Common Sense Media Review
By Joyce Slaton
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Great actors in quirky, dark, violent comic adaptation.
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The Umbrella Academy
Parent and Kid Reviews
Based on 64 parent reviews
Summarized with AI
Summarized with AI
Based on 335 kid reviews
Summarized with AI
What's the Story?
Decades before THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY opens, 43 infants were inexplicably born to women all over the world who weren't pregnant the day before. Eccentric billionaire Sir Reginald Hargreeves (Colm Meany) figures these children must have some kind of special powers. And so he sets out to adopt as many of them as he can. His final tally: seven, including Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman), who can make things come true merely by saying things out loud; Klaus (Robert Sheehan), who can speak to the dead; Number Five (Aidan Gallagher), who can jump through time; and Vanya (Elliot Page), who is, as Hargreeves says, "nothing special." Years after they were a hot crime-fighting family, the super-siblings are now estranged. But when Hargreeves dies mysteriously—and when a character missing for over a decade reappears, warning that eight days from now, a fiery apocalypse destroys all of humanity—the gang teams up again for time-hopping, apocalypse-subverting missions that span four total seasons.
Is It Any Good?
Inventive visuals and quirky actors clearly instructed to go wild breathe life into the somewhat overdone setup of a school for superheroes. Hey, didn't we do that already? X-Men? Sky High? But The Umbrella Academy takes it to the limit, and as time goes on, the emotional stakes of the show deepen, which makes the action and villainy more exciting and sets this show apart from similar outings. The show's early hyperkinetic action sequences set to cheerful pop aren't as effective as they could be. They'll remind you of Kick-Ass, for one thing, and they're over-the-top logically speaking: Does a bank robber really deserve to be flung out of a third-story window to certain death? Um, maybe the super-sibs could just call the police? But other moments are sheer joy, like a scene in which the siblings dance to "I Think We're Alone Now" in separate rooms of the house before the camera pulls back as if they were dancing in a dollhouse, each in his or her own box.
Two of Umbrella Academy's actors are also reliable fun whenever they show up: Sheehan, all elfin-fey jittery energy as the bad sheep of the family (in later seasons he does battle with his sobriety), and Gallagher, tasked with playing a character with the consciousness of a 58-year-old and the body of a 13-year-old. Grousing his way believably and magnetically through scenes in which he can't believe the stupidity of everyone around him, Gallagher is a kick—and, incidentally, has a really cool superpower. Unfortunately, the sublimely gifted Page mopes around for a while, not given as much to do until the actor's "I'm so ordinary!" storyline shifts. It's always great to see an underdog get theirs, but it's frustrating to watch Page's sparkly light dimmed while we wait. Thankfully, the show deepens and gets better as the seasons play out, with an apocalyptic storyline that heightens the tension and a lot of time spent investigating the characters' inner lives and frustrations. The violent set pieces and sci-fi weaponry remain, but the show takes time to illuminate the characters caught up in the violence, which imbues the battles with meaning and heart and turns what could be an empty spectacle into something gripping, moving, and, ultimately, entirely thrilling.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the level of violence in The Umbrella Academy. Is it more or less violent than you expected? More or less violent than other shows or movies about superheroes? How can you tell the difference between a superhero and a supervillain? Is the violence in this show enjoyable? What impact does media violence have on kids?
How well do you think comic books translate to feature films or TV shows? Which comics-based productions have made the best adaptations? Is it important to your enjoyment of the show to have read the comic before watching?
What makes stories about humans with extraordinary powers especially appealing? Why would people want to have superpowers? If you could have a superpower, what would it be?
TV Details
- Premiere date : February 15, 2019
- Cast : Elliot Page , Colm Meaney , Robert Sheehan , Aidan Gallagher
- Network : Netflix
- Genre : Drama
- Topics : Superheroes
- TV rating :
- Last updated : November 6, 2025
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