Terry Gilliam came out with his film The Time Bandits about a boy who goes through his wardrobe and runs into a group of little people calling themselves “The Time Bandits” back in 1981. For its time it wasn’t that far off course for off-the-wall cinema. Gilliam has made some other strange films in the past, but one of his most famous and or popular is The Time Bandits. It makes sense that someone like Taika Waititi would want to adapt it into a streaming series.

Kevin (Kal -EL Tuck) is an average teen in Billingley, England.  He has a sister Saffron (Kiera Thompson) who is like any kid’s sister would be. A pain in the backside to her brother. His parents just let him do his own thing as long as he stays out of trouble. Little do they know he got sucked into his wardrobe and ends up hanging out with a band of thieves known as “The Time Bandits”. This band of misfits is led by Penelope (Lisa Kudrow) the leader, other members include Judy (Charlene Yi), an empath, Alto (Tadig Murphy) an actor, Bettelig (Rune Temte) the muscle of the team, and Widgit (Roger Nsengiyumva) the team navigator who has the map to the different time locations.

Kevin gets in the middle of something he had no idea of when he joined this band of misfits. They stole the map from the Supreme Being (Taika Waititi) who wants to use it for nefarious means. Also after them is Pure Evil (Jemaine Clement). He wants the map as well for his own evil reasons. He sends his henchman Fianna (Rachel House) after them. She is like a living embodiment of a dog. She uses her sense of smell to sniff them out wherever they may go in throughout time. With all of these people after the Bandits they are in a world of trouble wherever they may go.

With Waititi having worked with Clement before on the series What We Do In The Shadows it would seem like they have a good relationship with one another. Both of them are ad-libbing like crazy, but as the main villain, Clement has a lot of room to shine. He says and does some crazy stuff, all with a straight face. It’s amazing how these guys are so funny yet they, themselves don’t Crack up at everything each other says. Waititi creates a genuine financial environment for all the characters in this show to succeed which in turn makes the viewers laugh that much more. I was cracking up throughout this series. Not just at these two comedic pros, but at everyone in the show. 

Part of why this show is so good is the various periods in time the cast visit. From the 1920s to medieval England, Feudal Japan, and the Mayan Empire. Everywhere the Bandits went they ran into trouble and some interesting people. More often than not they are able to talk themselves out of trouble with quick thinking and some bubbling mistakes that end up working out in their favor. As a history buff, I was glad to see all these historical periods represented in the show. The original film did the same so it was nice the series copied that aspect. Kids these days need to learn about history and this is a good way to do that hilariously.

With a show such as this, there are going to be a lot of costumes, makeup, hair design sets, and so forth. Waititi and Apple spared no expense on all the technical aspects of this show. I was very impressed by how good everything looked. Even though some of the locations weren’t supposed to look very real you can tell they were very well constructed. I was able to just watch the series for the story and not have to worry about how campy or not things were. That’s the makings of a good show. 

Two of my favorite parts of the show are Kal-El Tuck as Kevin. He was such a revaluation to me. This is the first time I’ve seen him in anything and he was terrific. With all the big-name talent in this series, I was shocked at how much I cared about him and his journey. I hope he gets more roles in the future. The second thing I loved was some Neanderthals who entered the story when the Bandits ended up in the ice age. The family of cavemen was so funny the leader was the funniest though. His ability to make me laugh was uncanny. He was serious yet so funny at the same time. The Ice Age episode might just be my favorite of the show. 

I found The Time Bandits a little later than I had. I got the Criterion of it and loved it. This new update to the classic film from Guilliam is a breath of fresh air from all the drama series I usually watch. Comedy isn’t usually my thing because I don’t find much funny these days. This series had me cracking up from the very first episode. The band of misfits along with Waititi,  Clement, and quite a few of the other characters were all hilarious. With all the laughs there was still a lot of heart and compassion as well. Waititi knows how to balance these out. The technical elements were good but not too campy to take me out of the show. This is fantastic family fun for the whole family. Who knows kids might actually learn something from watching it as well.

4 stars

Dan Skip Allen