Level Up (2011)

This was terrible. I hate the idea of hurting the feelings of actors, so I try not to be too harsh but this? Wow. It's shouldn't be on Cartoon Network. It's a quality that could only be appealing to very, VERY bored children when there's nothing better on. Everything was bad; the acting, the props, the plot, the jokes, the script. Everything. Not to mention the overdone (and sexist) elements to it. If you can stomach the awful CG, you can then enjoy all the actors overreacting and screaming while struggling to act like a human. Fun! No original jokes, you'll have heard every one before. Even the damn filming itself is low quality; the camera tends to either go out too far in order to fit a shot, or come in too close which means it jumps around enough to make you ill. Don't waste your time on this trash.

Level Up is a very fun show with a great cast of talented young actors. It's well written with plenty of comedy and action to appeal to younger kids and teens and loads of humor that adults will catch as it sails over their kids' heads. Dante, Wyatt, Lyle and Angie are high school kids who play an MMO game called "Maldark: Conqueror of all Worlds". Characters and weapons from the game start "leaking" into their world (See "Level Up: The Movie" for the origin story) and the kids use their gaming skills to battle the bad guys and use treasure to make life easy, usually with unintended and hilarious consequences. All the 1 and 2 star votes seem fixated on whether the show is an accurate portrayal of MMORP gaming and their complaints sound like the Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons declaring everything "Worst...Episode...Ever" because they know how the show should "really" play out. They're missing the point completely. The MMORP is a backdrop, the story is about kids from different backgrounds dealing with the real world and realizing they have more in common than they thought. And did I mention that it's funny?

I'm almost midway from watching the first episode and I thought I would look it up on IMDb, mainly because one of the actors looked familiar. For some reason I could swear the actor Jesse Usher was on a a show from Disney that he was the main character.If you watch the first episode keep in mind, it's campy and silly and it doesn't take it's self serious. It's a kids show and it's "fantasy" and the weapons look goofy as all heck because it's supposed to be the kids that built them. I was a little old to be watching Mighty Morphin Power Rangers in the past, but I did see an episode and this kind of reminds me of that. So far this is something I would let the kids watch. There is just mild video game violence, no blood, just kids hitting trolls and such with goofy looking weapons. I will probably watch this another time with the kids. It is much better than some of the other kids shows I have seen.

This show is absolutely horrible. As a fan of MMO's and all things nerdy, I find this show to be quite insulting. The premise is tired and outdated, the CG is painful to watch, and the "acting" is less than B-movie quality. Not sure who their target audience is for this, maybe children under twelve. Although, the jokes and pop culture references seemed to be aimed at people in their 20's. Yes, I know this is being shown on Cartoon Network, but seriously. Overall, a weak attempt to cash in on MMO/nerd demographic. Want a good show about MMO's with a story and cast you can get behind? Go watch The Guild. Hopefully, big studios will eventually get this subject correct and do a little bit of research before they decide to try this again.