15 Worst Cartoons Ever Made According to IMDB

Animation is a medium, not a genre. And, like any medium, there are some real animated stinkers out there. Of course, no one sets off to make a bad cartoon. However, uncontrollable circumstances can cause a promising idea to become a thud.

Some of the animated TV programs listed here might have had an interesting angle, but only resulted in a ho-hum experience. Other cartoons were just ill-conceived from the get-go with little to no redeeming factors.

Good or bad, all animated programs deserve to exist and be acknowledged. Just don’t set your expectations high with the following shows. The Simpsons, these are not.

1. Velma (1.6/10)

Scooby-Doo, where are you? No, really, where are you Scooby? Velma, the adult reimagining of the classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon, ditches the dog for lowbrow humor and questionable politics.

This comedic vehicle starring Mindy Kaling repeats the same tired, edgy jokes about Scooby-Doo without any of the charms of the original series.

2. George of the Jungle (5.6/10)

Although this entry concerns the poorly received 2007 cartoon revival of George of the Jungle, the real problem with this series comes from its absurd second season.

Separated by nine years, George of the Jungle Season 2 made the unheard-of creative decision to switch the names of two of its leading female characters and rewrite one of them into a complete Neanderthal. The show also relied heavily on gross-out humor that went against the spirit of the previous season and the 1967 cartoon by Jay Ward and Bill Scott.

3. Ren & Stimpy ‘Adult Party Cartoon’ (5.4/10)

The original Ren & Stimpy had a reputation for pushing the limits of what was acceptable for a kid’s cartoon on Nickelodeon. The Adult Party Cartoon revival on Spike (now known as the Paramount Network) shows those limits were put there for a reason.

The 2003 cartoon removes the cleverness of the original for frat-boy juvenile humor. Time has been anything but kind to this revival, following the controversies surrounding its disgraced creator, John Kricfalusi, in the years after its short-lived release.

4. The New Adventures of He-Man (5.4/10)

Unfortunately, The New Adventures of He-Man reminded viewers that space can’t make everything awesome. Set 1000 years in the future, the war between He-Man and Skeletor has escalated to a new planetary setting filled with alien beings and mutated monsters.

The shift from fantasy to sci-fi didn’t sit well with He-Man’s original audience, causing a loss in viewers and toy sales. Some of the toys for The New Adventures of He-Man were even repurposed for the 1993 release of Demolition Man.

5. The Problem Solverz (2.0/10)

The Problem Solverz is an Adult Swim cartoon in Cartoon Network’s clothing. The 2011 series tried to ride the TV-PG wave that Adventure Time and Regular Show were riding when they premiered on Cartoon Network but was too alienating for younger viewers.

Adult Swim fans might have appreciated the series’ intentionally hideous art style that messed with retro video game nostalgia. But everyone else changed the channel.

6. Ctrl+Alt+Del: The Animated Series (2.2/10)

Ctrl+Alt+Del: The Animated Series is a painful reminder of the early webcomic boom of the 2000s that typically featured a pair of selfish and unappreciated male gamers with hot girlfriends.

As a webcomic, the only lasting impression Ctrl+Alt+Del left on pop culture was an infamous four-panel meme regarding miscarriage that did not belong in a snarky comedy about playing Nintendo. The 2006 cartoon, at least, stays on tone but fails to deliver a laugh with its atrocious animation.

7. Little Ellen (1.8/10)

Little Ellen is the perfect example of being in the wrong place and time. This innocent reimagining of Ellen DeGeneres’ youth as a comical animated series came at a time when DeGeneres’ loveable daytime TV persona was being shattered by real-life stories of her cruelty.

As a show, Little Ellen didn’t do anything different from other younger-skewing cartoons found on Nick Jr. and the like. It only served as a reminder of how hollow the real DeGeneres actually is when the cameras are off.

8. The Powerpuff Girls 2016 (3.7/10)

The 2016 revival of The Powerpuff Girls misunderstood what everyone loved about the original Cartoon Network show. Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup…were strangely recast for younger voice actors, while voice acting veterans like Tom Kenny retained their original roles.

The revival went against the feminist spirit of the original by kicking Ms. Bellum to the curb while making characters like Blossom more interested in girly things like fawning over boys. Shockingly, the revival also suffered from poor animation, resulting in errors like Buttercup missing her lower body.

9. Mega Babies (2.6/10)

Mega Babies is like a fever dream. It has to be seen to be believed.

The 1999 cartoon tried to mix Rugrats and The Ren & Stimpy show together, but the experiment went as well as mixing bleach with vinegar. The show is too kiddy in design and grotesque in its visual humor.

10. ThunderCats Roar (2.2/10)

On paper, a funny reimagining of the 1985 Thundercats cartoon doesn’t sound too bad for an innocuous spinoff. Unfortunately, ThunderCats Roar premiered at a time after Cartoon Network canceled the 2011 relaunch of ThunderCats, which fans loved for its serious dedication to the original series.

ThunderCats Roar was the complete opposite of that. The 11-minute cartoon often ridicules the source material or makes everything goofy. This came off as twisting the knife to fans, leading to ThunderCats Roar being shunned and forgotten by the fandom.

11. Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain (5.8/10)

Elmyra Duff, as a character on Tiny Toon Adventures, was a clever (and kid-friendly) reimagining of Elmer Fudd for Buster and Babs Bunny to get the better of every episode or so.

Elmyra, as a main character with Pinky and the Brain, was a redundant addition that ruined the evil genius/pop-culture dumbo dynamic the cartoon lab mice had before her arrival. Alas, as the theme song states, “It’s what the network wants, why bother to complain?”

12. Da Boom Crew (2.6/10)

Bruce W. Smith is a talented Black animator who worked on the celebrated The Princess and the Frog movie and his own original Disney TV cartoon, The Proud Family.

Da Boom Crew lacks the charm of those projects, delivering only a bland experience of wise-cracking kids fighting forgettable aliens in a video game world. The only remarkable thing about Da Boom Crew is that it was canceled by Kids WB after four episodes.

13. Loonatics Unleashed (5.7/10)

Loonatics Unleashed was an ill-thought-out reboot of the classic Looney Tunes series. Lacking the sharp, visual humor of the original cartoons, Loonatics Unleashed tried to present itself as a Saturday morning action show that would make kids want to buy toys.

However, the generic futuristic premise and painfully obvious reuse of assets (the base of the Loonatics was a recolored setting from Teen Titans) resulted in this show being wholly forgotten.

14. Fanboy & Chum Chum (3.4/10)

On a technical level, Fanboy & Chum Chum can be appreciated for pushing CG animation on TV. However, the series is just too unappealing in design and lackluster in its humor.

The superhero duo of Fanboy and Chum Chum are also too annoying as leading characters with no saving grace in their personalities.

15. Good Times (3.8/10)

The original 1974 sitcom Good Times spotlighted an African-American family struggling to get by, with only their love for each other to pull them through.

The 2024 Netflix reboot is a complete mockery of the iconic CBS sitcom and more. The animated reboot turns the modern-day Evans family into racial caricatures, such as making the baby character into a drug dealer. So much of the humor relies on shock value and stereotypical depictions of minorities, sharing none of the wit or love of the original Good Times.