''Kaeloo'' is a French

computer-animated Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating moving images. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both still images and moving images, while computer animation refers to moving images. Modern c ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

television series created by Rémi Chapotot and Jean-François Henry and produced by Cube Creative. The series aired from June 6, 2010, to April 13, 2023, on

Canal+ Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...

, Canal+ Kids and Télétoon+, and also started airing from September 2017 on C8.

Premise

The show centers around the adventures of a group of

anthropomorphic animal Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to ...

friends, Kaeloo the frog (Kaelou in the pilot), Stumpy the squirrel, (Moignon in the pilot), Quack-Quack the duck, Mr. Cat the cat, and as of Seasons 2 and 5, Pretty the rabbit, Eugly the rabbit, Olaf the penguin, The Rules of the Games and Stumpy's seven sisters, who live on a

planet A planet is a large, Hydrostatic equilibrium, rounded Astronomical object, astronomical body that is generally required to be in orbit around a star, stellar remnant, or brown dwarf, and is not one itself. The Solar System has eight planets b ...

known as Smileyland (Pays Trop Mignon in French, which means "Very Cute Country") and play games to keep themselves from getting bored. Things always go wrong due to Stumpy's ineptitude at almost everything, Quack-Quack's addiction to yogurt, Pretty's unkindness (in the earlier seasons), Eugly's emotional vulnerability, Olaf's desire to take over the world, Mr. Cat's constant cheating and abuse of the others, and Kaeloo's ability to transform into a hulking toad monster named Bad Kaeloo (Bad Kaelou in the Pilot) when angered.

Characters

Main

* Kaeloo (Kaelou) (voiced by Emmanuel Garijo in French and Andy Chase (Pilot), Doug Rand (Season 1) and Vincent Tong in English) - the titular character and main protagonist. She is a female cheerful and energetic but dangerously emotionally unstable

tree frog A tree frog (or treefrog) is any species of frog that spends a major portion of its lifespan in trees, known as an arboreal state. Several lineages of frogs among the Neobatrachia suborder have given rise to treefrogs, although they are not clos ...

who's always looking for games to play with her so-called "buddies". While normally gentle and loving (though she does have several crueler moments), when pushed too far, Kaeloo enters an intense rage that transforms her into the hulking "Bad Kaeloo". Throughout the series, it is heavily implied that Kaeloo may have a crush on Mr. Cat, who also happens to have a crush on her. Kaeloo is gender-ambiguous in the French dub of the show; no one knowing her gender is a running gag, and it's implied that she is

non-binary Non-binary or genderqueer Gender identity, gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gende ...

and goes by she/he pronouns. She is re-written to be female in most of the other dubs of the series; however, the Italian, Serbian and Hindi dubs, and the first 10 episodes in the English dub have her re-written as male, with the former three dubs editing out any suggestive scenes between her and Mr. Cat. **Bad Kaeloo (Bad Kaelou) (voiced by Emmanuel Garijo in French and Doug Rand (Season 1) and

Ian Hanlin Ian Stuart Hanlin is a Canadian voice actor based in Vancouver. Originally from Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, he is known for his voice roles of Sunburst in ''My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'', Lance Richmond in ''Nexo Knights'', Acronix in ' ...

(Season 5) in English) - Whenever Kaeloo gets angry or frustrated enough, she transforms into this form, a male hulking and brutish yet slow-witted

toad Toad (also known as a hoptoad) is a common name for certain frogs, especially of the family Bufonidae, that are characterized by dry, leathery skin, short legs, and large bumps covering the parotoid glands. In popular culture (folk taxonomy ...

. While she has stated in an early episode that the transformations must be triggered by anger, she has been seen in several episodes deliberately taking this form to cheat at games that require a level of physical prowess or to intimidate others. The transformations seem to be accompanied by a profound drop in intellectual capacity and reasoning, later followed by remorse once she returns to her "normal" form. This implies that Bad Kaeloo's actions are usually beyond her conscious control. It is hinted at in one episode that this personality will become the dominant one later in her life, though another episode set in the future contradicted this. * Stumpy (Moignon) (voiced by Rémi Chapotot in French and Doug Rand (Pilot and Season 1)) - an extremely dim-witted and accident-prone

red squirrel The red squirrel (''Sciurus vulgaris''), also called Eurasian red squirrel, is a species of tree squirrel in the genus ''Sciurus''. It is an arboreal and primarily herbivorous rodent and common throughout Eurasia. Taxonomy There have been ...

