Their foster father is dead. They haven’t spoken to one another in years. And their long-lost brother just arrived through a time portal to inform them the world is ending in eight days. Not the best reunion for a family of super-powered twentysomethings and their “ordinary” sister. That’s the setup for The Umbrella Academy, a new Netflix adaptation of Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá’s cult comic series.
The much-hyped series, based on the comic book series of the same name, has been going down well with fans.
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The reviews for the series have been coming in thick and fast. Lucy Mangan reckons the series has a “daft name, daft concept” in her Guardian review.
It is purest hokum: a superhero show with some potentially interesting stuff lurking underneath about family dysfunction (mostly carried by Ellen Page as the black sheep) that promises never to be developed.
Vox called the show “very weird” in their review, giving it, 4 “Vs” out of 5.
The show is every bit as good, as delightfully odd, and as touching as the comic […] The Umbrella Academy is surprisingly emotional, capturing the feeling of remorse that often comes with hurting our loved ones.
The AV Club said that the show gets too precious with its mysteries. They also called the writing of the show vague.
Unfortunately, the writers tends to hide this good stuff behind mysteries they’re in no hurry to solve and secrets they would rather obfuscate than explore. It’s one of those shows where the characters are at their best when they’re all together, bickering and bantering, but the plot keeps them separated just for the sake of dragging out the big reveals.
It’s not that the writing is awful; it just veers a little too wildly between being needlessly vague and frustratingly ham-fisted.
Writing for IGN, Laura Prudom says it’s “unfair” to compare The Umbrella Academy to other Netflix superhero offerings like Daredevil or Iron Fist.
The Umbrella Academy focuses on a dysfunctional family of heroes, who are drawn together by an eccentric and emotionally distant billionaire and tasked with saving the world from annihilation (with a healthy dose of time travel, dancing, and a talking chimpanzee thrown in).
Showrunner Steve Blackman has created a hilariously twisted, subversively stylish, and surprisingly poignant new superhero series that serves as both a witty deconstruction of our favorite comic book tropes and an ambitious, time-bending romp.
Streaming now on Netflix, The Umbrella Academy Season 1 star Ellen Page, Mary J. Blige, Tom Hopper, Cameron Britton, Robert Sheehan, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Adam Godley, Aidan Gallagher, David Castañeda, John Magaro, Ashley Madekwe and Colm Feore.
