Search - Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, Vol. 2 on DVD

Not guilty on the second verdict!

Del Keyes | In the middle of the Sunshine | 07/23/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"- REVIEW



Ally McBeal, Dennis Crane, Ronnie Cooke, and Helen Gamble: what do these people have in common? Well, they're all part of David E. Kelley's programs that I never watch, nor did I watch any lawyer shows in general. However, I did played "Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney" and Phoenix is quite the debonair lawyer, and so is Harvey Birdman: half-superhero, 100-percent-attorney at law. This second volume continues to prove that you can't keep the bird-lawyer down when he's riding the law against those that touches it in its naughty place. Volume Two gives the paying fan another 13 episodes of rapid-fire, satirical, non-sequitous humor: more cases, more copyrighted Hanna-Barbera characters, more Pea-nutty-nutty, more crest-on-birdman's-helmet, more bear and Colbert.



What's important in Volume Two, however, is that it gives other characters besides typical-ol' Birdy a chance to stride, especially Peter Potomus. I may not have spelled his last name right, but the lecherous hippo has manages to have bigger roles in two episodes, "Harvey's Civvy" and "Beyond The Valley of The Dinosaurs." Granted, these two episodes made him a bigger comic relief, but his ever-unreliable prescence and goofball determination strides his character to be more than just wondering if anyone got that thing he sent them. Peanut also manages to get his own episode in "Peanut Puberty", a brilliant and hysterical episode that brilliantly combines the brilliant topics of superheroism and sexual maturation; BRILLIANT (and also "hormone"-erotic)!



One new member of Sebben & Sebben that I'm glad to see is Judy Sebben, played by the magnificent Paget Brewster*. She is a mild-manner meatbag and daughter of crazy Sebben, but her true identity is BIRDGIRL, fighter of justice and aria of onomatopoeia. Birdgirl only appears in one titualar (HA HA! Lewd pun) episode in this set, but it's enough to know her pressures of doing a terrible job at keeping a secret identity, and having the same ambitions as her father, only less on doing the nasty and more on helping Birdman with his Morocco Mole case. It's easy to see she's the Scrappy Doo of the Law gang, but that's not true: Birdgirl is both annoying and likeable, whereas Scrappy is just playing annoying.



Although this volume is more consistent with the random humor thanks to the wonders of Flash Animation, there are a few uninspiried episodes. "Back To The Present", funny as it is, had a nonsensical plot. Okay, the whole series is built around randomness, but the plot itself shouldn't be as confusing as the humor; it's about The Jetsons going to the past from the future, which is also the past, to stop the present, which is the future, from damaging the earth (does this makes sense to you?). "Grape Juiced" wasn't that great of an episode, though it's mainly due to Gigi; I don't like the tramp, which makes the appearance of Birdgirl all the more sweeter. I think the most guilty episode of the set is "Gone Efficien...t", a "Brazil"-themed plot about saving time and money in an absurd manner, which doesn't quite work as the episode tends to drag at a few scenes, and the theme itself is redundant and ended quite unsatisfying.



Still, these episodes overshadowed some great ones such as "Blackwatch Plaid", "Booty Noir", and "X gets the Crest", the last two of which are also character-centered episodes. The DVD extras are also great this time around, as this set have commentaries for nine episodes with the creators AND cast. Admittedly, I only listened to three, two of which is with Stephen Colbert; it's good that he took his time off from "The Colbert Report" to bring some witty insights while the creators have a few trivias to speak of. When I watched "Evolutionary War", I thought, "Man, that one scene must be time-consuming to make", and the animators pretty much agree with me on the commentary. There are other extras such as deleted scenes and a funny music video, so the extras, which short in time, are quite substantial.



This show continues to be laugh-out-loud funny, but not only that, it's surprisingly smarter this time around. The set deals with subject matters such as global warming, steroid abuse, national security, segregation, and guh---itar control (this is also evident in the first set, but I hardly noticed), and though the topics aren't in-your-face, that's probably a good thing; the sometimes-subtlety of social commentary makes these episodes more in-depth for repeated viewings. It continues to be a favorite for those who like to shrink things and taking minds.



This is Del Keyes, saying "HA HA HA! Rec-come-mendation!"





*No, not PUNKY Brewster. PAGET Brewster; y'know, the girl from "Andy Richter Controls The Universe". Never seen it? For shame."