'Dinotrux' and 'Wishenpoof': 2 New Kids Shows Bring the Noise
At the risk of facing charges of sexism, I’ll say that of two new streaming kids series, Netflix’s Dinotrux is aimed at boys, while Amazon’s Wishenpoof will find its biggest audience among girls.
Dinotrux, based on a book series by Chris Gall, features big metal versions of ancient creatures: dinosaurs as trucks, with lots of clanking and crashing and banging around. Wishenpoof, created by Angela Santomero (Blue’s Clues, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood), follows the adventures of Bianca, a little girl who can make wishes come true.
Wishenpoof is a pretty-looking production, full of bright candy colors and characters that have the enormous heads and huge eyes, as though pre-designed for potential commercial-tie-in dolls and merchandising. The episodes I’ve watched are big on self-empowerment — Bianca says aloud to herself, “I believe in me; I can do it!,” and she uses her wish powers to help friends as well as herself. As her mom says, “Remember Bianca, with magic or without, you can help your friend believe in herself.”
Mom is the only other character to also possess the wish-power, which makes me feel a little bit sad for (as he’s billed in the credits) “Jason Priestley as Dad.”
Dinotrux throws a few more metaphorical elbows than Wishenpoof, as you might expect from a series whose theme song is a merrily menacing shout: “Crush it! Smash it! Move it! Lift it!” (The Dinotrux theme would be excellent exercise-class music.) In this show, a big red protagonist, Ty-Rux, teams with a little, yellow, industrious “rep-tool,” Revvit. They form an opposites-attract friendship in the first episode, and overcome prejudice (“Different species don’t work with each other!”). Holes are dug; ore is unearthed; tar pits are problems.
The animation on Dinotrux is sleek CGI courtesy of DreamWorks, nothing revolutionary but efficient, with just as much toy-selling potential as Wishenpoof.
If I say I liked Dinotrux more, does it mean that this is just the boy in me talking? I think not. After all, I like Doc McStuffins better than either of these shows.
Wishenpoof is streaming on Amazon Prime now; Dinotrux is streaming on Netflix now.
