by the third season, which debuted on November 18, 2022.

Plot

Set in the

1930s File:1930s decade montage.png, From left, clockwise: Dorothea Lange's photo of the homeless Florence Owens Thompson, Florence Thompson shows the effects of the Great Depression; due to extreme drought conditions, farms across the south-central Uni ...

-style world of the Inkwell Isles, ''The Cuphead Show!'' follows the misadventures of impulsive, troublemaking scamp Cuphead and cautious but easily-swayed Mugman, a pair of

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to ...

cup brothers who live with their grandfather and elderly caretaker, Elder Kettle, in a teapot-shaped cottage. The brothers' stories often center around them trying to find their way out of various issues, occasionally meeting and interacting with characters from its video game source material. While the series is mainly episodic, one recurring plot is the

Devil A devil is the mythical personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conce ...

hunting Cuphead for his soul, as he believes it is rightfully his after Cuphead lost a soul-harvesting game called "Soul Ball", only to be always foiled by Cuphead and Mugman.

Voice cast

* Tru Valentino as Cuphead * Frank Todaro as Mugman *

Grey DeLisle Grey DeLisle (; born Erin Grey Van Oosbree; August 24, 1973), sometimes credited as Grey Griffin, is an American voice actress and singer-songwriter. DeLisle is known for various roles in animated productions and video games. On September 27, ...

as Ms. Chalice * Joe Hanna as Elder Kettle * Cosmo Segurson as Porkrind and Elephant *

Wayne Brady Wayne Alphonso Brady (born June 2, 1972) is an American comedian, actor, and singer. He is a regular cast member on the American version of the improvisational comedy television series '' Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' He was the host of the daytim ...

as King Dice * Luke Millington-Drake as the Devil *

as Henchman and Telephone * Chris Wylde as Ribby * Rick Zieff as Croaks * Andrew Morgado as Stickler * Keith Ferguson as Bowlboy * Natasia Demetriou as Cala Maria * Zoë Moss as Baroness Von Bon Bon * Jason Vande Brake as Captain Brineybeard

Development

In July 2019, it was announced that Netflix had green-lit the series. Chad and Jared Moldenhauer from Studio MDHR are executive producers, along with C.J. Kettler from

, and co-executive produced by Cosmo Segurson. Clay Morrow and Adam Paloian are supervising directors. The series is animated by Lighthouse Studios, a

Kilkenny Kilkenny ( , meaning 'church of Cainnech of Aghaboe, Cainnech'). is a city in County Kilkenny, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region, Ireland, South-East Region and in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinst ...

-based division between Mercury Filmworks and Cartoon Saloon, and stop motion animation was provided by

Screen Novelties Screen Novelties (stylized as SCREEN NOVELTIES) is an American animation studio, specializing in stop motion animation. It was founded by Mark Caballero, Seamus Walsh, and Chris Finnegan. Overview Their work fuses classic cartoon sensibilitie ...

. In an effort to meet streaming series deadlines, the show's production crew were unable to utilize hand-drawn animation like in the game, instead choosing to use puppet-based methods while also putting in various elements to match the 1930s rubber hose style. The series was first revealed at the

Annecy International Animation Film Festival The Annecy International Animation Film Festival (, officially abbreviated in English as the Annecy Festival, or simply Annecy) was created in 1960 and takes place at the beginning of June in the town of Annecy, France. Initially occurring ever ...

in June 2020, with the announcement that the show's music would be composed by Ego Plum.

Episodes

Release

The first season of ''The Cuphead Show!'' premiered on February 18, 2022 and consisted of twelve episodes. Netflix ordered a total of 36 episodes to be produced, that would end up getting released as three seasons. The second season was released on August 19, 2022, and featured thirteen episodes, with the third and eighth episodes running close to 25 minutes each. The third and final season was released on November 18, 2022, and consisted of eleven episodes. The first and final episodes were each 20 minutes long, while the sixth episode became the longest in the series, lasting 30 minutes.

