I've heard not so good things about Horrid Henry, specifically from the YouTuber PhantomStrider. Having watched several episodes on Netflix out of curiosity, it's unfortunate of me to say that I share PhantomStrider's opinion on this show. From the awful writing to the infuriating characters, this show certainly lives up to it's name in that it's a horrid experience.
Based on the children's book series by Francesca Simon, Horrid Henry follows the life of a young boy as he goes to school, hangs out with friends, and spends time with his family. All the while being a complete ignoramus with none of the other characters being much better. The premise of a naughty kid being punished and learning his lesson could work if the main character has some redeeming qualities. Henry, though, does not and each episode is about him being punished and him NOT learning his lesson and instead being even more nasty. The pacing of this show is also atrocious as 11 minutes feel like an hour because the conflict is so thin and can easily be resolved. Not helping us the fact that it's humor is severely lacking as the jokes come across as awkward and lousy.
The characters themselves offer nothing to like or even latch onto as at best they're really flat and at worst they're, well, the worst. Starting with Henry, I fail to see why I should empathize with this kid as he's just awful. He's rude, selfish, arrogant, disobedient and obnoxious. I get he's supposed to be a juvenile delinquent, but he lacks any redeeming qualities for me to care. He's not funny, he doesn't relish in being dastardly, he doesn't even learn anything by the end. He's just another awful kid in a slew of awful kids in television. Not helping his case are his parents who just fuel Henry's fire. In fact, none of the characters actually do anything to make Henry less of a brat. His Mom and Dad in particular done teach him the values of being obedient and responsible. No they just punish him for being disobedient and irresponsible and expect him to figure it out on his own. His brother, Peter, is also just D.W. from Arthur but as a boy. He's spoiled, favored by his parents and is an annoying pest. His friends and teachers don't exert much personality and are just their to further Henry along into become a thug when he grows up. The worst character in the show though isn't even Henry; it's this nasty bully named Margaret who I swear looks a poor man's Frankie Foster. No seriously, spikey red hair in a Pony tail, green sweat shirt, purple hair piece, if this character's last name was Foster the show would've gotten a lawsuit from Cartoon Network. Also, she's another mean girl as if we don't already have enough of those on television.
The voice acting isn't that great either. At best it's passable, but otherwise it can get quite irritating. Lizzie Waterwoth-Santo makes a somewhat convincing boy, though everytime Henry's voice cracks it sounds more tomboyish than actual boyish. I also don't like it whenever Henry screams before the title card as it often feels forced and unnatural. Emma Tate is okay as Peter, though it's slightly more obvious this boy is being played by a woman. I also didn't think she was very memorable as Miss Oddbod. Tamsin Heatley just doesn't sound as motherly as I had hoped when playing the Mom and just sounds naggy and annoyed that she even had Henry. Wayne Forester isn't much better as the Dad as he just sounds tired when delivering his lines. Sue Elliott-Nichols and Aiden Cook were unfortunately tasked with making Margaret and Miss Battle-Axe sound very irritable, even by British voice standards. Miss Battle-Axe's accent isn't convincing and Margaret's voice is so over-the-top and obnoxious I'm surprised anyone in the show takes her seriously.
Visually, the animation is alright. The characters move in a believable and natural way and the backgrounds are well detailed. There are some moments when Henry goes into his imagination (though it's not nearly as out of place as What About Mimi) and the transitions are pretty solid. Where the visuals falter however is the character designs. The characters look fine as caricatures humans, but I don't like that they all have bright pink noses and pink cheeks. This makes them all look like they're sick. Also it bears repeating that Margaret looks too similar to Frankie Foster to be pure coincidence.
All and all, Horrid Henry is exactly what I'd expect from a show with the word "horrid" in the title. It's terribly written, has an awful cast of characters, passable yet still not good voice acting and uncanny character designs that render any positives about the animation moot. My advice, just avoid Horrid Henry and watch Kid Cosmic instead.