The Owl House

The Owl House is an interesting show for Disney as it doesn’t really feel like it fits, and considering it was abruptly cancelled, their executives must’ve thought the same thing. Released in 2020 and concluding in 2023 with three extended specials, this animated fantasy series may carry familiar morals, themes, and character types usually seen in projects made by the studio, but the look, feel, aggressive tone, and morbid visuals and subject matter led the company to can it prematurely, resulting in a rushed final season and a lot of negative backlash from the fans who adored what the show provided. With very strong reviews and praise thrown at it left and right for its very upfront LGBTQIA+ representation, The Owl House meant a lot to its fans, and many lamented that it wasn’t given the time or ability to end the way it’d wished to.

After being told that she has to attend summer camp, 14-year-old Dominican American girl, Luz Noceda (voiced by Sarah-Nicole Robles) has trouble fitting into a society that doesn’t match her dorky, fantasy-loving personality, so almost like fate, she stumbles across a magical portal that whisks her away to the horrifying world of The Boiling Isle, an island formed on the back of a gigantic titan carcass housing a civilization of witches, demons, and other fantasy creatures. Experiencing both horror and delight upon arriving, Luz befriends a rebellious wild witch named Eda Clawthorne (voiced by Wendie Malick) and her pet demon, King (voiced by Alex Hirsch) and decides to stay with them in order to learn how to be a witch like the ones in her fantasy stories, which she has to do the hard and unorthodox way as humans can’t learn magic like those who live in the Isles. While studying to learn magic, she makes some new friends like the often underestimated Willow Park and Gus Porter (voiced by Tati Gabrielle and Issac Ryan Brown) as well as top student Amity Blight (voiced by Mae Whitman), learns of the troubled past that Eda shares with her sister, Lilith (voiced by Cissy Jones) which stems from a curse that has plagued Eda for most of her life, and discovers that this world is held under the tight grip of the tyrannical emperor Belos (voiced by Matthew Rhys), who is hunting Eda for her anti-establishment antics and plans to purge the world of ‘’wild magic’’ (the kind that Luz uses). Even though she’s only been there a short time, Luz decides to help defend the Isles as a ‘’Good Witch’’ would, not fully grasping the disturbing rabbit hole she is plunging herself into by doing so.

The Owl House is going to be remembered for what it accomplished and for what it provided, as even with some overt flaws, the final results remain pretty special.

The show’s creator, Dana Terrace, feels very personally attached to this project, as a lot of the characters, visual designs and even life experiences showcased throughout mirror her own life story, and this personal touch really proves to be a benefit. This could’ve easily been a standard kid’s fantasy adventure with a mixture of light and dark elements, but through the production design, cast of characters, gruesome topics sprinkled throughout, mature themes, and exploration of things like morality, sexuality, the pros and cons of escapism, and the dangers of conformity, you’ve got a recipe for something a little more distinct. The first season plays out like a traditional Disney animated series would, with the pacing, tone, characters and even writing all feeling pretty familiar. It still has solid humour, likeable characters, strong voice talent, and an understanding of how to twist the genre to avoid dumb tropes while still containing the fun ones, but you can definitely feel the formula and certain parts feel like a compromise made between the more overtly weird and macabre Terrace and the safer ideology of Disney. The second season is where things shift to an entire new feel, as the pace is quickened, the stakes are heightened, and the tone is much grimmer and bleaker, growing it up in a way that’s still accessible to younger audiences and allows its creative and darker side to flourish to very solid results.

However, while the show does remain stably positive all throughout, things start to get a little more jumbled the closer it gets to the ending, as you can tell things have been altered or quickly resolved in order to reach this final destination. This more than likely comes from Disney cancelling the series and the team trying to wrap stuff up in a nice bundle while putting in every cool thing they wanted to explore, but this unsure feeling is hard to ignore when within the final stretches. What saves this however is how the characters are portrayed and evolve, how they reconstruct a very by-the-numbers ‘’be yourself’’ message and make it more about finding comfort in your weirdness and connecting with similar minded people, and how it pushes the boundaries for what can be shown in a Disney cartoon from both a creepy, and especially romantic standpoint. This show got a lot of attention for its LGBTQIA+ representation, and much like how shows like Steven Universe, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power and The Legend of Korra pushed the envelope for what could be shown in children’s entertainment, this one broke down similar walls by featuring Disney’s first bisexual main character, a clearly presented same-sex relationship between the two female leads, and the first non-binary Disney character, it’s all really great stuff. You can feel the love dripping off every fabric of this series, and the representation on display never once feels disingenuous (which Disney has suffered with in the past), providing this age-old genre with a fresh, flavourful, modern coat of paint.

