Critic Reviews

If you’re willing to carve out space for both the original and its timely successor, you’ll find promising, innovative storytelling that pays off, and then some.

Uncle Phil continues to be one of the most unexpected and well-crafted innovations of this reboot. ... In an excellent arc, [Will and Carlton] have different responses to a protest calling out the termination of one of the school's few Black teachers.

A bold reimagining that maintains the essence of the original show while exploring important social themes from an authentic, Black perspective.

Even without it looking back, Bel-Air’s slick confidence makes it a compelling series in its own right.

The reboot is a good antidote to a show like Euphoria that demands viewers piece together a lot of scattered images, dialogue and ideas to find a cohesive story. But Cooper and the show’s team of writers and directors are competent enough that we can simply enjoy ourselves.

Impressive realization of that speculative trailer. ... “The Fresh Prince” provides “Bel-Air” a solid foundation that manages at once to honor the original — and not just in the way that Will wears a ball cap sideways and his Academy jacket lining out — while taking it somewhere new; it’s more exploration than exploitation.

There’s a warmth and familiar tone to each episode that almost makes it feel like you’re consuming a rerun of your favorite show. Even if it’s not exactly The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, it still works.

With naysayers proven wrong, the newly confident Bel-Air hits its stride in Season 2.

In its 2022 iteration, Bel-Air capitalizes on the two things dominating television today: nitty-gritty realism, and nostalgia.

This new take bucks the odds and plays for audiences new and old, proving the resilience of a premise that works even when the approach is “flipped turned upside down.”