'Time Bandits' Review: Lisa Kudrow Excels in Taika Waititi Reboot
If one were tasked with naming a modern successor to Monty Python, the crew of New Zealand comedians informally captained by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi would be a strong candidate. (As a bit, the Ministry of Silly Walks wouldn’t be out of place on the duo’s mockumentary-turned-FX-series “What We Do in the Shadows,” give or take a few puncture wounds.) Any goofy yet erudite group of writer-performers from the greater Commonwealth inherently bears the influence of the legendary British sketch troupe. It therefore tracks that Clement and Waititi, in conjunction with “The Inbetweeners” creator Iain Morris, would choose to adapt Terry Gilliam’s “Time Bandits” into a TV show — and that the result is a worthy tribute to both Gilliam’s baroque, fantastical style and the blustery humor of his script, co-authored by fellow Python member Michael Palin.
Unlike many recent graduates of the feature-to-series pipeline, like “Sexy Beast” or “Fatal Attraction,” “Time Bandits” has a premise intuitively suited to episodic adventure. When 11-year-old Kevin (Kal-El Tuck) discovers a temporal portal in his Bingley bedroom, the precocious Brit seizes the chance to indulge his obsession with history. Backed by the ample resources of Apple TV+, “Time Bandits” illustrates each era Kevin visits in exorbitant detail, from Mansa Musa’s gold-plated entourage traversing 14th-century Africa to the lush forests of feudal Japan. Using today’s technology, whether CGI or the profits from selling iPads, “Time Bandits” brings the past to life.
Kevin is accompanied on these travels by the namesake band of miscreants, who are led by the overly confident Penelope (a phenomenal Lisa Kudrow). Armed with a stolen map that identifies portals like the one in Kevin’s abode, the Bandits are small-time thieves caught between two major cosmic powers: Waititi’s Supreme Being, the godlike entity who owns the map, and Wrongness (a prosthetic-laden Clement), a quasi-Satanic figure who wants the map for his own evil ends. While scrappy underdogs are easy to root for, the Bandits aren’t especially up to the task at hand. Widget (Roger Jean Nsengiyumva) is a navigator who’s not great at navigating; Judy (Charlyne Yi, who departed the production early after an alleged assault) is a self-described empath who’s not terribly skilled at reading the emotions of others.
As a ragtag crew out of step with their time(s), the Bandits bear a passing resemblance to the amateur pirates of “Our Flag Means Death,” the Max comedy Waititi executive produced and starred in. That show was canceled this year after just two seasons, making “Time Bandits” a decent placebo for grieving fans. But the series is also distinctly a family show, a space where Apple has carved out a presence with reboots of “Fraggle Rock” and, soon, “Yo Gabba Gabba.” Catering to kids falls well within the wheelhouse of both Clement and Waititi, who’s helmed coming-of-age projects like “Hunt for the Wilderpeople.” “Time Bandits” is light on big emotions, but it’s rife with the giddy, bumbling playfulness that marks the Clement-Waititi oeuvre (Penelope orders her comrades to escape by urging them to “employ the scurry”), anchored by the sweet sincerity of Kevin’s wonderment. A bottomless well of trivia, he’s finally found a practical use for the passion that otherwise bores his family to death.
While Kevin is the protagonist of “Time Bandits,” Kudrow serves as the comic center of gravity. Penelope insists the Bandits are an egalitarian collective that makes decisions as a group, “because that’s the way I like it.” In truth, she’s arrogant, impetuous and naive, more like the child to Kevin’s adult than the reverse. Kudrow gets to combine the daffiness of Phoebe Buffay of “Friends” with the selfishness of Valerie Cherish of “The Comeback” — and in the process, ideally introduce her talents to a younger generation. “Time Bandits” may have a transportive setup and impressive imagery, but its greatest strength lies in simpler pleasures.
