Disappointed

I had high hopes for "Skyland", since the promo spot they ran was a thing of beauty.

However, the one hour pilot let me down. First, the dialog was very stilted and obvious. I don't know if this was because it was translated from French or something else. They set up the characters and the setting with massive lumps of exposition instead of letting characters unfold. We're told everything about them right away instead of learning about them as we go.

Second, the rotoscoping. This is a personal preference, but I don't like it. To me it looks unnatural, even though it is supposed to make characters move in a more lifelike fashion. Maybe I'm accustomed to non-rotoscoped animation.

"Skyland" is obviously anime-influenced, but it doesn't achieve the sense of being a "real world" that the best anime shows do.

"Avatar", for instance, is produced by Nickelodeon (and currently airing on YTV), and has a similar premise (orphaned brother and sister on quest in fantasy world with magic powers), but the writing is vastly better. It shows that the US can make shows that draw on the best aspect of Japanese animation.