Reception

Viewership

''The Cuphead Show!'' was viewed for 14.6 million hours on Netflix during the week of February 14–20. The series later garnered 20.85 million hours of viewing from February 21–27. Between February 13 and March 6, it spent three weeks in Netflix's global "Top 10" list—a daily updated list of the platform's most-watched titles—accumulating a total of 47.29 million hours of viewing time. ''The Cuphead Show!'' subsequently ranked No. 9 on Netflix's "Top 10" list on March 2. TVision, using its Power Score to evaluate CTV programming through viewership and engagement across over 1,000 apps, reported that ''The Cuphead Show!'' had a 49% binge-watch rate in March, indicating that nearly half of the viewers watched three or more episodes in one sitting. By August, this rate rose to 57%, positioning ''The Cuphead Show!'' among the top binge-watched programs on Netflix that month. ''The Cuphead Show!'' ranked fourth in the Top 10 Most Popular Kids' Shows and Movies on Netflix globally in 2022, following ''Paw Patrol'', ''CoComelon'', and ''Gabby's Dollhouse'' in popularity. '' Variety'''s Trending TV chart, which tracks social media engagement across trending television content, reported that ''The Cuphead Show!'' generated 109,000 engagements on Twitter from February 14–20, 2022, ranking No. 5 on the chart behind ''Succession''. The series later garnered 103,600 engagements on Twitter from February 28 to March 6, 2022, placing No. 7 on the chart, behind ''Moon Knight''. According to market research company Parrot Analytics, which evaluates consumer engagement through research, streaming, downloads, and social media, ''The Cuphead Show!'' saw substantial demand in February 2024. Its audience demand was 5.1 times higher than the average show in the United States, placing it within the top 8.6% of all TV shows. When comparing its year-over-year performance, the series reached a peak of 6.8 times the average demand, reflecting a significant 41.1% increase. On a global scale, ''The Cuphead Show!'' demonstrated strong demand, particularly in markets such as Russia, China, and Brazil.

Critical response

On review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, 75% of 16 critics gave the first season a positive review, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The site's critical consensus is: "While ''The Cuphead Show!'' fluidly recreates its video game forebear's eye-popping animation, this good-looking vessel is still waiting for some substance to fill it." On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, it has a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

score of 69 based on reviews from 4 critics, indicating "generally favourable reviews". Jesse Lab of '' The Escapist'' praised ''The Cuphead Show!'' for embracing its role as a children's animated series, focusing on its retro-inspired animation and episodic structure rather than attempting to mirror the game's more complex themes. He acknowledged that while the show may disappoint fans of the game with its simplistic, situational comedy and lack of narrative depth, it succeeds in being an entertaining and positive cartoon for younger audiences. Lab appreciated the humor and moral lessons embedded in each episode, emphasizing that the show's design, reminiscent of classic cartoons like ''Looney Tunes,'' makes it a charming, if not revolutionary, option for kids, rather than a hardcore gaming adaptation. Rafael Motamayor of

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

gave ''The Cuphead Show!'' a rating of 9 out of 10, complimenting it for effectively adapting the video game into a humorous and visually captivating animated series. He highlighted the show's fusion of 1930s animation styles with modern comedic timing, noting its surreal, slapstick humor and episodic nature. Motamayor also commended the characters, particularly the brotherly dynamic between Cuphead and Mugman, as well as the comedic charm of Elder Kettle Despite some criticisms over the lack of serialization, he found ''The Cuphead Show!'' to be an entertaining, fun, and nostalgic experience that appeals to both animation fans and newcomers alike.

Accolades

It was first nominated for Children's and Family Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Series in 2022.

Impact

The release of ''The Cuphead Show!'' led to an increase in sales of the ''Cuphead'' game, according to its creators, the Moldenhauer brothers. Following the show's debut on Netflix, interest in the game was renewed, resulting in higher sales even before the release of its downloadable content. Chad Moldenhauer noted that while the increase was noticeable, it was not an extraordinary surge, but rather a consistent uptick, with some players returning to tackle additional challenges.

References

External links

* *
Official trailer
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