Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Centaurworld’ On Netflix, Where A Battle-Tested Horse Finds Herself In A Musical World With Odd Creatures

Centaurworld is the vision of Megan Nicole Dong, an animator and comic artist who previously worked for DreamWorks and Nickelodeon, two studios who have put out imaginative kids’ animated series that don’t at all talk down to their audiences. Her vision of a battle-scarred horse in a world full of musical, magical centaurs is one that needs to be seen to be believed — and enjoyed.

CENTAURWORLD: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: As we see a dark, anime-style shot of a war-torn heckscape, a rider (Jessie Mueller) rides on her horse towards her village, describing the battles she has seen. “The war had been raging on as long as I could remember.”

The Gist: Rider has an “artifact” that her general told her was the “key to victory.” But when Rider gets back to her village, everything has been destroyed. She sings to Horse that “I will fly with you.” Next, an battalion of soldiers attacks; Rider and Horse defend themselves well, but the artifact starts hurtling towards the edge of a cliff. When Horse tries to save it, she starts to plummet over the cliff. As Rider pulls on the artifact to save Horse, a flash of light goes off.

When Horse wakes up, she sees this very odd creature that looks like a giraffe but has a human-ish face. And, now all of a sudden Horse (Kimiko Glenn) can talk. She freaks out at the sight of this odd creature, the brightly-colored landscape, and the “butt houses.” She’s greeted not only by this loud giraffe-human creature named Durpleton (Josh Radnor), but by other centaurs: a bird-like creature named Ched (Chris Diamantopoulos), a thin-necked centaur named Glendale (Megan Nicole Dong) and a half-zebra-half-something named Zulius (Parvesh Cheena).

Finally, we see Wammawink (Megan Hilty), a half-sheep that’s the group’s leader. She’s overjoyed that there’s someone new that she can nurture, but Horse wants no part of it; she just wants to get back to Rider. Even so, Wammawink corners Horse and sings to her as a welcome to Centaurworld, a world of happiness and singing — and one that just got out of a war itself, as Glendale lets slip. Horse decides to take the rainbow path she sees out of town, but an invisible dome prevents her from leaving — and she tries to get out a bunch of different ways.

When she goes back to the “herd,” she finds out from Wammawink that the dome only responds to magic. Yes, all the centaurs have magical powers, from Ched being able to be handsome for 8 seconds, to Glendale’s stretchy neck times. They all can seemingly generate tiny versions of themselves from their hooves, all of which freak out at their very existence and run into the forest.

Horse is still determined to get back home. So she appeals to the herd’s sense of adventure, even as Wammawink tries to get her to stop talking. They all want to go with Horse to help her, and even Wammawink helps open the dome with her magic, as much as she’d rather stay in Centaurworld.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Try as we might, it’s hard to make a comparison to Centaurworld. It’s part anime, part Rick & Morty surreal craziness, part trippy Yellow Submarine–ish visuals, part Disney musical. But it’s nothing like any one of those things.

Our Take: Creator/writer/producer Megan Nicole Dong (who is also the voice of Glendale) takes viewers on a heck of a ride in the first episode of Centaurworld. It starts off so bleak, but intriguing, and then we go with horse from this dark world to this absurd, colorful, strange, magical world where everyone is a centaur that sings like an angel. And even though the world Dong has created is one that looks like it was imagined with the assistance of edibles, she grounds it in a story that’s relatable and interesting.

We, of course, are in Horse’s position, looking at all of these hybrid creatures with magical powers and wondering just how in the world we got there. But the fact that these centaurs — even Wammawink — are craving adventure and want to help Horse get back to what she knows sets the viewer up to follow them on a good old-fashioned journey where they meet the shaman that are at the far corners of this world, and Horse starts to befriend and rely on the herd. She and Wammawink may even become friends.

So, just because the first episode hits you with a ton of visual and auditory stimuli, doesn’t mean that the entire series will be all psychedelic craziness. We’ll get singing and dancing, we’ll get friendship and adventure, and we’ll meet more centaurs along the way. The entire voice cast does a great job embodying their characters, but Hilty and Glenn are at the show’s center, and they play off each other well. Hilty is especially good; we know that the Broadway veteran is funny and we know she has a great singing voice, but all of that and more come out when she’s behind a voice over mic.

What Age Group Is This For?: There’s some mild violence, especially in the anime scenes at the start of the episode. But kids 6 and up should be able to enjoy the show, which is rated TV-Y7.

Parting Shot: Horse and the herd go through the opening in the dome and into the forest, with the help of Wammawink’s magic.

Sleeper Star: Dong is pretty funny as Glendale, the only one of the herd who seems to have any anxiety, perhaps mixed with a touch of PTSD.

Most Pilot-y Line: None we could see.

Our Call: STREAM IT. If you’re jonesing for a musical story after watching Schmigadoon!, start streaming Centaurworld, even if you don’t have kids. It’s funny and strange all at once, and the music is pretty darn good.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.

Stream Centaurworld On Netflix