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:
Eeny Meeny
Miney Ed
Character chemistry is a winning factor to the success of
this show’s entertainment value. When it
comes to the Eds, there’s certainly a lot of it as they themselves are very
different in terms of personality. Have
them interact, and the results are a highly enjoyable clash of perspectives on
certain matters. This cartoon has their
clashing personalities make for a very interesting experience.
First there’s Ed and his tendency to be in
his own little world when it comes to pleasing himself as well as being easily
drawn to any supernatural setup. When
his playing around ruins another potential scam, this is where his perception
clashes with Eddy’s. Eddy is visibly
frustrated with Ed, but finds a way to please himself by messing with his
overactive imagination. As the ever
intellectual Double D tends to the part of the scam that Ed broke and
eventually more of his experiments, Eddy convinces Ed of something
outrageous. He dreams up a convoluted
story of how Double D isn’t human but really a lizard man who
came from outer space and turned the cul-de-sac kids into his insect
minions. Relating to Ed’s innocence and
beliefs in the supernatural, Ed takes this story completely seriously, and
constantly approaches Double D with fear and paranoia.
Never realizing he’s going too far with this
prank, Eddy keeps on adding to it. He even goes as far as to the atmosphere
creepy for Ed by flicking lights and putting himself in a bucket to make him
think he’s a bug. All the while, Double
D himself is so caught up in his world that he never really realizes what Eddy
is up to. Also, when Ed is being
overdramatic based on Eddy’s tricks, Double D just sees what he’s exclaiming as
signs that he needs to brush his teeth or make Ed lunch.
Adding weight to this misguided escapade, the
Eds seem to get a chance of upping their social status when Nazz appears happy
to invite them to a barbeque. Double D
accepts, albeit bashfully, and Ed surrenders himself to the lizard man and his
minion before deciding to join. Seeing
them among the other kids at a social gathering is a big honor given the Eds’
status as outcasts. However, because of
their misguidedness, Eddy’s trick on Ed devalues any good progress as he
follows his friends to the party unable to get out of that bucket.
I will say that the conflict is flawed since
all the kids are dumbed down to believing that Eddy is actually a bug. Can’t they clearly see that this ‘bug’ is a
kid in a bucket? I don’t see how it’s that hard not to miss. Also, why would they think a bug would cause
harm as it makes its way into Nazz’s cellar?
That just feels even more contrived.
At least there’s a conveying suspenseful atmosphere as the kids, along
with Double D and Ed go after the bug with the ever active Rolf leading the
way. When they finally do discover that
the bug is Eddy, the kids are left disgusted with the Eds as Ed shows awareness
of what happened and says Double D had something to do with it. It’s ultimately an honest showing that the
Eds have their chance at acceptance, but their quirks are just too much for
others claiming they come from the ‘Land of the Dorks’. At least they themselves have solid enough
entertainment from their ever enjoyable personality clashes.
A-
Ready Set
Ed
On the subject of the Eds fitting in, it’s well-known that
they often try to do this through impressing kids with their scams. In a few rare occasions, they do it not for
money, but to just gain some popularity.
This cartoon offers one of the biggest examples of this and the extremes
they’re willing to go through to make things go their way.
In one of the more spontaneous openings, they
find out what’s going on after a random scene of exploring Ed’s room full of toys
and birds under his bed. When the birds
are let loose to Ed’s dismay, they all find the kids of the cul-de-sac on a
major craze of breaking world records.
The kid with the most record breaks to show off is Kevin with his trusty
bike be it riding it like a unicycle or leaving a really long skid mark. As Kevin is their biggest rival, Eddy decides
that he and his gang are going to beat him at a record one way or another.
There are only two attempts shown in the
cartoon though. Making the lack of quantity work is that the attempts are
executed very well. The Eds first start
by building a huge BMX ramp out of assorted objects around the neighborhood and
plan to ride a bike all the way down it.
The punchline to this is that they spend a lot of time setting up the
ramp, but they fall down hundreds of feet before the bike even sets off down
the ramp.
Thank cartoon logic the Eds
survive that fall. Too bad they're
scornfully mocked for such a huge fail.
It’s the second record breaking attempt that takes up much of the
cartoon, this time playing to Eddy’s nature of scamming. He enters the scene boasting about an amazing
trip around the world in his own special rocket car complete with convincing
props of things he picked up. He’s even
set up to prove the rocket car’s power by taking everyone for a ride. The sheer unbelievable claims of the stunt,
the small size, and Double D saying how unconvincing Eddy’s scam is builds up
there being a major catch. Still, Eddy
has the confidence to make his rocket car convincing. In fact, as exciting music plays, Eddy sets
it up for maximum speed, and is all set to take off with all the neighborhood
kids crammed up inside, the ride is actually a fun highlight. That’s hard to believe considering it’s a
fake car on a popcorn popper vibrating in front of scrolling countries drawn by
crayon with Double D and Ed moving in front of them in costume. It goes to show how enjoyable things can be
even if they’re fake. Since it is
clearly fake, the moment Ed stops moving with the background is when Kevin is
set up to take action.
While Eddy’s
caught in his world traveling delusion, Kevin gets the kids out, traps Double D
and Ed in the rocket car, and sets it flying by pouring lots of kernels into
the popper. The only thing the rocket
car ends up traveling down is the giant BMX ramp and despite the Eds screaming
in fear, it does make it all the way down.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t see how the Eds can say they didn’t
break a record. The rocket car made it
down the ramp, so wouldn’t that count?
Why would it even matter that the ramp was destroyed once it
landed?
Well, regardless, this is a
solid cartoon made strong by the sheer effort and convincing atmosphere brought
by the featured record-breaking attempts, few as they are.
A+
The Ranking
1. One + One = Ed
2. Ready Set Ed
3. Dear Ed
4. Knock, Knock Who’s Ed
5. Know-it-All Ed
6. Eeny Meeny Miney Ed
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where the Eds hold a telethon, and Eddy wants Ed to lose his tooth.
If you would like to check out other Ed Edd n Eddy reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them. 
No comments:
Post a Comment