, fascinated by video games, alongside explosions, superpowers, intergalactic wars and anything remotely dangerous. He has little-to-no sense of reality and is often delusional and immature, but generally means well. Stumpy aspires to be like his idol, comic book hero Mr. Coolskin. He hates books without pictures, being made fun of, other people touching his things, and washing. Whenever he doesn't understand something (which is often), is afraid or otherwise agitated, he spouts gibberish as his neck spasms erratically. * Quack-Quack (Coin-Coin) (voiced by Rémi Chapotot in French and Doug Rand in English) - a diaper-wearing

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family (biology), family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and goose, geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfam ...

who can only say his name. Whilst still in his egg, his parents were killed by a hunter. He was taken into a laboratory as a duckling and repeatedly experimented on. He was made indestructible (explaining his numerous stitches), intelligent, extremely lucky and addicted to yogurt. He is afraid of three things: doctors, never finding his creator and expired yogurt. * Mr. Cat (Monsieur Chat) (Hector) (voiced by Philippe Spiteri in French and

Christian Erickson Christian Erickson is an American actor based in Paris, France. He is known for his role as La Trémoille in ''The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc'' (1999), as General Kormarov in the film adaption of ''Hitman (2007 film), Hitman'' and as L ...

(Pilot), Mike Powers (Season 1) in English) - the main antagonist/anti-hero, a greedy

bengal cat The Bengal cat is a breed of hybrid cat created from crossing of an Asian leopard cat (''Prionailurus bengalensis'') with domestic cats, especially the spotted Egyptian Mau. It is then usually bred with a breed that demonstrates a friendlier ...

, who's an alcoholic and a cheater, always wants to win, and is even willing to cheat to do so. He especially enjoys torturing Quack Quack, which upsets Kaeloo and is the usual cause of her transformation into Bad Kaeloo. Despite (or perhaps because of) Kaeloo's transformations, he seems to have developed a crush on her; the feeling is reciprocated, and while they are not officially a couple, the other characters often talk about their feelings for each other and about them becoming a couple. As a result of this crush, he occasionally tries to make romantic advances towards her, which she rejects; in cases where Kaeloo makes advances on him, he also rejects her for unknown reasons. Despite all of the factors mentioned above, he is Kaeloo's closest friend and remains loyal to her even when others, including Stumpy and Quack Quack, turn against her. It is implied in several episodes that he had an extremely difficult past and had terrible relationships with his family, especially his brothers. Over the course of the series, he steadily becomes much nicer as a person, though he never completely sheds his cynical and tough edge.

Secondary

Later seasons of the show introduce new characters:

Season 2

* Pretty (voiced by Dorothée Pousséo) - a pink

rabbit Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated ...

fashionista who is obsessed with fashion and all things stereotypically "girly". She is selfish, narcissistic, aggressive and regularly puts down those around her for petty reasons. Pretty has a crush on Mr. Cat (not that the feeling is even close to being reciprocated) and will go to extreme lengths to woo him. In season 5, Pretty befriends the four main characters, stops bullying them, and gets over her crush on Mr. Cat. * Eugly (voiced by Rémi Chapotot) - Pretty's fraternal twin sister and polar opposite. Unlike Pretty, Eugly is ugly and fat, but has a very nice personality. Eugly is very emotional, and will burst into floods of tears at even the slightest insult. She eventually becomes Quack Quack's girlfriend. In season 5, Eugly leaves Smileyland to attend an art school, and her role is reduced to occasional cameos as a result. * Olaf (voiced by

Féodor Atkine Féodor Atkine (born 27 February 1948) is a French actor of Russian-Polish origin. A screen performer, he has participated in numerous plays, films and television series in France and abroad. Life and career Féodor Atkine was born in Paris to ...

) - an insane

emperor penguin The emperor penguin (''Aptenodytes forsteri'') is the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species and is Endemism in birds, endemic to Antarctica. The male and female are similar in plumage and size, reaching in length and weighing fr ...

who would like to take over the world and cover it with ice, but is ultimately ineffectual. He is married to an

ice cube O'Shea Jackson Sr. (born June 15, 1969), known professionally as Ice Cube, is an American rapper, songwriter, actor, and film producer. His lyrics on N.W.A's 1989 album '' Straight Outta Compton'' contributed to gangsta rap's widespread popu ...

named Olga and has a

robot A robot is a machine—especially one Computer program, programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions Automation, automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the robot control, co ...

fridge named Serguei. In season 5, Olaf is now an artist.

