Lisa Kudrow Leads a Merry Band of ‘Time Bandits’ in Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement’s Giddy Reboot: TV Review
variety.comAlison Herman TV Critic If one were tasked with naming a modern successor to Monty Python, the crew of New Zealand comedians informally captained by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi would be a strong candidate. (As a bit, the Ministry of Silly Walks wouldn’t be out of place on the duo’s mockumentary-turned-FX-series “What We Do in the Shadows,” give or take a few puncture wounds.) Any goofy yet erudite group of writer-performers from the greater Commonwealth inherently bears the influence of the legendary British sketch troupe.
It therefore tracks that Clement and Waititi, in conjunction with “The Inbetweeners” creator Iain Morris, would choose to adapt Terry Gilliam’s “Time Bandits” into a TV show — and that the result is a worthy tribute to both Gilliam’s baroque, fantastical style and the blustery humor of his script, co-authored by fellow Python member Michael Palin.
Unlike many recent graduates of the feature-to-series pipeline, like “Sexy Beast” or “Fatal Attraction,” “Time Bandits” has a premise intuitively suited to episodic adventure.
When 11-year-old Kevin (Kal-El Tuck) discovers a temporal portal in his Bingley bedroom, the precocious Brit seizes the chance to indulge his obsession with history.
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