In a world of reboots and prequels, Cartoon Network’s new original show ‘Summer Camp Island’ is a wonderfully odd series full of animals, magic, and parents who won’t listen to their kids.
In U.S. pop culture, summer camps are the perfect setting for coming-of-age stories: odd living arrangements, counselor drama, a whole new social hierarchy and, of course, no parents. Just as in Westworld, what happens at summer camp stays at summer camp. Where else can children look to teenagers as authorities on everything from hygiene to adulthood? Or, in the case of one of my personal favorites summer camp movies, Holes (2003), “camp” may, in fact, be a conspiracy-filled front for adults searching for something they weren’t destined to end. Plus Eartha Kitt.
Summer Camp Island, which will air on Cartoon Network beginning July 7, 2018, is based on British creator Julia Pott’s Cartoon Network short film featured at 2017’s Sundance Film Festival. Rob Sorcher, Cartoon Network chief content officer said, “We are all wanting to spend summers inside this timeless and magical world captured by Julia’s signature warmth and inventiveness.” Julia Pott’s Vimeo channel bio puts it this way: “I employ awkward animated characters to act out my inner struggles.” This kind of directness is something that can be felt in the dialogue and mood of many of her short films.
‘Summer Camp Island’ Promises More Magic from Cartoon Network - Crixeo