Remember how Disney tried to make a show like Ren & Stimpy back in the day but failed horribly with The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show? Well they tried it again. What’s that old saying, if at first you don’t succeed try and try again. And surprisingly this time it actually worked. Brandy and Mr. Whiskers focuses on a dog and a rabbit who due to a mishap wind up stranded in the Amazon with no way out. The two decide to make a living in the jungle, befriend the animals that live there, and hopefully find their way out.
Like I said before the show was similar to Ren & Stimpy however this show had enough personality where it was able to stand on its own as a show. Because we have two main characters we have to have them be the opposite of each other. Mr. Whiskers is an eccentric rabbit with the intelligence of a 5 year old child and Brandy is a spoiled drama queen dog who often takes advantage of her friends’ kindness. Brandy and Mr. Whiskers have a little brother-big sister relationship. They get into fights, Mr. Whiskers annoys Brandy from time to time, and Brandy treats him badly at times as well but despite her rude behavior to Mr. Whiskers (and her friends for that matter), Brandy really does care for him and is always looking out for him. Hell, in the first episode when she has a chance to escape the Amazon she gives it all up just to save Mr. Whiskers from being eaten. The show’s humor was quite similar to Ren & Stimpy’s humor but it never crossed the line of being gross or disgusting it was mostly played safely. They had toilet humor, adult jokes, and cueing to real life photos at times for a joke. Usually each episode just centered on the two either trying to escape the jungle or trying to make their lives better in the jungle. The show was okay, it wasn’t anything special but it did entertain kids and when I watched it I didn’t see anything bad or stupid in it but in all honesty I do feel that this show came out 10 years too late. This show started airing in 2005 a time when cartoons were slowly starting to go downhill and were trying to move away from the adult humor in order to appeal solely to kids. I believe that if this show had started airing in the 90’s it would have been a big hit with viewers. With its bright animation, pretty good characters and setting this show could have been a good rival for Ren & Stimpy. Personally, I think Ren & Stimpy, Cow and Chicken, and 2 Stupid Dogs were better shows than Brandy and Mr. Whiskers but I think this show would have made a good rival for these shows and show us that just like Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network could do edgy shows so could Disney.