Arcane Breaks the Curse
A video game adaptation on Netflix scores 100% on Rotten Tomatoes
The history of adapting video games to the big or small screen is checkered at best. So much so that people have been referring to it as a curse. With a few exceptions most video game franchises have landed below a 50% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Mortal Combat, Tomb Raider and Sonic the Hedgehog have done somewhat better but still clock in below 70%. Last year Netflix gave us an adaptation of The Witcher (a blockbuster by CD Project Red a Polish game developer that has become a formidable studio on the back of it) that managed to excite the audiences but still only got to 68% on Rotten Tomatoes. This month Netflix blessed us with Arcane which has a perfect score of 100%.
Arcane is based on the global video game phenomenon League of Legends (LoL) by Riot Games. Video games are big business (bigger than movie and music combined actually) and LoL is the 15th most successful franchise of all time (Pokémon is no. 1) grossing more than $8Bn while also being the youngest game in the top 15. LoL spawned a whole new category of game referred to as Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA). As the name suggests the premise of the game is an online player versus player battle. Two teams of players fight it out against each other on a map where the objective is to take the opposing teams tower. This simple premise however provides for massive strategic and tactical depth, which is why it is one of the most popular Esports games on the planet. The game itself doesn’t provide very much scope for a narrative experience but to their credit Riot built an elaborate universe that the more than 140 playable hero characters inhibit.
Frankly, I didn’t believe the LoL world would be interesting enough for a successful TV series but boy was I proven wrong. Credit has to go to the Paris based animation studio Fortiche for its outstanding work. The animation not only has a very distinct style but also manages to convey kinetic energy like I have never seen before. The story unfolds in 3 acts of 3 episodes each. The first act is laying out the characters in their childhood while 2 & 3 show us the cast as adults. This allows us to connect deeply with this colourful group well rounded protagonists. The themes used to drive the story forward are eternal and the pacing leaves very few dull moments. I will refrain from saying anything more about it to avoid spoilers.
The runaway success of the show has already secured a second seasons which was teased last week. So even if you don’t have a clue about LoL, or like gaming and aren’t the biggest animation fan I still throughly recommend checking this gem out Arcane on Netflix. Now with the curse lifted there is hope for the all those video game adaptation projects on the horizon!