Animal Kingdom

Clever, dangerous and cinematically produced, Animal Kingdom is must-see TV.

The concerned viewer will of course want him [J] to get as far away from them [the Codys] as possible, somewhere he can do his math homework in peace. At the same time, most every character gives you something to relate to; each has his secrets and cares. Executive producer John Wellsdirected the opening episodes; and the series is expertly made, and subtler than the premise suggests.

Lisco and his writers do a good job weaving a compelling narrative, one that’s filled with action, but more significantly defined by the complexity of the individual characters.

It’s hard to shake the feeling this is another show without a protagonist; a remnant from the previous decade where antiheroes reigned and genuine do-gooders were passé.

Animal Kingdom, based on a 2010 Australian film of the same title, won’t be to everyone’s taste, but fans of dark, family criminal enterprise shows (think: “Sons of Anarchy,” “Outsiders”) might be intrigued.

Even though Animal Kingdom is at the dark end of the network’s street, the material has been watered down and jazzed up, and characters have been redrawn to fit the larger-than-life requirements of American cable drama. ... For the TV show, [Smurf (Ellen Barkin) has] been turned into a more obvious, less interesting Ma Barker character, pulling the strings for her sons and skimming the profits.

The problem with Animal Kingdom is that we’ve seen so many dark, gritty family noirs on basic and premium cable, much of the air of menace that hovers over the new show seems like musty air rechanneled from other sources. It also doesn’t help to center the show around J--the character is a blank-faced kid whose reactions are minimally interesting.

It's Sons Of Anarchy meets Point Break with a splash of Godfather... and I just love it.

couldnt been better, too many sex scenes and too many flashbacks that we dont need shouldve been 5 seasons not 6,

Alright show, loses a full 4 points for deran being gay and all the disgusting harcore gay scenes added to the show. You'd have to be mentally ill to enjoy seeing that crap.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Terrible! I couldn’t make it 15 minutes into the first episode without shutting it off. So cringy. Awful, awful, awful.