Finally turned Apple TV+ on again, in anticipation of season two of Severence.
I watched the first two episodes of this so far. It's Taika Waititi in his niceness mode. This version of Kevin is even more charming than the original one, his parents are just as toxic (and good on Taika for mocking the obsession with smartphones on Apple's own TV network) and the travel in these first two episodes takes us to some new places.
I had no idea that Woodhenge was a real thing. As an American, it's often hard to disentangle real-life twee Britain from fictional twee Britain and Woodhenge is right on that line. Kevin's family are the worst for mocking his birthday trip to his face, though. I sure hope he gets kidnapped by time traveling misfits who will eventually come to recognize his value!
The visit to the Mayan city was interesting. I liked the subversion of expectations and explicitly saying to not trust histories written by the victories (which is not all of them, despite the cliche).
The bandits themselves are largely fine as is the new version of Evil. The Supreme Being using practical effects (one or more people running around in a giant mask) is an interesting low-fi choice.
I think Morrus' review of this as being fine is spot-on. It's not bad or dumb (like Amazon's Wheel of Time, which is both), nor dopey or cheesy (like Netflix's Witcher). It's all very competently done, although so far, I haven't seen an argument for why this exists. I sort of wish it was explicitly a sequel to the original rather than an apparent remake.
Not using little people for the bandits is kind of a thorny issue. The original movie was definitely othering them and using their height as something to poke fun at. But having just a bunch of random people (plus a ... viking, I think?) feels a little bland.
I'll finish the season/series, although probably not until I burn through Bad Monkey, as I love Hiaasen's novels.