Tuesday, February 15, 2022

The Ballad of Hopediah Plantar / Anne Hunter - (Amphibia Season 2 Episode 2) - 'Toon Reviews 49

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The Ballad of Hopediah Plantar


When traveling is a big part of a season, it can put every story along the way into a new perspective.  Even random adventures without much connection to the big picture feel worth exploring because it always feels like the show is getting somewhere.  That said, not every escapade is going to turn out remarkable. This part of the journey to Newtopia is decent in exploring characters, but the execution doesn’t leave the strongest payoff.  

While we’re in a new season, the memories of the end of the previous one are fresh on everyone’s mind. Sprig has even been inspired to write a ballad about that encounter, fitting his unique frequently seen talent as a bard.  As fun as his song is, it ignites a feeling of self-consciousness within Hop Pop.  One of the big takeaways from the end of Season 1 was how he had grown to become inspirational to several frog towns to rebel against authorities.  For Sprig’s song to say that all he did was hide and cower, which isn’t even that accurate, it’s no surprise Hop Pop is desperate to show he is a true hero.  

This brings the Plantars to the first town outside of Wartwood, Bittyburg, a welcome sign of world building, inhabited by very small frogs with big eyes.  In accordance with Wild West towns, Bittyburg is invaded by outlaw Jethro Hassleback, the inhabitants’ small size making them easy targets.  Wanting to do something about this injustice, Hop Pop stands in to help the town, and beats Jethro easily.  However, the praise he gets from the Bittyburg citizens cause him to forget the heart of his actions, and he presents himself a hero for bravado purposes.  As he recounts his past escapades, he exaggerates the details by making himself seem stronger than he really was, especially at Toad Tower.  It seems harmless at first almost like “marketing”, but then Jethro comes back with the entire Hassleback family.  The whole gang easily beats Hop Pop, and he’s forced to admit he’s not actually a hero. 

It’s here when the cartoon feels overly self-deprecating that doesn’t help the story’s execution.  It feels like Hop Pop is incapable of making a difference despite proving to do so in the past, including here.  The best part of it though is a strong instance of heart.  In an interesting move, it’s Anne who’s the voice of reason as she tells Hop Pop that true heroism is from doing what’s right for others, not the songs and glory you get from it.  

Out of this legitimately good advice, Hop Pop is inspired to go back and help Bittyburg however he can.  He’s got the Wild Western getup and is all set to take on the Hasslebacks with the showdown inevitable.  It even feels like he’s strong enough to face them with the punches thrown at them.  Then it turns out that all of Hop Pop’s strong moves were from the kids firing ammo from the distance.  Dishonest as it is, this is still effective in beating the bad guys, and that’s why it stings when the Hasslebacks catch them and belittle Hop Pop again.  Then right on cue, the citizens of Bittyburg snap and go from cute to monstrous as they finally beat the Hasslebacks.  While there is logic to this happening now with years of abuse having built up enough to make them snap, it still feels way too convenient.  Plus, when they say they stepped in because Hop Pop can’t help himself, it ends the cartoon by suggesting that he’s totally hopeless, which again feels overly harsh.  

There’s merit behind starting to explore more of Amphibia and good character based endearment in parts, but because of the overall payoff, this cartoon isn’t too big of a heroic feat.

B-

Anne Hunter

Animated works are strong enough when they leave their own unique interpretations on life, but they stand out more when their events have some basis in fact.  This in turn helps get the audience invested for the entire runtime.  For that, it helps that the premise for this cartoon is of believable challenges faced when travelling, and heart between characters.  

The Plantars haven’t gotten far beyond Wartwood at this point in the trip, but they’re already strapped for food.  This in turn gives good weight to this animated frog family’s travels by giving them a challenge that can happen at any time during a trip.  Anne, sympathetic to the situation, offers to counteract the food shortage by hunting.  This is certainly a good show of loyalty on her part, and is enhanced by her idea of what hunting is like through imagine spots of her as a big hero great with weapons.  

