If you like this review and want to stay updated for what else I have in store, become a follower of this blog, click here to like the official Facebook page, and click here to follow me on Twitter. Now on with today's review:
City
Slickers
This show’s biggest shakeup to the status quo is having major
supporting characters, Bobby and Ronnie Anne, move in with their extended
family, the Casagrandes. In Season 3,
we’re going to get a significant amount of this other big family as well as
Bobby and Ronnie Anne’s new lifestyle.
This is actually appropriate since the family is apparently getting a
spinoff in the near future.
As for this
cartoon, we have Lincoln and Lori paying the Casagrandes for the weekend, each
with different reasons. Since Lori is
planning on going to the college in the area with Bobby in a year, she wants to
get used to city life and fit in with the crowd. As a classy move, her ambitions are marked by
a fantasy sequence modeled after the old Marlo Thomas sitcom, That Girl. That said, the fantasy does get overplayed
after a while. As for Lincoln, he’s just
here for fun’s sake, as well as catching up with Ronnie Anne. His plans seem nice, though it’s a little
disturbing that he seems to get enjoyment out of Ronnie Anne pranking him. Maybe he could just see it as playful, at least I hope he does.
As for the Casagrandes, they continue to
delight with their own original quirks, right down to being introduced very
similarly to how they were in their debut special. That said, most of the relatives only get a
few scenes devoted to them and their personalities while Ronnie Anne and Bobby
get the most focus. This is especially
true for Ronnie Anne with much of the cartoon featuring her reluctantly show
Lincoln the city, including some new friends she’s made. Through it all, she’s determined to not show
Lincoln anything and hide certain things like a sweatshirt from Lincoln’s
hometown from her friends. Her friends
themselves are pretty basic in character, but are a pretty likable bunch which
plays a role in how this matter is resolved.
After a while, Lincoln smartly deduces that Ronnie Anne’s strange
behavior is from her hiding the truth about where she’s really from. Also of note is for how accepting he is
of her pranking, Lincoln is firm about how wrong she was to hide the truth from
him and plans to leave. It’s a good use
of backbone from him, though when Ronnie Anne apologizes, he’s still helpful by
pointing out that her friends will like her for who she is if their friendship
is genuine. Thankfully, for the sake of
their likability, they are accepting of her upbringing and it all ends well. This is all well told, but it’s honestly
quite standard with little creative standout elements.
I actually get more enjoyment out of Lori’s
subplot where she’s all set up to fit her fantasies of the city. However, a couple of quick scenes of running
into things and not keeping up with the crowds ruin her appearance and put her
into an overemotional frenzy. Though
Bobby is out of most of the action, he does show one of his best moments as a
boyfriend offering Lori the support she needs. It’s all in a reveal that he had
a hard time adjusting to the city at first too.
Usually, Lori and Bobby seem like a standard teenage couple,
but moments like this enhance their appeal together with plenty of genuineness
to their love. I just wish the cartoon
had more of this than the Ronnie Anne secrecy subplot.
No matter what, they’re both still good parts
to it and help the cartoon stand strong with good uses of characters and an
interesting setting.
A-
Fool
Me Twice
This early in the season, we get the usual April Fools
cartoon. In addition to begging a lot of
questions of how the Louds are supposed to age, these cartoons show off the
comedic lengths of the funny girl in the family, Luan. A lot of her pranks are at their most
elaborate here which are usually fun to see.
However, it makes sense why some would be turned off by the pranks. The pain they cause and how much the rest of
the family fear them feel too realistic for the creatively funny aesthetic to
really shine. I give credit for the
atmospheric staging of the pranks, but feeling like they’re legit tortures
instead of all in good fun does hold back their appeal.
The family’s fear is even apparent at the
start of this cartoon when they travel far across town just to discuss a plan
to avoid being pranked. Their way around
this is an honestly very creative one when they realize they’re on a movie set
and notice one of the actors looks just like Dad. They hire him and other actors present to
pose as stunt double who will take Luan’s pranks for them. Most of them differ from the family in
incredibly minor ways, though Lincoln’s stunt double stands out for being an
old man. It’s hard to find young
white-haired boys after all. On the
whole, the stunt doubles appear more than qualified for this job, so the real
Louds switch places with them with no problem.
At this point, I’d like to refer back to the previous April Fools
cartoon, “Fool’s Paradise.”
Specifically, I mean the ending where after the rest of the family got
in the bigger prank, Luan vowed that next year she’d “give [them] all an April
Fools [they’d] never forget.” It may not
seem that way when the stunt doubles leave the house unharmed the next
day. This is actually not so innocent
when Luan appears on a monitor, implying that she’s using the doubles for a
heck of a pranking on her family. The
act she has in mind hardly feels like pranking at all though. She has the stunt doubles go to various
places to impersonate the Louds and make them look lame, rude, and stupid to
their allies. All the family can do is watch everything while locked in the
garage.
You know how certain stories
have people unintentionally humiliate people in their lives, which this show
has even already done at one point? Well
usually those who humiliate are either unaware of this and are therefore
sympathetic. Here, Luan knows exactly
what she’s doing, and while it’s in the name of comedy, it’s a whole new low
for her. On a side note, how exactly did
the stunt doubles agree to help humiliate the Louds instead of save them from
being pranked? Are they really this much
of heartless backstabbers? Maybe this
does qualify as Luan upping her pranking game, but there’s no appeal out of
this.
However, making everything work is
how the rest of the family responds to this.
Luan comes home to find the family selling the house and proceeding to
move since she ruined their lives in their hometown no matter how much she
promises to fix things. Eventually, she
breaks down begging them not leave home, and her remorse for her actions feel
very genuine. Yes, the Louds moving
turns out to be a prank, but Luan complimenting how they’re getting the hang of
pranks surprisingly strengthens how serious her apology was. Still, it’s also nice that she still has to
chase down a truck full of her pranking stuff in the end.
While Luan’s pranks really start crossing the
line and there’s potential betrayal at the Louds’ expense, the inventive
strategies and satisfying payoff make it work despite everything. This really is an April Fools you’ll never
forget.
A-
The Ranking
1. Roadie to Nowhere
2. Insta-Gran
3. Selfie Improvement
4. No Place Like Homeschool
5. City Slickers
6. Fool Me Twice
7. Tripped!
8. White Hare
9. A Fridge Too Far
The next Loud House review features Lynn finally learn that winning isn't everything, and Mom and Dad make themselves a bathroom and go crazy trying to keep it secret.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is more family love in Steven Universe in the full-length episode, "Gem Harvest."
No comments:
Post a Comment