Season 5

* The Rules of the Games/Game Rule (La Règle du Jeu/M. Règle) (voiced by Valentin Papoudof in French and Travis Turner in English) - A floating

- alien that acts like a

personification Personification is the representation of a thing or abstraction as a person, often as an embodiment or incarnation. In the arts, many things are commonly personified, including: places, especially cities, National personification, countries, an ...

of the

rules Rule or ruling may refer to: Human activity * The exercise of political or personal control by someone with authority or power * Business rule, a rule pertaining to the structure or behavior internal to a business * School rule, a rule tha ...

who imposes bizarre penalties on people who break the rules. They are

and they are the overarching antagonist of season 5. * Stumpy's sisters (all voiced by Emilie Rollot) - In the first four seasons, a running gag was that everyone (occasionally including Stumpy himself) didn't know if Stumpy's siblings were real or not, and jokes would often rely on their existence being ambiguous. Starting in Season 5, the existence of them (seven younger sisters) is finally confirmed, and the gag is retired as a result. In order, they are: ** Checkout (Ardoise) - The helpful one who is good at handling finances and

marketing Marketing is the act of acquiring, satisfying and retaining customers. It is one of the primary components of Business administration, business management and commerce. Marketing is usually conducted by the seller, typically a retailer or ma ...

. ** Moldie (Cramoisie) - The one who likes insulting and harassing others. ** Lavanade - The quiet one with supernatural powers. ** Me-Me (Nombril) - Stumpy's younger sister who always wants people's attention, especially his. ** Poucave - An inquisitive child who wants to become a

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

, which she practices for by spying on people to write about them. ** Purplish (Violasse) - The one who carries a

balloon A balloon is a flexible membrane bag that can be inflated with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, or air. For special purposes, balloons can be filled with smoke, liquid water, granular media (e.g. sand, flour or rice), ...

everywhere and has terrible luck that constantly lands her into bad situations. ** Vitamin (Vitamine) - Stumpy's sister who is so

hyperactive Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, and emotional dysregulation that are excessive and pervasive, impairing in multiple con ...

that she moves at super speed and cannot interact with the world around her.

Episodes

Series overview

Pilot (2007)

Kaeloo was originally a three-minute short film animation created in 2007, titled ''Kaelou: Red Light, Green Light, 1, 2, 3 (Kaelou: 1, 2, 3 Je Te Saigne!!!)'' and presented to the MIP TV in the same year. It is widely considered the pilot of the series.

Season 1 (2010)

All episodes are directed by Rémi Chapotot.

Season 2 (2012-13)

A second season was made and aired in France, but it has not yet been dubbed into English, the sole exception being the episode "What if We Played at Riding Ponies?".

Season 3 (2016-18)

The third season was released in France on December 18, 2016 on Télétoon+. It has not yet been dubbed in English.

Season 4 (2019-20)

The fourth season of the show premiered on December 25, 2019. It has not yet been dubbed in English.

Season 5 (2023)

The fifth season premiered on April 8, 2023. It has been dubbed in English.

Release and reception

The launch of the series was made June 6, 2010 in the show on Cartoon + in

Canal+ Family Canal+ Family was a French TV channel devoted to the broadcast of family programming. It was part of the "Les Chaînes Canal+" and the "Famille" package from Canal+. In 2021, the channel closed in Metropolitan France, to be replaced by Canal+ K ...

. The show is also broadcast on

. Kaeloo is also distributed outside the show on

. The series has received good reviews, with

Télérama ''Télérama'' is a weekly French language, French cultural and television magazine published in Paris, France. The name is a contraction of its earlier title: ''Télévision-Radio-Cinéma''. Fabienne Pascaud is currently managing editor. Ludovic ...

considering it "hilarious" and TV 2 Weeks as "a fast-paced cartoon and humor pest, which accomplishes the feat to entertain young and old".

DVD release

''Kaeloo: Hide and Hunt'' was released on Region 4 DVD by Beyond Home Entertainment on 1 December 2011. It contains the first 13 episodes of the English dub of Season 1. As of 2025, the remaining four seasons of the show have not been released on DVD.

International broadcasts

As of 2025, the show is not available in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

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Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, and

the Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Awards and nominations

Adaptations

In other media

Video game

A video game adapted from the series titled ''Kaeloo Rush'' was released on Android on July 18, 2016. In this game, Kaeloo must protect Quack-Quack and Smileyland at large from Mr. Cat's ammunition. The game contains 40 levels. Unfortunately, it has been unavailable in France since 2023 for unknown reasons.

Comic book

''Kaeloo'' is a comic book series based on the cartoon of the same name. The first issue, titled ''Let's Play...'' was released in July 2018.

References

External links