Agent Elvis (2023) – Season 1 Review

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Agent Elvis is an alt-history, bloody, juvenile tribute to the King. How much you like may depend on your love of Elvis and poop jokes. 

Network	Netflix
Created or Developed By	Mike Arnold, John Eddie, Priscilla Presley
Based On	N/A
Executive Produced By	Mike Arnold, Antonio Canobbio, Ben Kalina, Priscilla Presley, John Eddie, Kevin Noel, Matthew McConaughey,    Chris Prynoski
Genre(s)	Animation, Comedy, Historical
Noted Characters
Elvis Presley	Matthew McConaughey
CeCe Ryder	Kaitlin Olson
Bobby Ray	Johnny Knoxville
Bertie	Niecy Nash
Scatter	Tom Kenny
The Commander	Don Cheadle

This content contains pertinent spoilers.

Summary

Elvis Presley, the hip-swaying King of Rock n’ Roll, is a secret government spy. Presley and his two sidekicks, Bobby Ray and Scatter The Chimpanzee, embark on crime-fighting antics. Once they meet the Central Bureau (TCB), primarily consisting of the spy CeCe Ryder and her boss, the Commander, they recruit Elvis for missions that rewrite history, such as the moon landing and Elvis’ visit to the White House.

Each episode, graced with Elvis’ wife Priscilla’s permission, is filled with penis jokes, explosions of blood, and Elvis’ music. Each character trades snarky barbs with one another as they kick and blast their way out of trouble.  While the premise is hilarious with plenty of fun potential on paper, the result often mistakes vulgarity for humor. The iconic protagonist can never soar into wacky shenanigans or be properly satirized as there’s too much reverence for the man himself. 

Review

Our Rating: Mixed (Stick Around)

Who Is This For?

Fans of Elvis and adult animation will find something to enjoy here, and if you enjoy both, along with naked cartoons puking, this is for you. 

Notable Performances, Moments, or Episodes

1. Niecy Nash and Don Cheadle have terrific chemistry as Elvis’ agent, Bertie, and CRB’s Commander. Their equally flirtatious and insulting banter is snappy. Instead of the outrageous gags that overwhelm most episodes, it keeps the energy and humor based on a romantic power struggle between them. 
2. Episodes to Anticipate: 1.1. “Full Tilt,” 1.8 “Head Soup,” and 1.9 “Swollen Desire”

Highlights

Beautiful Animation and Character Designs Make Terrific Action Sequences

Agent Elvis is at its best when Presley’s signature music blasts away as colorful karate-chopping mayhem occurs. To heighten the hijinks, the animation uses split screens and close-ups of cartoon faces like a 70s Saturday morning cartoon.  

A Revision of History Serves as a B-Movie Delight

In the first episode (and a season highlight), Elvis fights Charles Manson and his groupies that continue to rise from the dead like “hippie zombies.” The show includes plenty of 70s pop culture references, but it soars when sticking Elvis in the middle of a historic event as the main plotline. 

Low Points

Juvenile Humor Feels Lazy

While Agent Elvis is an adult animated program, it’s also primarily meant to be a comedy. But the comedy feels stunted, as if the writers threw in profanity instead of jokes as a rough draft. While seeing cartoons cuss or make penis jokes may have been funny in the 90s, it feels lazy today. Compared to another crass spy show like Archer, Archer’s quick comedic timing doesn’t wait for its audience to grasp the absurdity of the scene, but Agent Elvis’ characters take pauses and comment about the absurdity of each scenario without the absurdity speaking for itself. However, a chimpanzee with cocaine and a gun is timeless. 

On The Fence

Elvis as the King of Rock is a Boring Cartoon

All the characters in Agent Elvis are eccentric, loud, and often foolish – all except for Elvis. While most comedies come with a “straight character,” and Matthew McConaughey plays Elvis as calm and collected, there’s no humor to derive from the character when he’s simply reacting to others. Cartoon Network’s Johnny Bravo arguably made a better Elvis cartoon with a dimwitted character obsessed with his appearance. This Elvis may be cool, but boring to watch.

What I Hope To See

If Agent Elvis gets a second season, they should embrace changing history. As a cartoon, it can go further with the premise by satirizing more 70s genres, fashions, movies, and more. The dialogue should rely less on flat crass jokes and more on the relationships between the characters. A portion of dialogue may also be quiet and awkward because no music score rarely accompanies the scenes. When Elvis Presley’s music plays, it creates a new energy for the scene, so having more music in the style of spy movies would enrich the atmosphere.

Lastly, please make cartoon Elvis funny.