It's truly baffling how this revival even exists. What exactly did Netflix see in Johnny Test that they decided to revive it? Maybe the idea was that like a lot of other networks they wanted to cash in on reboots and revivals. However, Johnny Test is neither nostalgic nor was it ever a popular show to begin with. It was an awful ripoff of Dexter's Laboratory and had abysmal ratings during its run. Seriously, how did Netflix see this show as a good idea for a revival?
Now to be fair, revivals and reboots usually tend to fix issues that the original show had. A great example being Webby from Ducktales who was annoying and irritating. The revival updated her to be much better. So, you'd expect there to be some of those improvements here, right?
Not this revival though.
While there are a few minor improvements such as removing some of the obnoxious sound effects and the plots are not as repetitive, pretty much all the same problems Johnny Test had during its run are still present. Johnny is still as much of a jerk as he was in the original series. Many of the jokes are still not funny and are either predictable or try too hard. The villains are still as a lame as ever and terrible. This revival just seems to pick up where the original series ended without trying to do anything to make any major improvements.
The sound effects are still as bad as before. While the imfamous whip crack sound effect isn't used as much, at times it still does go off. Whenever somebody freaks out, there's some goofy over the top sound effect that's irritating. They do, thankfully, cut down on the of sound effects, but they're still as terrible as before.
The animation in the original show was already bad. Somehow, the show's animation is even worse. The coloring seems overblown most of the time making everything look very bright. The characters still move stiffly like they got arthritis. I didn't think it was possible to somehow make bad animation even worse, but this revival did the job.
The plots aren't as repetitive as before, but they're still boring and nothing to write home about. Many of them are predictable and are utterly boring. I'll give it some credit and say that at least they aren't constantly recycling the same plots as before, but that's not saying a whole lot.
There's really nothing else to say about this revival at all. If you've seen the original Johnny Test at all, then congratulations you've already seen this revival. Nothing major has been improved to make the show better at all. Instead, the show is still as bad as before with its lousy jokes, an unlikable main character, even worse animation, and plots that are boring. There's nothing to this show at all and it shows. While there are a few minor improvements, it can't save this show at all.
Johnny Test wasn't a good show to begin with. It was terrible all around and had abysmal ratings during its run. It wasn't popular at all and was constantly criticized for being a Dexter's Laboratory wannabe. So why did Netflix decide to revive this? It feels like they just chose this show to cash in on nostalgia and chose the cheapest show to produce it and make no major improvements.
Don't waste your time on this thing, okay? There are far better revivals and reboots out there worth your time. If you want a good reboot, go see Ducktales or wait for the Darkwing Duck reboot to drop. If you want a good revival, go see something like the Hey Arnold jungle movie or the Invader Zim movie. Let this thing fall into obscurity and hope this show is buried once and for all.
If I ever run into any of the people who thought of and green lit this revival, I will take that same whip they used to make that terrible sound effect and chase them down with it.