Vivienne Medrano makes loud, rude animated musicals with a surprisingly wholesome concern for their characters. We like the warmth and the songs, but she needs to give the storytelling more time.
Fi1m perspective
In Hazbin Hotel (2024), sharp lines, exaggerated bodies and heavily accessorised costumes compete for attention before anyone speaks. Vivienne Medrano gives Hell a busy, emphatically cartoonish look that suits the broad performances. We recommend the series for its songs and voice cast, with a warning that following the story takes more effort than it should. There is kindness here, despite the determination to advertise bad behaviour.
The early short Timber (2014) preceded the independently produced Hazbin Hotel pilot (2019), while Helluva Boss began with its own pilot in 2019. That second series follows imps and assassination work in the same universe. The full Hazbin Hotel series makes the difficulty of sustaining that busy world apparent. Medrano keeps adding more activity before we have understood what is already happening.
The musical side is better organised. Her collaborators include songwriters and composers Sam Haft and Andrew Underberg, and her preference for performers with musical-theatre backgrounds is well judged. The songs advance character and plot, giving the emotion a clarity the surrounding bustle too often lacks. We were moved by the earnestness of Hazbin Hotel: its songs let the characters express feelings that the spoken scenes keep hurrying past.
Away from the music, the series makes too much fuss about being for adults, and too readily treats another burst of activity as an explanation. Too often we are left unsure of the rules or of why somebody is doing something. The moral lessons are also more conventional than the setting promises, though Medrano's decision not to make everyone automatically cruel is worth keeping. Fewer distractions would give both the jokes and the kindness a better chance to register. Start with Hazbin Hotel, provided loud musical comedy matters more to the evening than tidy storytelling.
Biography
Vivienne Medrano, also known as VivziePop, is an American animator, writer, director and producer. Born on 28 October 1992 in Frederick, Maryland, she is Salvadoran-American. She attended the School of Visual Arts in New York and graduated with a BFA in 2014.
Medrano created the animated series Hazbin Hotel (2024–), serving as its director, writer and producer. She is also the creator, director, writer and producer of the web series Helluva Boss (2020–). She founded the independent animation studio SpindleHorse, under which both series have been produced.