However, when actually hunting, Anne is surprisingly accompanied by young Sprig who actually has a believable hunting method, no weapons required.  It covers basic ways to live off the land by tracking prey, building a trap, and especially luring them into the trap with an erratic dance.  This strategy is apparently the perfect way to catch resident creatures, grubbles, whose appearance bring to mind something like cream puffs.  As impressive as it is that Sprig is so knowledgeable on hunting and his strategy is very effective, Anne does not get the appeal of her friend’s teachings.  She insists on sticking to weapons alone and expresses embarrassment over the likes of Sprig’s dance, even though it  worked.  She’s clearly stubborn, but this strong disdain doesn’t last long.  

Shortly after the hunting demonstration, the Plantars are suddenly taken by a scorpileo, a giant combination of a lion and a scorpion, leaving Anne alone to save them.  At first, she’s insistent on just rushing after them with a stick to beat it, but then she quickly discovers fault in her strategy by seeing just how difficult it is to track it.  The cartoon’s direction is clearly leaning towards supporting Sprig’s method, the more realistic hunting strategy, but creative staging is still principle.  When the situation seems hopeless, Anne is visited by a hallucination of Sprig’s head.  There’s solid comedy in her awareness to him being a stress-induced mind figure, and the hallucination of Sprig coming off as a very dynamic character and guide. Also, with all of the guidance implied to be coming from Anne’s mind, there’s implication that Sprig’s nature-based style of hunting did actually stick with her.  Through extreme natural methods of smelling the air and tasting dirt, Anne is successful in tracking the scorpileo who took the Plantars.  

Then there’s the matter of actually catching it.  After building the pit comes the process of luring it in, and to do that, Anne must perform the dance she looked down upon hardly earlier.  The animation medium especially shines here as the sounds of nature from small animal noises to falling rain give Anne the rhythm needed to perform the dance.  Strange as the actual dance is, it’s got a nice flowing movement and expert timing for Anne to effortlessly attract the scopileo, and dodge it as it falls into the pit.  The Plantars are saved, Anne has a better understanding of nature, and everyone has a good laugh over her talking to a hallucination.  This cartoon is overall a random escapade, but for fitting the travel theme well, strengthening good family bonds, and memorable sequences, it’s a great part of the trip.

Also as a way of helping to further things alone, the end of this cartoon and its companion give attention to that robot following the Plantars.  It’s a good way of giving the audience something big to think about and gives purpose to the randomness.  If only this robot is followed up on in more than just a select few cartoons.

A

Series Ranking

1.      Reunion

2.      Toad Tax

3.      Anne vs Wild

4.      The Domino Effect

5.      Prison Break

6.      Anne of the Year

7.      Contagi-Anne

8.      Best Fronds

9.      Family Shrub

10.  Hop-Popular

11.  Anne Hunter

12.  Wally and Anne

13.  Children of the Spore

14.  A Night at the Inn

15.  Handy Anne

16.  Lily Pad Thai

17.  Dating Season

18.  Anne or Beast?

19.  Combat Camp

20.  Cursed!

21.  Snow Day

22.  Civil Wart

23.  Stakeout

24.  Croak and Punishment

25.  Taking Charge

26.  Flood, Sweat, and Tears

27.  Bizarre Bazaar

28.  Trip to the Archives

29.  Anne Theft Auto

30.  Hop Luck

31.  Hop Pop and Lock

32.  Plantar’s Last Stand

33.  Fort in the Road

34.  The Big Bugball Game

35.  Fiddle Me This

36.  Family Fishing Trip

37.  The Ballad of Hoppediah Plantar

38.  Girl Time

39.  Breakout Star

40.  Grubhog Day

41.  Cane Crazy

42.  Sprig vs Hop Pop

43.  Cracking Mrs. Croaker



The next Amphibia has Polly resort to the life of a trucker when feeling under-appreciated, and Hop Pop gets a chance to make it as an actor.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is "Echoes of the Past" from The Owl House.
If you would like to check out other Amphibia reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

 

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