The characters are one of the mains reasons this show has connected with so many people. The environment, morals and world-building are still handled well, but these leads do encompass a lot of the goodwill, charm, and uniqueness that this show has to offer, and a majority of them are handled pretty effectively. Luz feels like your typical fantasy heroine thrown into a new reality, but she thankfully becomes much more than that as it continues, with the show taking time to expose her social anxieties, the real reasons why she was so ready to abandon reality for something fantastical (regardless of how disturbed it is) and the guilt surrounding how her actions have so negatively impacted this world and the people that she loves, she’s a pretty solid lead. Eda fills the role of mentor very nicely with a fun bite, effective snark and capable powers, as well as a genuine connection between her and Luz, but the strained relationship with her family and her battle with this curse that turns her into a beast, easily makes her the best and most interesting character in the show. King starts off as a straightforward animal sidekick and could very easily become annoying, but his later involvement and even relevance to the story flips the script nicely and makes everyone from this main trio feel important and like a real family. Belos also provides for one heck of a great Disney baddie, with a horrific yet well-detailed past, despicable actions that feel flat-out psychopathic, and a deranged mind so disturbed and backwards-thinking, yet also scarily relevant to how some in the real world still think and operate, he’s a great foil to what this show stands for and represents.

Most of the side characters get better when given more screentime, like Willow, Gus and even a later addition named Hunter (voiced by Zeno Robinson) who start as decent but basic supporting roles, before becoming much stronger as the story continues, but others ironically lose their footing as the plot revs up. Amity has a great starting point, going from the typical bully archetype to later becoming Luz’s girlfriend, which not only provides for a very wholesome romance, but also one that gets explored throughout the show rather than being saved as a prize for the ending (which is what a lot of animated shows tend to do, gay or otherwise). However, her role quickly devolves into just being ‘’Luz’s girlfriend’’, which limits the kind of interactions and arcs she can take part in which leaves her feeling a little one-note, which is also the case for other side characters like Lilith and even the non-binary character, Raine Whispers (voiced by Avi Roque), who while still entertaining, feel like underdeveloped support next to the bigger characters.

A lot of the show’s visual inspiration came from Dana Terrace’s love for the works of Remedios Varo, John Bauer, and Hieronymus Bosch, artists that have a very ‘’un-Disney’’ vibe to them. It is a little surprising just how much this team was allowed to get away with in the visual department, as while the content explored later on is a little graphic but still within the realms that Disney can allow, some of the creature and location designs and how otherworldly and even Lovecraftian they can look, is notably gooey, fleshy and even a little bloody, which while a tad striking, helps this series stand out as a uniquely looking and feeling creation. While the animation style is very much in line with other Disney animated shows of the era, this one clearly falls into the line of a gothic fairy tale thanks to the iconography, populace, and even colour palette, and it does stand out because of it. The entire idea that the main location is a carcass of a creature that is viewed as the isle’s god, is just that right amount of disturbing, but not too much to the point of being unsettling, which is how this show as a whole can be viewed.

It never goes too mean-spirited or too messed up, always coming back to a heartfelt place that also has a lot of humour to it. While the show is never downright hilarious, the jabs it makes at the fantasy genre alongside just good character writing keep things very entertaining and always enjoyable. The show does on occasion get some really well animated sequences that shows the time and dedication these animators put into making certain moments look fantastic, and from the musical score, to the storyboarding, to even the performances, you can feel when this show is going full force and it doesn’t hide its passion or its excitement, which in turn, drags the audience in more.

Even though Disney literally clipped its wings, The Owl House is not going to be forgotten any time soon. In a time when quality animated cartoons are in a good surplus across multiple different studios, The Owl House does stand amongst the higher ranks, but the fact that it shone a spotlight and gave on-screen representation to an often-ignored marginalized community is why it has such a vocal following. While it does feel rushed at the end, some characters don’t feel fully realized, certain writing altercations leave things feel a little unresolved (there’s another antagonist in the finale that doesn’t really amount to much) and while consistently solid, it very rarely wows or shocks for what it provides. However, the counter point to this is that it doesn’t feel like it’s trying to be grand and epic but rather relate with its audience on an emotional level, and it does that quite well through strong visuals, a delightfully creative atmosphere, its heartwarming cast of characters, and its upfront diversity and inclusivity. Even if it doesn’t blow your mind, it might surprise you with how it manages to bird-worm’s its way into your heart.