Galavant

On the one hand, Galavant sends up fairy tale tropes in a way that'll go down nicely with a modern audience weaned on frothy supernatural shows such as Once Upon a Time and Sleepy Hollow. Our hero is introduced with a catchy little ditty (the songs are cowritten by The Little Mermaid impresarios Alan Mencken and Glenn Slater) that cheerfully promises our dashing hero will "disembowel you" if you cross him but has a square jaw and perfect hair: "a fairy tale cliché!" Many of Galavant's jokes land, such as a priceless sequence in which standout Omundson interrupts a murderous rant to praise a courtier for adding a hint of lemon to his tea. At its best, Galavant has a breath of Monty Python's Life of Brian and The Princess Bride.

However, even as Galavant tries to skewer tropes, it wallows in them, particularly in the areas of class and gender. The female characters mostly exist to prop up the protagonist and give him a love interest. Haven't we seen this whole "two dudes fighting over a woman" plot a few too many times? Ah, well. The jokes come often enough to keep the pace lively, there's nothing too scary for little kids (some ribald stuff, though -- watch out), the songs are catchy, and the subject matter could be a win-win for older kids and parents.