Reviews No One Will Read: Level Up

Above Dante, Lyle, and Wyatt reacting to the news
that WoW is going Free-to-Play

If you have read anything else on this blog you know that I am a nerd and a gamer. Yet, despite those self-proclaimed labels I still found myself hesitant to check out Cartoon Network's live-action movie/series Level Up. To be perfectly clear, I am very much a fan and frequent watcher of both Cartoon Network and its after hours' programing Adult Swim. It has always amazed me that people believe that just because you become an adult you should stop watching cartoons, because quite frankly watching cartoons as an adult (and actually getting all the jokes being referenced) brings the experience to a whole new level.

I am digressing... The set-up of Level Up is almost exactly what you would expect it to be. It is about three teenage gamers who play an MMORPG called Conqueror of All Worlds. Wyatt (Gaelan Connell), Dante (Connor del Rio) and Lyle (Jessie T. Usher) spend their nights playing the game as their avatars, Black Death, Sir Bickle, and Wizza (respectively,) while unbeknownst to the trio a malfunction in the game allows them to create a hole from the game world to the real world. All of this eventually climaxes into the escape of the game's main villain, Maldark. Our young heroes are then forced to bring their skills and in-game weapons to bear IRL (in real life) against the game's enemies (and other assorted Internet related humor) as these threats leak into their quiet town of Daventry Hills.

Now, Cartoon Network has tried the live-action genre before and come tantalizingly close to success, but not really. Add to this mix that the concept of video-game-to-real-life has been around since Disney put a neon bike helmet on Jeff Bridges, and maybe you can understand why I put off checking out Level Up. Eventually though (as it so often does) my curiosity out-weighed my hesitance, and so (with low expectations) I finally checked out this newest attempt by Cartoon Network to bridge the gap of cartoon and reality, and I am glad I did. 

As I stated before, the plot and story progression is fairly predictable, but if we did away with all movies and TV shows that had predictable plot lines than we'd probably be left with... well not much. (I mean even Inception was stolen from a Donald Duck comic.) Yet, what this show lacks in originality it more than makes up for in pure fun. Level Up really shines in its tongue-in-cheek humor, especially if you are a gamer. The show prominently features MMO humor, used both casually; such as when Dante refers to the group's fourth and unofficial member (and non-gamer) Angie (Aimee Carrero) as an NPC, and overtly; such as when after vanquishing their first real-life monster, Dante attempts to loot the creature and comes back with a few gold coins and an old leather glove.

Three things every show needs: weapons, nerds,
and a cute yet attainable-looking girl.

A lot this appeal comes from the fact that Level Up makes sure never to take itself too seriously. After all,  it is a show about teenagers battling computer generated monsters, while their small town remains almost heavenly oblivious. The flippant and sometimes facetious humor extends also to the gaming world, where even the fictional MMO Conqueror of All Worlds, is really nothing more than a parody of actual MMO's. The game (which you can also play for free on CartoonNetwork.com) uses absurd weapons which include a giant orange and yellow nerf-gun called a Blast-a-Ton, a blue and orange baseball bat called Skull Cracker, and other items such as a shield that looks like a man-hole cover, and a giant metallic fist weapon called the Fist of Schoolage. Other absurdities include enemies such as Holiday Orcs, or Black Death's personal (and annoying Monty Python-esque) Bard.

Lastly, though some of the characters at times can be two-dimensional, I appreciate the nod the movie and its subsequent show gives to the gaming and nerd community in general. Each of our three heroes are different types of nerds. Wyatt is the most typical nerd who will openly talk about his love of video games, card games, quiz bowl trivia, etc, and  is always picked on, and often times beaten up because of it. Dante is a skateboarder and a rebel. He is not academically gifted, and he spends most of his time trying to get others to notice him, which often leads him into conflict with his strict mother. Lyle is the closet-nerd. He is the high school quarterback, the most popular kid in school, his father is mayor, and he actually has a girlfriend. Lyle, however, is forced to hide who he truly is in order to fit into the rigid social structure of high school. All of this is a welcome change on the perspective of gamers and nerds the media has so often given us. Whereas in the past, nerds have been portrayed as a homogenized glasses-wearing race of awkward beings, such as those in Revenge of the Nerds, or more recently the Big Bang Theory, (but don't get me wrong I love the BBT,) here we see that gamers can be as diverse as anyone else. It is a welcome change of perception and I hope the show does not attempt to minimize these distinctions as it goes forward in the coming months and years. One of the reasons for this new look at gamers and nerds may be because the production companies of Cartoon Network Studios and Alive & Kicking Productions brought in my favorite team of Internet aficionados, Rooster Teeth as consultants on the movie.

Detractors will no doubt say that the show lacks depth and only finds its humor in pop culture and video game references, but to those critics I could only say, "lighten up." Its a movie/show aimed at young adults and when all is said and done it fullfills its main goal. Level Up is both humorous and entertaining. Not everything on TV needs to be Shakespeare or Battlestar Galacitca. (Besides most of what I write lacks depth and is pop-culture related too). Yet, with witty dialogue, gamer-related humor, and okay CGI (I mean for a cable network television show marketed to younger viewers), Level Up has the potential to finally be the live-action success that Cartoon Network has been hoping for. I will certainly continue to watch, and I recommend that you do too.

"Level Up" is presented with a knowing sense of pop culture pitched beyond just prepubescent kids. - Variety

There is an underlying theme of the importance of friendship and loyalty and teamwork, and the true heroism and bravery that all gamers carry in their souls. -SciFi Mafia