The Adventures of Figaro Pho - DVD

Content: Figaro Pho is an ingenious tinkerer who lives in his castle-like house together with his robot dog River. The little guy could have a really carefree life. Too bad Figaro is terrified of almost everything. Fear of mosquitoes, of relatives, of rejection, of smelly body odors, of going bald, and even of shopping carts. How is one to survive in the dangerous world when dangers lurk everywhere? With the help of his ingenious mind, Figaro always manages to confront his fears with clever inventions or cunning strategies - which doesn't always have the desired success. But even when Figaro has fought one of his phobias, the next one is already waiting to make his life difficult...

With The Adventures of Figaro Pho, Australian Luke Jurevicius has created a wonderfully quirky and unconventional animated series that knows how to convince with countless whimsical ideas and original stories. Jurevicius tells them completely without words, which works surprisingly well even if you watch several of the 8-minute episodes at a time. Because not only the partly very unusual fears of Figaro - for example the fear of being stared at by a duck (!!) - and some running gags like the hardships of the poor postman, who almost never gets away with his deliveries to Figaro unscathed, provide again and again for a good mood. Also the mixture of sometimes very subtle, sometimes slightly macabre, sometimes over-the-top gross-out, but always child-friendly humor, prevents the viewer from ever getting bored despite the lack of dialogue.

That can't happen at all, because there are countless little details hidden in the individual episodes that are worth discovering. Embedded in a world whose realization is strongly reminiscent of the style of Tim Burton's animated films, the visual realization of Figaro Pho's adventures exudes a very special atmosphere that is hard to resist. Admittedly, some of the gags are rather infantile and not every one of the 39 episodes works equally well. But overall, what Luke Jurevicius, who was responsible not only for the scripts but also for the sounds fabricated by the characters and for the score, has created is simply absurdly beautiful.

Whoever appreciates animation entertainment of a slightly more unusual kind should definitely not miss this mixture of Tim Burton and child-friendly fun. Absolutely recommendable!

Picture + Sound: The picture, kept in rather earthy tones, convinces with a good overall sharpness, which also allows the many small details to be seen well. The contrasts are on a decent level, image distortions or dirt can not be made out. Not reference material, but more than satisfactory for a small animated series. The sound is completely without dialogue and is determined only by the music and various sounds, which come in the stereo mix quite powerful, but also very directional. No great surround experience, but on balance the whole is enough for a more than decent: Good!

Extras: As a bonus, there is a short look behind the scenes on the second DVD. This extra can be found on the second page of the episode selection. However, Luke Jurevicius' explanations of his creation are only in the original English with no subtitle options.

Conclusion: The Adventures of Figaro Pho is quirky, original and extremely charming in its whimsical way. With great attention to detail and without even a spoken word, the short episodes manage to draw the viewer into the world of the phobia-ridden inventor, where he is thoroughly entertained. An unusual animation series, which reminds stylistically a little of Tim Burton and about which not only the young target audience can amuse themselves wonderfully. For all who like it a little weirder, absolutely recommended!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp