'Toon Reviews 16: Hey Arnold Season 3 Episode 10: Casa Paradiso/Gerald's Tonsils

Casa Paradiso

Running a place like a boarding house cannot be easy.  You have to deal with so many different people and attend to their needs at once.  The wise thing to do is attend to one request at a time, but the boarders aren’t always going to be patient enough to realize they’re not the only ones who need help. 

It’s for these reasons that get you to sympathize with Grandpa at the start of this cartoon.  There’s particular emphasis on the boarders continuously bothering him to help them with certain things when he’s in the middle of other complicated chores.  Along with them all arguing with each other, and problems with the boarding house like leaky ceilings, the opening perfectly captures the hardships of dealing with different people living in the same house.  These annoyances are the major driving force for the plot as Grandpa opts to escape running the boarding house.

He sees an ad for a tropical resort in Florida called Casa Paradiso and plans to move there with Grandma and Arnold by selling the boarding house.  His feelings are understandable and all given the emphasis on the unruly behavior of the boarders, but it becomes a big problem that Grandpa never considers that selling the boarding house means that all these people won’t have a place to live.  This is certainly not good because even if people in boarding houses are difficult, they still need a home, especially if the home they have is all they can afford, and impatience, while a negative trait, does not warrant being homeless. 

Thankfully, this is seen as a problem by everyone else, and the cartoon focuses on Arnold helping the boarders convince Grandpa to not sell the boarding house and that they can behave and get along as a family.  This is a pleasing part to the cartoon where all their attempts to stay lead to them bonding more.  They first put up a façade of being a happy family helping each other out with the tasks they needed to be completed, but through sensing the seriousness of Grandpa’s decision and more genuine attempts like poems apologizing for their faults, the boarders see the good in each other, and treat losing the boarding house like being separated as a family.  It’s the strongest plot point to make it clear that even the most difficult people have good in them and can even have good civil moments in even the tensest relationships with people they have to live with. 

However, the strengths of the boarders’ moments make all the moments of Grandpa’s determination to sell the boarding house even more frustrating.  He doesn’t care about how they feel about the matter.  Even when they start getting genuine with their feelings all he can think about is Casa Paradiso.  Yes, he’s old and stressed by the boarders’ weak points, but it’s not like him to be this selfish.  What does get him to come around is Arnold refusing to go and stay with the boarders who consider themselves to be his family.  Even then though, it takes a lot of time to see sense and he’s as determined to sell the boarding house as ever, so Grandpa coming around feels abrupt and nowhere near as genuine as the boarders growing to love each other as a family.  In fact, their family bonds feel so genuine, it’s not a sting that they fight again as the cartoon ends.  Besides, it’s more believable from families.  

Even if Grandpa’s immense irrationality holds it back, this cartoon shines for its believable look at different people living together. 8/10

Gerald’s Tonsils

Some animated shows and movies give kid characters a voice by an adult imitating a kid’s voice.  I personally find it more authentic for kids to be voiced by actual kids, and there known instances of this scenario at play, and some of the shows I’ve done review sets on follow it.  This includes Hey Arnold in which all the kid characters are voiced by actual kid actors some even able to voice them all the way up to The Jungle Movie which at this point isn’t even a year old. 

However, some characters like Arnold himself, needed new voice actors throughout the series because the actors’ voices kept changing so much they couldn’t sound youthful enough anymore.  At this point in the series, the very thing seemed to happen to Gerald’s voice actor, Jamil W. Smith, yet rather than get a new voice for him, a more interesting decision was made to make a whole cartoon about Gerald’s voice changing to justify his voice sounding deeper from now on. 

Gerald’s voice is the main subject of the cartoon in which Arnold’s class is performing in the spring concert, and Gerald is the only kid talented enough to hit the high notes of the song, “Moonlight Bay.”  All seems well with Gerald set to be the star of the concert, but then he’s suddenly subject for a tonsillectomy, emphasis on suddenly.  It’s distracting that there’s no proper transition from Gerald’s voice being praised to him needing his tonsils out.  Along with what happens later, the tonsillectomy being sprung on Gerald like this feels needlessly harsh and makes the sequence feel incomplete.  I mean, how awkward can you get by going to a major plot point without a scene of actually getting there? 

Anyway, Gerald losing his tonsils is treated like how any big change would be approached.  Gerald’s voice sounds completely strange to him and everyone who hears him talk making it hard for him to adjust to the change.  It’s so different that nearly everyone finds the voice funny, and while some simply laugh because they can’t help it, there being so much laughter pointed at something Gerald can’t control feels too overbearing and mean.  It’s unfortunate enough that his condition is threatening his solo and everything he tries doesn’t help, but to be teased and laughed at, while believable to come from kids his age, goes on way too long. 

