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Sep 16, 2016 By Jeremy Nisen Web Exclusive

He-Man is a property ripe with opportunities for good-natured parody. The question is whether a mostly live-action show (mixed with some animation) is the place to do it.

Son of Zorn stars Jason Sudeikis, or at least his voice, as Zorn, an animated He-Man-style warrior who decides to live on Earth for the sake of this teenaged son, Alan-or as Zorn calls him, “Alangulon”-the titular “son of Zorn,” portrayed by Johnny Pemberton. Cheryl Hines plays Edie, Zorn’s ex-wife and Alan’s mom; Tim Meadows plays her rather milquetoast husband Craig.

Cutting to the chase: all the deep laughs in this pilot involved over-the-top animated violence, mostly funny due to the natural comparison between these actions and what we saw in He-Man and She-Ra cartoons 30 years ago. It’s something of a Venture Bros. effect. Everything-well, nearly everything-involving human actors and typical sitcom situations is exceptionally dull. Meadows was the one minor bright spot as the self-emasculating and self-deprecating therapist. Hines’ allusions to a wild, coked-up past, Zorn’s workplace woes, Pemberton’s teen angst-these were all well-treaded tropes, and likely a missed opportunity for something more clever. Granted, opportunities which the series may yet bring us; a pilot is simply a pilot, and they don’t always put their best feet forward.

That being said, even the funny stuff isn’t enough to pique this reviewer’s interest to check out the rest. It’s just painfully okay. (www.fox.com/son-of-zorn)

Author rating: 5/10