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nebroadweLucky American Nina Martin has been accepted as a scholarship student at an English boarding school. But she arrives at Anubis House in the middle of a mystery: another student, Joy, recently left the school without a word of farewell. All signs of her presence have been erased and the teachers seem to be encouraging everyone to forget she was ever there. Her roommate, Patricia, suspects that Nina's arrival has something to do with Joy's disappearance and disrupts every attempt Nina makes to settle in. Meanwhile, Nina helps an elderly woman from a nearby nursing home and receives in return a pendant marked with the Eye of Horus and the injunction to find and protect a treasure hidden in Anubis House. With the help of her ditzy roommate Amber and sympathetic bookworm Fabian, Nina sets out to find the treasure, dodging Patricia, the teachers, and Anubis House's strange caretaker, Victor, who is hiding secrets of his own.
A US/UK co-production based on a Dutch-Belgian original (which also has a German recension with a catchy opening theme song), House of Anubis follows in the tradition of E. Nesbit, Enid Blyton and J.K. Rowling: a group of minimally supervised young people uncovering the clues to solve a (possibly ancient, possibly occult) mystery in the teeth of opposition from their adversaries, the only adults to pay much attention to them. (The debt to Rowling is lampshaded by repeated references to Harry Potter, as well as by the teen soap relationship shenanigans that make up a number of B-plots.) If, like me, you enjoy this sort of thing, House of Anubis is worth a look. The plotting is nicely paced, interweaving action and suspense with humor and, yes, romance. (Judging by the reviews, your mileage may vary when it comes to the romance. I can only say that I found myself rooting for all the canon 'ships, particularly in season two, where the stakes are higher and the melodrama gets turned up to eleven. What can I say, other than that I'm a complete sucker for SF melodrama?) The young actors are enthusiastic and the adults generally avoid camping it up, despite the cheesiness of the scenario. Francis Magee, as Victor, actually manages to give his character some depth in season two, and Roger Barclay as [spoiler] seems to have wandered in from an episode of The Avengers or The Man from U.N.C.L.E., lending a welcome edge of menace to the proceedings whenever he appears. Sophiya Haque, as season two's main villain, carries off her part with great flair despite being a special effect and Poppy Miller is hissably insinuating as the butter-wouldn't-melt-in-her-mouth double agent Vera Devenish. Among the young leads, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked Ana Mulvoy Ten as Amber; dumb blonde material girl is not my favorite cliché, but the writers temper those qualities with flashes of kindness, talent and insight and a genuine devotion to the idea of the group as a team. Jade Ramsay as Patricia tends to grate on reviewers' nerves for her shrill paranoia at the beginning of season one, but I found myself sympathizing with the character: her best friend has disappeared and she can't get anyone to care, so of course she becomes increasingly frantic and isolated. Eugene Simon as prankster/scammer Jerome also grew on me, particularly in his hawk-under-the-eagle's-foot moments with Barclay at the close of season one and his character-development arc in season two.
House of Anubis is tasty mind candy -- not as imaginative as Dark Oracle, but an entertaining ride. I marathoned season two over the course of a week, staying up well past my bedtime to watch just-one-more-episode after just-one-more-episode. If you know any twelve-year-olds who haven't seen it, introduce them to it, and perhaps lurk about in the background while they're watching. If it pushes your buttons as it did mine, you're in for a treat. Season one is currently streaming on Nick.com here, except for the penultimate episode and season finale, which for some odd reason aren't included on this playlist. Season two's playlist is here. A third season is beginning production, probably for broadcast early in 2013.
A US/UK co-production based on a Dutch-Belgian original (which also has a German recension with a catchy opening theme song), House of Anubis follows in the tradition of E. Nesbit, Enid Blyton and J.K. Rowling: a group of minimally supervised young people uncovering the clues to solve a (possibly ancient, possibly occult) mystery in the teeth of opposition from their adversaries, the only adults to pay much attention to them. (The debt to Rowling is lampshaded by repeated references to Harry Potter, as well as by the teen soap relationship shenanigans that make up a number of B-plots.) If, like me, you enjoy this sort of thing, House of Anubis is worth a look. The plotting is nicely paced, interweaving action and suspense with humor and, yes, romance. (Judging by the reviews, your mileage may vary when it comes to the romance. I can only say that I found myself rooting for all the canon 'ships, particularly in season two, where the stakes are higher and the melodrama gets turned up to eleven. What can I say, other than that I'm a complete sucker for SF melodrama?) The young actors are enthusiastic and the adults generally avoid camping it up, despite the cheesiness of the scenario. Francis Magee, as Victor, actually manages to give his character some depth in season two, and Roger Barclay as [spoiler] seems to have wandered in from an episode of The Avengers or The Man from U.N.C.L.E., lending a welcome edge of menace to the proceedings whenever he appears. Sophiya Haque, as season two's main villain, carries off her part with great flair despite being a special effect and Poppy Miller is hissably insinuating as the butter-wouldn't-melt-in-her-mouth double agent Vera Devenish. Among the young leads, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked Ana Mulvoy Ten as Amber; dumb blonde material girl is not my favorite cliché, but the writers temper those qualities with flashes of kindness, talent and insight and a genuine devotion to the idea of the group as a team. Jade Ramsay as Patricia tends to grate on reviewers' nerves for her shrill paranoia at the beginning of season one, but I found myself sympathizing with the character: her best friend has disappeared and she can't get anyone to care, so of course she becomes increasingly frantic and isolated. Eugene Simon as prankster/scammer Jerome also grew on me, particularly in his hawk-under-the-eagle's-foot moments with Barclay at the close of season one and his character-development arc in season two.
House of Anubis is tasty mind candy -- not as imaginative as Dark Oracle, but an entertaining ride. I marathoned season two over the course of a week, staying up well past my bedtime to watch just-one-more-episode after just-one-more-episode. If you know any twelve-year-olds who haven't seen it, introduce them to it, and perhaps lurk about in the background while they're watching. If it pushes your buttons as it did mine, you're in for a treat. Season one is currently streaming on Nick.com here, except for the penultimate episode and season finale, which for some odd reason aren't included on this playlist. Season two's playlist is here. A third season is beginning production, probably for broadcast early in 2013.