Fortunately, it’s lightened a bit by a funny running gag of Stinky, with a naturally raspy voice, insisting on getting Gerald’s solo.  Also, there’s some nice development for the usual background character, Harvey the mailman.  He’s said to have gotten his tonsils taken out too and, like Gerald, found it hard to adjust at first, but was inspired to settle in by his favorite blues singers who also had raspy voices.  It may not be a lot of development, but Harvey helping Gerald does give him some endearment with how good he is with kids.  What’s more, his advice pays off when Gerald turns out a great solo despite everything by just using a low voice as opposed to a high voice.  It’s a strong payoff to all the harshness he endured and offers a great sense of hope for anyone losing something in an operation. 

In the end, we’re left with a solid cartoon built around a voice actor’s voice changing and the whole show adjusting to it (though Gerald’s change in voice isn’t fully apparent until the following seasons).  At times the story can be rushed and overly harsh, but the inspirational and musical payoff makes everything work. 9/10

The Ranking

1. Helga Blabs it All
2. Harold the Butcher
3. Crabby Author
4. Mr. Hyunh Goes Country
5. Helga Vs. Big Patty
6. Hey Harold!
7. Curly Snaps
8. The Aptitude Test
9. Pre-Teen Scream
10. Olga Gets Engaged
11. Oskar Gets a Job
12. Career Day
13. Gerald’s Tonsils
14. Rich Kid
15. Dangerous Lumber
16. Casa Paradiso
17. Arnold’s Room
18. Helga and the Nanny
19. Stinky Goes Hollywood
20. Arnold Betrays Iggy

The next Hey Arnold review will cover more of Helga and Phoebe's friendship looking into the possibility of the former going so far as to have the latter lose a competition on purpose, and a cartoon inspired by a real-life pig war.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews we'll be covering the Steven Universe episode "Cry for Help."

If you want to stay updated for more reviews, become a follower of this blog, click here to like the official Facebook page, and click here to follow me on Twitter.

If you would like to check out other Hey Arnold reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

'Toon Reviews 16: Hey Arnold Season 3 Episode 1: The Aptitude Test/Oskar Gets a Job

This time, we’re taking another trip to the city of mad crushes, crazy boarders and football heads among other things for a season’s worth of adventures:

Hey Arnold (Season 3)

BASIC PREMISE

The animated shows of Nickelodeon are among some of the most nostalgic for me, and Hey Arnold is the one that’s easily held up the best.  As the first animated series I reviewed for this blog, I consider this show to be a mainstay, one I’m more than willing to share with anyone who loves reading animation reviews, at least until the day I review everything there is to the show.  It’s a slice-of-life show that focuses on the day-to-day lives of the many characters who live in a neighborhood of a single city.  It doesn’t sound like much, but as looks into the first two seasons have shown, it’s practically masterful as a slice-of-life show delving into subjects relatable to adults as well as kids, and making good use of its huge cast by giving interesting traits to almost all of them.  Along with a wholesome urban setting, smooth jazzy and character-driven music cues, and every story in general getting deeper and more mature as the show goes on, you’re almost always in for a positive experience with this series.  Now, we’ll be looking into the third season to see how well it builds upon the strengths of the show and what it ultimately does for the characters and their world.

Just like with the other looks at the seasons, the order of the reviews will be based off the official order found on the Hey Arnold wiki for a better flow of show events and to factor in cartoons truly created for the season and not held back to air in the middle of other seasons.  If you look to that site, you’ll most likely get a good idea of what will be covered and when.  With all this said, let’s not waste any more time and get ready for more adventures with Arnold Shortman (thanks Jungle Movie) and company.

Now on with the reviews:

The Aptitude Test

One of the most challenging parts of anyone’s life is finding a suitable career.  From my experience, some might know what they want to do but have a hard time breaking in (like me) and some don’t know what they want to make of themselves.  The plot of this cartoon relates those in the latter category, and brings a lot of crazy outcomes as a result. 

Arnold’s class is assigned an aptitude test to find possible career paths to take.  The most focus is on two kids at opposite ends of the knowledge spectrum.  There’s Helga, an incredibly talented kid with a lot of potential in life, and Harold, an unintelligent student who can never pay attention in class.  These traits of theirs is easy to see as you watch them take the aptitude test with Helga studiously answering the questions and Harold giving the same answer without care. 

The whole thing really gets interesting when Eugene fumbles collecting the tests and accidentally switches two of them.  As a result, they make it seem like Harold’s smart and can be anything, while Helga is only good enough for the lowest type of career, a woodsperson.  We then see different effects on Helga and Harold’s lifestyles as a result of the test score mix-up. 

With Helga, there’s a lot to her apparent calling as a nature girl.  As someone who’s thrived on exquisite poetry, there’s a sympathetic layer of her feeling that her talents were never good enough and that she should abandon her passion, not to mention her parents, as you’d expect, don’t care about this serious academic blunder.  There’s also solid comedy from her attempts at being rural such as her making the same pinecone sculpture, struggling to live off the land, and believing all country people talk in a southern drawl and are inherently dumb. 

