Review: Mira, Royal Detective “Mira’s Birthday Mystery; The Great Art Mystery”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

“Mira’s Birthday Mystery”: Our favorite mystery solving protagonist wakes up to a special breakfast of birthday rice pudding (which I’ve also heard called paisum) from her papa. He mentions he added rose water to make it extra special, just like her mom used to. He also tells Mira the queen has requested her presence, while Mikku and Chikku snack on the nuts and raisins meant to sweeten the birthday breakfast dish.

On the way over to the palace, the mongooses envision elaborate birthday feasts, or a bridge named in Mira’s honor. But when they arrive, they’re underwhelmed by the lack of festivities. Instead, Queen Shanti hand over a mysterious note left outside the palace. Mira sets off to solve the case, but what’s really the reason behind this mystery?

“The Great Art Mystery”:  Priya’s organized an art show. Mira brings her painting for display, which results in her subjects, Chikku and Mikku, attempting to cash in on their newfound fame. But model mongeese and major selection of Prince Veer’s self portraits are relegated to the background when Dhruv arrives with an unconventional piece painted on tree bark.

No one has signed the back, and Priya can’t display it without the artist’s permission. Luckily, Mira’s on the case. But will she be able to locate the master behind this masterpiece?

Our take:

This series diverges from Disney’s usual approach in scores of pleasant ways. There’s basically no romance or “action” in the traditional sense, but it still manages to avoid being boring.

The star studded cast (the birthday episode marks the first time I officially get to hear Freida Pinto in her role as Queen Shanti) certainly helps, but the stories themselves also pull their weight by lending just enough intrigue to captivate their intended audience.

Unfortunately, it can’t shake the corporation’s traditional stance against main characters’ moms. Thankfully, Mira’s missing parent is only briefly alluded to before embarking on the usual mystery saving shenanigans.

Mikku and Chikku’s indignation at everyone apparently ignoring Mira’s special day in the first episode this week results in plenty of solid lines.

But my favorite is their response to Priya and Meena ignoring their hints to wish Mira a happy birthday.

Priya instead asks if they’re hungry. “Well, I mean ALWAYS, but what!?” Chikku responds (#relatable) before the two accept some samosas in a huff.

In “The Great Art Mystery” we get to hear Karan Brar (you may recognize him as Chirag Gupta from Diary of a Wimpy Kid or as one of the cadets in Pacific Rim Uprising) brag about his extensive collection of self portraits before the rest of the crew finds their next clue while drinking mango lassis.

This episode is also a fantastic example of how this show avoids falling into Nancy Drew knock-off territory. The highly unexpected identity of the mystery artist is a fantastic reminder for kids to stay curious. After all, the answers aren’t always what you think! The brief 2D animatic of their theorized artist in action is also a nice touch.

I love that every character in this show has enough variety between each other to look noticeably distinct, and of course, the movements are fluid and flowing. While this series get so much right, visually and story-wise, there’s always room to improve. And for this particular show, that area is in variety of facial expressions.

Now that I’ve watched through four episodes in total, it’s hard not to notice Mira’s tendency to sport the dreaded “smarm brow”. I of course realize this expression is visual shorthand for a clever character, and Mira is! But mix it up a bit, y’know?

The quality of this show is never a mystery: it’s solid by any measure. Here’s hoping there’s more episodes to explore and learn from, soon!