Thursday, May 2, 2019

Selfie Improvement / No Place Like Homeschool (The Loud House Season 3 Episode 4) - 'Toon Reviews 30

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Selfie Improvement

 
Plots that have characters make themselves crazy over something incredibly minor don’t often do justice for them and can make the experience frustrating.  However, they can work if the trouble they get themselves into is entertaining and funny.  The sisters of the Loud family have a lot of dynamic and fun personalities, so what they get themselves into is sure to turn out quite humorous, at least to me.  This is a big reason why it was a smart move for them to start getting cartoons with them as the lead more as the series went on. 
In this cartoon’s case, Lori is the star. While she’s portrayed as a stereotypical teenage girl obsessed with her phone and taking selfies, it’s remarkable how fun a character she is about it.  She's so used to getting a lot of likes on her photos that she’s completely shocked that she’s been out-liked by her rival, Carol Pingrey.  Before, all we knew about Carol was that she beat Lori out for homecoming queen.  It was all we needed to know that Lori had a problem with her, and here it’s revealed that her one-upping has gone on for a long time. 
Rather than just letting this minor setback go, Lori spends the majority of the cartoon taking a lot of selfies with the sole intent of getting more likes than Carol.  This may be petty and making a big deal over nothing, but what makes Lori’s attempts appealing is how entertaining in watch they are.  For one thing, there’s a lot of unique setups to all kinds of selfies with a variety of costumes, hairstyles, and accessories.  Along with different styles, entertainment is found in the struggles of making the selfies come out good that come with being in a big family.  Lori’s siblings frequently show up doing their thing be it popping out of toilets, playing around, grave digging, or demanding to be changed.  The result is a collection of hilarious ways the cute wholesome shoots go wrong and look humiliating.  So not to make the siblings look too bad, their ruining of the selfies doesn’t last long, though to be fair, it never feels like they were trying to ruin anything in the first place.  Still, the challenges continue as Lori’s selfies go wrong in many creative ways though some beg questions like why there’d be bees in a tire swing. 
The entertainment factor of these selfie attempts is what keeps the cartoon enjoyable as Lori’s desperation to get a great one escalates.  In a smart move, however, she eventually realizes how out of control she’s been on her own accord.  It happens when she not only ignores her boyfriend, Bobby, but makes him drive to a picnic despite three hours apart and no wisdom tooth.  For all the legit thrills of her minor concerns, it’s refreshing for Lori to better appreciate the good things she has.  If that’s not enough, when she actually meets up with Carol, they nicely bond over how they thing the other is better than each other.  That’s not even mentioning how Carol’s been out of control with selfies too.  It’s an unexpected move for these rivals to become friends, and that further helps the cartoon.  It’s probably not the smartest move for them both to react to another selfie one-upping them, but at least they feel that way together. 
With cartoons like this, it shows that no matter what a character gets up to, everything can work as long as he/she is enjoyable, and the ensuing antics are strong with comedy.

A

No Place Like Homeschool


Some of the strongest cartoons are those where the Loud siblings are on the same page with certain matters and work as a team over what they have in common.  This cartoon shows an interesting variation of this setup, though it does miss a few key marks. 
For starters, all the kids have the same frustrations about school which, like a lot of conflicts with this series, seem highly relatable.  Among them are how busy they are with their interests and how school doesn’t leave time for them.  The only sibling who doesn’t seem bothered by school is Lola who’s apparently being homeschooled.  This runs the risk of a continuity error since Lola has been implied to go to regular school several times in the past.  However, it’s easily covered up with the reveal that she’s doing homeschool for a six-week period for pageant season. 
Anyway, the rest of the kids convince their parents to let them do homeschool too, and when they agree, they legitimately believe that it means they’re free to goof off.  As fun as it is to watch the many little moments of the kids enjoying themselves during school hours, it’s hard to believe that none of them are aware of how important their work is.  Is not one of them aware of the school part of homeschool?  Also, as nice as it is for Lola to be the only one taking it seriously, it’s clear she only acts this way because she actually has experience with homeschool.  I guess from the experience angle, there’s weight to the other kids’ perception, but it’s still off-putting that not one other kid would know there’s work to be done.  That’s not even mentioning that while Lola uses her extra time for her pageant training, the other kids don’t do any of what they said they need time for while out of regular school.  That kind of makes them look lazy and cocky if you ask me. 
However, their behavior comes with consequences when they learn they have to take a test to see if they’ve been learning all week just one night prior.  They have no choice but to spend the whole night cramming in knowledge so they can be ready and not have to go back to regular school.  When they’re too prone to distractions and fighting to actually study themselves, they have no choice but to wake up Lola from her beauty sleep for help.  This reluctant move on Lola’s part brings a conclusion that kind of goes two ways.  On the day of the test, everyone passes except Lola who doesn’t even finish meaning she has to go back to regular school.  Then on Monday morning, she finds out the other kids willingly gave up their homeschool and let the parents give Lola another chance at it for the sake of her pageant preparations. 
From the staging, it’s easy to take in the genuine sibling love of the ending where the kids realize their faults and leave homeschool to those who need it. At the same time, I notice a lot of holes with the ending.  The other kids were up all night, but Lola was able to sleep until 3:00.  How does she get more tired?  For that matter, if she is tired, couldn’t the test be held off until she’s ready?  The parents have the power to give them when they please.  Most of all, why does everyone wait until Monday morning to let Lola know she’s gotten another chance.  The ending is still heartwarming, but letting her be miserable about going back to regular school all weekend when that didn’t have to happen really holds it back. 
Even with a number of setbacks, it’s still impressive that the cartoon as strong as it is, pulled through with plenty of heart that can come from a big family.
A-

The Ranking

1.      Roadie to Nowhere

2.      Insta-Gran

3.      Selfie Improvement

4.      No Place Like Homeschool

5.      Tripped!

6.      White Hare

7.      A Fridge Too Far
 
 
The next Loud House review explores Ronnie Anne and Bobby's new city life, and gives us yet another April Fools cartoon with Luan at her nastiest.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews make sure you're not the "Last One Out of Beach City" in Steven Universe.
If you would like to check out other Loud House reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

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