As for Harold, his score leads to a much different experience.  He’s pushed to do more intellectual things since he’s apparently a genius. Since his score was mixed up, you’d think he wouldn’t be able to do it.  However, he puts in genuine effort into the brainy stuff, and he latches onto it fairly well opening up a different side we haven’t really seen from him before. It’s a very nice change of pace. 

Regarding how we know that what Helga and Harold think about themselves isn’t true, while this messes with the surprise factor of the mysteries of the scores, it works due to a variety of tones.  Along with her feeble attempts at being simple, the truth of the matter makes Helga’s moments a comedic highlight.  With Harold, the truth makes the moments of him being smart kind of sad since he has a good grasp on what he tackles, but it’s all built on a fallacy.  The audience knowing the truth also works for how other characters point out how strange Harold and Helga are acting, culminating with Mr. Simmons studying their test scores and discovering the mix-up. 

With the truth exposed comes more variations on how to feel, both of which are positive.  Helga’s outcome is relieving and humorous when she’s quick to write more poems after her mom nonchalantly burns her collection fitting to a prior request.  Harold’s outcome is much more impactful when he’s upset that his score was very low at first, but through being reminded of his great performance this past week, he learns that no one is truly stupid.  He really can be smart if he believes in himself, which in turn is encouraging advice for anyone in real life. 

The cartoon succeeds in many ways with a relatable center, strong entertainment and sentiment, and relatable life advice that help make this show as great as it is. 9.5/10

Oskar Gets a Job

Despite not being a good person, Oskar Kokoshka is one of the funniest characters on the show, and the resident of Arnold’s boarding house I enjoy the most.  This is a guy who doesn’t want to work for what he needs, so he never takes the necessary initiatives for success and opts to take the easy way out, coming off as lazy and untrustworthy.  The thing that keeps Oskar enjoyable though is how it never feels like he’s trying to be bad, and only does unethical acts to get by because he’s naïve and doesn’t get why it’s bad.  In addition, his mooching ways are seen as a problem that everyone is wise enough not to buy into as the opening of this cartoon shows. 

When Oskar needs to pay off a loan shark, he goes to the other boarders to try and coax them into giving him the money, and they bluntly refuse in hilarious ways.  It’s certainly great to see others not encourage this behavior, but Oskar is still likable enough to hope he gets the money he needs through trying to be nice to get his way and never intending any sort of harm.  He's a character who is fun to watch, while also one we should strive to never be like. 

Aiding in Oskar working as his true self is the main plot of the cartoon.  When he begs for Arnold's help to get money, Oskar learns that the logical way around his problem is to get a job, so he can make his own money and not have to mooch off other people.  It’s a good step towards character development for Oskar, but the fact that he’s a 38-year-old man who never worked in his life makes it very difficult for him to apply for jobs. This is a believable drawback in job hunting, especially since I know it can be difficult to get a job in general, even if you’re not a lazy bum like Oskar. 

Speaking of a lazy bum, Oskar’s bad habits are still prominent when he finally gets a job as a paperboy, which is usually reserved for young boys.  Even after learning how helpful having a job can be, Oskar simply doesn’t want to do the hard work that comes with it, so he works around the issue by faking ailments so Arnold can deliver the newspapers for him.  These moments are some of the more problematic approaches to Oskar’s habits since Arnold buys into Oskar’s two lies despite being aware of what he typically does.  At least he’s quick to uncover the lies when he notices Oskar eating pancakes after claiming to have the Chinese stomach flu and dancing after saying he had a bad back. 

When confronted, Oskar remains likable by simply not understanding that it’s wrong to get other people to do hard work meant for him and doesn’t sound like he wants to make Arnold suffer.  Still, it’s great that Arnold breaks from his typical nice guy routine and is firm about how unappreciative he is of Oskar not actually doing his own job.  Along with subsequent moments of the boarders talking about how much of a loser he is, Oskar’s good side is finally made clear when he vows to deliver the newspapers the next morning, and he sticks to that vow. 

After so many scenes of him loafing about and trying to avoid actually working, Oskar gets that doing your own work is a necessary evil to get by in life, and through going through the hardships young Arnold faced and successfully delivering the papers, he brings the cartoon to a grand end.  He may still be a lazy moocher in future appearances, but moments like this prove that Oskar truly isn’t as bad as he lets on, which is always a great payoff to his big display of flaws, and make him worth watching. 

It’s truly an impressive feat to get a lot of endearment and strong comedy from a lazy jerk, and what Oskar gets up to here is no exception. 9/10

The Ranking

1. The Aptitude Test
2. Oskar Gets a Job

The next Hey Arnold review looks into the psychotic mindset of Curly when he goes on a relentless rage when he doesn't get the position of ball monitor, and Phoebe learns the hard truth of life that sometimes your idols are not the passionate artists they appear to be.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is the start of another review set which covers Season 2 of the popular Netflix series, Voltron: Legendary Defender.

If you want to stay updated for more reviews, become a follower of this blog, click here to like the official Facebook page, and click here to follow me on Twitter.

If you would like to check out other Hey Arnold reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.