Reviews for Jane and the Dragon

The animation is jerky, the dialogue can be stilted, the strange texture that covers everything can be tiring to the eyes, and some of the characters look downright weird.
I love this show.
The premise - Jane, a 12 year old girl, is training to be the first ever lady knight. Helping her every step of the way is her funny, lovable companion, Dragon. Other characters are Pepper, the castle cook; Rake, the gardener; Smithy, the blacksmith and stableboy; and Jester.
Despite its faults, Jane and the Dragon is truly an enjoyable kids series. The show can seem very superficial at times, but it is actually very well though out and layered. As you watch the show you begin to notice character quirks (Smithy always rubs the back of his head), curious items about the castle (the fountain/sink in the kitchen), and hints at possible deeper plots (the picture of the Moorish lady next to Sir Theodore's desk). The characters are all well thought out and seem very believable. Actually, you come to view them as more rounded character when you read their profiles online in The Royal Archives or read the Q/A section on Qubo. (The questions are all answered by Martin Baynton, the creator of the series) Here you learn interesting facts and character traits that do not come to play in the shows.
A great deal of creative license is used in creating the medieval world the characters inhabit, but this only ends up creating a delightfully whimsical environment.
Overall, Jane and the Dragon is a wonderful fantasy and an enjoyable ride. It will take a great deal to knock this from my top 5 favorite TV shows of all time!

Due to a vote by my family, I am upgrading my rating to 4 stars.

If you're going to animate, animate! Motion capture is not animation! Furthermore, why do some of the characters look like they have no muscles keeping them up whatsoever? Jane looks positively anorexic!

That said, Jane and the Dragon isn't a complete waste of time. It does have some charm to it and can be funny, especially Dragon himself. There's also an underlying subplot about him trying to find his identity.

But while I was watching some episodes, the only thing I could think of was when someone was going to finally put Gunther in a catapult and launch him into the next kingdom.

A fantastic animation series. The stories are funny, sad, touching and well written. I've only just discovered it on Channel Five (UK) and already it's a favourite. The characterisation is believable and the storylines interesting. I think it's the dragon's humour that really makes it work for me. His love of cows - weird - and the in-jokes. When I was a child myself, I used to watch programmes like Nogin the Nog, and Tales from Europe. They were magical and special in a way this programme is too.

Long may it continue. A real drop of pleasure on Saturdays and Sundays. Thanks.
Moira

I think its a cool show. The MOTION CAPTURE was
good, and Dragon? He's ok...he's not exactly how they look. By the way, I'm making a movie with tons of CG dragons in it. This show is also only on on Saturdays where I live, and I tape it too...

...Nooooooo!

I thought this was a great show for children. In an age there are not many shows on television that I let my child watch, this was a sweet show that showed friendship and adversaries and how one should react to both.

I don't know what it is about medieval children's shows lately. You can't move without bumping into one. But FWIW, this is the worst of the lot by a considerable margin (in fact all the others are quite good).

Where to start? Well the real wrecker is the 3D animation. It's just ghastly. Ghastly, I tell you! Jane (who as you have guessed is friends with a dragon) moves about the castle with spastic, marionette movements that make it look like a student's demo reel, or some computer game from 1996. The voices aren't suited to the characters, though the dragon is passable. The lyp-synch is out. The best characters look alright. The rest look terrible.

And the textures! Not even the best of the characters or backgrounds could be said to be attractive, but they're also just so WRONG. The dragon looks like he's half astro-turf. Everybody seems to be made out of some different material, and the backgrounds are just... bizarre.

All of this is a shame, because the writing isn't too bad (it's not too good either), and would have lifted this show at least into the 'alright' category without being weighed down by the visuals.

Sorry, but this is just an ugly mess. It's profoundly depressing when you wonder if all TV animation might look something like this in five years.