Netflix Review: Fuller House

Alert: Spoilers Ahead, read at your own risk.

Anyone who has ever seen Full House can rejoice, because all of the jokes, laughs, and hugs are back, and they are just as good as the last time we entered the house. Fuller House landed in Netflix on February 26 and in pure binging spirit 90s babies flocked to Netflix to catch up on what the Tanner family was doing next.

Within the first ten minutes of the episode every beloved character we saw in the 80s and early 90s were standing in the kitchen sans the Olsen twins. But the cast didn’t hold back in the good-natured jabs at the fact that they were missing from the show.

It was everything that we were all expecting, even the opening credits of the first episode was the old theme song came through the speakers along with the corresponding images of the original cast as they drove across the Golden Gate Bridge. The first scene opened up much like the first season of the original first episode as well, with Danny Tanner (Bob Saget) talking to his baby grandson Tommy.

Uncle Jessie (John Stamos) stole our hearts with his jaw-dropping smile and Elvis impressions while Joey (David Coulier) made us laugh with his character voices and “old” bugs bunny pajamas.

They sit at the table as a family, eat and joke, Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin) comes home from England Kimmy Gibbler  (Andrea Barber) barges through the back door…it’s like the show never stopped.

Of course there are new additions to the Full House family, mainly D.J. Fuller’s, formerly D.J. Tanner, (Candace Cameron Bure) three sons. Jackson (Michael Campion) the oldest at thirteen, Max (Elias Harger) who is seven and baby Tommy (Dashiell and Fox Messitt) all are slowly wiggling their way into the hearts of everyone who is watching them make the house their own. Much like the old series, D.J. has tragically following in her father’s footsteps when her firefighter husband dies in a tragic accident.

Struggling to stay afloat amidst the challenge of raising three boys and working full time as a veterinarian at a pet clinic Steph and Kimmy, with her daughter Ramona (Soni Bringas), volunteer to move into the house to help D.J. raise the boys while the rest of the older cast moves on to live their lives in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

The only problem that seems to come up repeatedly is the fact that it seems too “Disney” for the original series. Some jokes are too forced and it seems like the cast, especially the younger, newer members are waiting for the laughs. This could simply be because these young members are too inexperienced as actors to make the scenes run as smooth as they should.

This in turn takes viewers away from the show and the content. The sometimes forced heart to heart scenes between the older members of the cast and the younger children make us wish for the old chemistry that was and is so clearly abundant within the original cast.

As we watch the show we have to remember that it was the same way when Bure, Sweetin, and Barber were all young actresses playing young D.J., Stephanie and Kimmy.  The experience will come with time, and we are all hoping that they will have time to hone their craft as the children of the next generation of Tanners.

All-in-all Fuller House is worth the binging that comes with a new Netflix series. For those of us who have finished season one already, let us patiently wait for season two to be announced.