Storm Hawks: Heroes Of The Sky DVD Review

Storm Hawks: Heroes of the Sky is a new cartoon show on Cartoon Network, and it has had an incredible effect on me. Simply put, I feel like I’m ten years old again. I’m staying up past my bedtime every night just to watch one more episode. I want to go to my nearest Toys R Us and buy all of the action figures. Then I want to take them home and play with them, making them fly around my room while I shamelessly make “whoosh!” and “bang!” sound effects. I want to buy the inevitable video game tie-in whenever it comes out. And most importantly, if a feature film ever gets made, I want to wear my cool Storm Hawks t-shirt and be first in line to see it. Such is the power of this show. I know I’m a responsible adult now, but Storm Hawks makes me feel like a kid again and I love it.

The 2-Disc Collector’s Set of Storm Hawks gathers the first 13 episodes of this fine series into one fan-friendly package. These episodes have previously been released as two single DVDs with the episodes spread over both, but this release puts the two discs together in one set. The actual episode count of the show is up to 27 right now, and word has it that the creators are shooting for a 52 episode season, so we can probably expect to see more of Storm Hawks on DVD down the road, and personally, I can’t wait.

So why am I so giddy about a kids show? There are so many reasons, but when you boil it down, Storm Hawks is a creative, entertaining, and addicting show of incredibly high quality.

The first thing you’ll notice when watching the show is the look, as the animation style is inventive and riveting. The show is animated using a process called “cel shading,” which falls somewhere between two-dimensional cartoons (like Aladdin) and three-dimensional computer animation (like Ratatouille). It’s hard to explain without actually seeing it, but the show looks like a two-dimensional cartoon rendered in three-dimensions. Confused yet? Just trust me: it’s a very interesting look.

Beyond the style of animation, the design of the show is just as creative. Every character has a distinctive look so that you’ll never mix any of them up. Not only that, but their mannerisms and facial expressions are carefully animated down to the subtlest twitch. Humor plays an important part in the show, and a lot of it is thanks to the incredible work done by the character animation team, who make the characters come to life on-screen.

However, as we all know, looks aren’t everything, but fear not, as the characters in Storm Hawks are just as interesting and animated in personality as they are in appearance. The show takes place in a science fiction universe where everybody lives in the sky on various floating metropolises. The group of lead characters is a ragtag team of underdog fighter pilots who take it upon themselves to protect the good citizens of Atmos from the evil forces of Cyclonia. They’re a colorful cast of characters who live on a rundown airship. Aerrow is the descendent of a legendary Sky Hawk and the team leader, Piper is the female navigator who can easily hold her own, Stork is the sheepish pilot, Finn is the sharpshooter who thinks everything of himself, Junko is the big lug of a mechanic, and Radarr is Aerrow’s furry sidekick animal who only communicates in yelps and animated facial expressions. Each of the characters fills a distinctive sci-fi archetype, and their colorful characterizations and interactions can be compared to the modern cult hit, Firefly, or even (dare I say it) the original Star Wars trilogy.

The characters’ relationships with one another also provide a lot of humor. Despite the fact that it’s an action show, Storm Hawks is often downright hilarious. Whether Finn is trying to be charming for the ladies (a la Han Solo) or Radarr is valiantly attempting to communicate using only body gestures and wordless yelps, the show has many comical beats amidst all of the action. What’s even better is that the humor is actually character driven, rather than being generic and groan-inducing like a lot of kids shows.

Finally, we can’t talk about an action show without addressing the action. The truth is, the action sequences are intense, suspenseful, and brilliantly executed, but they wouldn’t be nearly as successful without all of the prior elements that I’ve mentioned. After all, good action sequences aren’t good because of the number of explosions, but because of our interest in the characters involved in those explosions. As good as the action is in this show is, it wouldn’t be nearly as effective without Stork worrying about every sticky situation they get into, Radarr screeching comically at a near miss during a dog fight, or Junko accidentally breaking something because of his bulky size and then apologizing for it. It’s the intermittent character beats that elevate the action sequences in Storm Hawks to another level.

I only really have one complaint about the show, and it’s more like wishful thinking than a complaint, which is that each episode’s running time should be two times longer than it is. I know there’s probably never been a kids show longer than a half hour, but Storm Hawks deserves it. It packs so many action sequences, jokes, and character beats into its quick 22 minute running time (sans commercials) that the show would really benefit from some breathing room. But alas, this will probably never happen. I suppose I’d rather have a good show be over too quickly than have a bad show go on for too long.

Unfortunately, the extras on the DVD are as terrible as the show is excellent. They consist of the following three snippets: “The Storm Hawks Squadron,” “The Storm Hawks Weapons,” and “The Cyclonians,” each of which is a brief montage of moments from the show. They’re about as superfluous as extras get. There is one other non-DVD extra though: a bonus level for the Storm Hawks Squadron online game. I have yet to give it a try, but rest assured that I’ll be playing it soon enough.

Storm Hawks has been a wonderful show to watch because it doesn’t make me WISH I was a kid again, it makes me FEEL like a kid again. Because of this, I wouldn’t so much call it a kids show as I would call it a show that brings out the kid in all of us. Well, all of us guys at least. Kids will enjoy it immensely, but it’s so fun and entertaining that adults are likely to enjoy it just as much. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go watch all the episodes again, only this time I’m going to build my own airship out of cardboard boxes and sit in it while I watch.