Scent of a Hoodie / Rest in Pudding (Star vs the Forces of Evil Season 3 Episode 5) - 'Toon Reviews 27

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:

Scent of a Hoodie

 

I have to admit that this show isn’t always great at following up on big events.  It could introduce something huge and game changing in one episode, but the immediately preceding episode could be totally ridiculous fluff.  It’s happened between the Season 1 finale and the Season 2 premiere as well as huge episodes frequently being paired with one of nonsensical fun.  After a huge arc about saving Mewni from the forces of evil, the follow-up is quite ridiculous, but also has a slight connection to what the new setup will bring. 

Although Toffee is now gone, Star has to stay in Mewni in the event that even bigger forces of evil threaten the balance of her home kingdom.  Among the many adjustments is saying goodbye to Marco who goes back home to Earth.  The emotion and difficulties of Star and Marco parting is very telling of how valuable their friendship is and how special they are to each other.  It kind makes up for the fact that they’re both cool with each other considering what happened between them before Star left for Mewni.  Ultimately, all Star has left of Marco is his battered hoodie which reminds her of all the fun times she had with him as she smells it. 

This is all emotional and is an interesting way of showing how hard moving on from her best friend is for Star but it shouldn’t be the only thing followed up on.  What about how Mewni is handling being conquered by Toffee, or River becoming king of eagles, or Star’s strange new butterfly form?  Granted most of this is followed up on later, but for the episode immediately after so much drama, it’s concerning that none of this is even briefly mentioned.  It’s as if it feels Star missing Marco is the only important matter.  Even then it turns into a big joke when Star’s friend Pony Head shows up. 

Regarding Pony Head, she was on a downward spiral of appeal in the last season, but Season 3 is where she really starts getting bad.  First, she comes too late to fight against Toffee despite knowing it was happening, and even says that getting her hair done was more important.  If you think that’s inconsiderate, she just takes Marco’s hoodie from Star despite her friend’s objections and throws it down to be washed.  Yes, the hoodie smells bad, but Star has reason to keep it that way and shouldn’t be judged for it. 

The joke part of Star missing Marco comes when she and Pony Head venture down to the castle’s laundry room to save the hoodie from being washed.  They meet a launderer knight named Lavabo whose gimmick is treating something as simple as washing clothes as a heroic quest.  It’s funny how serious he takes this mundane task, but it doesn’t really work when the episode still expects us to feel for Star.  Pony Head continuing to not care about Star’s goal doesn’t help either.  At least random circumstances get Pony Head to support her friend, and the following chase through the laundry room is very exciting.  While it’s still silly that all this is over a hoodie, Star comes to a mature conclusion that she is obsessed with Marco after Lavabo calls her out for stopping him with bloodlust.  Also, the hoodie ends up washed, but she still smells the same Marco scents in its clean form, but that’s just in her head.  Then again, this is a more relatable way of moving on from being separated from a friend. 

In the end, the episode pulls off the featured topic well, but considering the big things that have happened, it really shouldn’t have been the only thing covered in their follow-up.

B+

Rest in Pudding

This episode is much more tonally in line with recent series events.  It also follows up on one of the more emotional moments of Season 2. 

The Magic High Commission is now short one member since Lekmet the goat man turned himself into dust to save everyone.  His death is the cause for this episode’s more somber than average tone as it opens up on his funeral.  The atmosphere of the event feels very real to actual funerals with everyone sad that he’s gone while also enjoying talking about his good moments. 

While the scene is somber, since we barely saw much of Lekmet when he was alive, it’s easier to view the event through Star’s perspective.  While saddened by the funeral, she’s clearly more saddened by another loss of Glossaryck considering she met him in the afterlife realm.  This is emphasized by her constantly getting visions of Glossaryck in random places, even in public places like a punch bowl at the funeral.  Out of her fanaticism with these visions, there’s a nice motherly moment where Moon comforts Star on the emotional toll of funerals and how hard it can be to let the deceased go.  It’s very telling how much she values her daughter’s well-being and how great a mother character Moon is.  Star even understands her mother’s advice which does suit the process of enduring grieving and tries it out whenever she can. 

However, simply saying she’s letting Glossaryck go isn’t enough.  She keeps seeing visions of him back home, some out of unnatural occurrences like water in her sink overflowing.  Considering the supernatural aspect of this world and the staging of the times she sees Glossaryck, Star’s encounters feel very real and not just something in the mind.  As for how Star confronts this, she does so by calling one of her human friends from Earth for help.  Most of them are not very strong, but it’s great that the person Star calls is the most entertaining of all the side characters from Earth, Janna.  She’s also the perfect person for help, given her interest in the supernatural.  Throughout the episode, Janna is keen to give Star the advice she needs to stop Glossaryck from haunting her.  Each time Star calls her brings a humorous scene where she talks about something strange while everyone in public is weirded out. 

Star needing help so much attributes to her continuing to see Glossaryck no matter what she does.  Each time goes all out with creative imagery like his eyeball in dirt, his fingers emerging through the carpet, and his face decorated all over her room. 

Eventually, Star goes to Glossaryck’s most sacred place, the magic sanctuary from the season premiere to bury the remains of his prized possession.  There, she gives a passionate speech on while Glossaryck was very frustrating, like he is now with his haunting, his teachings got her to be independent and find out things for herself.  That shows that he believed in her when no one else did and how he was always there for her, even at times when it didn’t feel like it.  It’s a relatable way to show you really don’t know how important people are to you until you lose them. 

Now, Star ultimately doesn’t lose Glossaryck since that speech is apparently enough to bring him back to life.  This does undermine the idea of loss, but there is a catch that he acts infantile and can only say “Globgor.”  However, there’s a catch to this catch as well.  As it stands, this is a pretty strong episode built on relatable themes and creative imagery.

A

The Ranking

1. Moon the Undaunted
2. Return to Mewni
3. Rest in Pudding
4. Toffee
5. Puddle Defender
6. Scent of a Hoodie
7. King Ludo
8. Marco and the King
9. Book Be Gone

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where Star gets involved in romantic drama with Tom, and officially meets Eclipsa for the very first time.

If you would like to check out other Star vs the Forces of Evil reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

'Toon Reviews 16: Hey Arnold Season 3 Episode 14: Grandpa's Birthday/Road Trip

Grandpa’s Birthday

This cartoon has a pretty interesting premise given the title.  Rather than focusing on a mere birthday, more emphasis is put on what the birthday means for the person in question, and it really pays off as funny and heartfelt watch. 

With his birthday coming up, Grandpa is in a particularly bad mood, getting tense with every little thing that happens.  I find these moments enjoyable for how exaggerated they are, not to mention when Arnold investigates Grandpa’s behavior, it turns out that there’s a legitimate reason for it.  His upcoming birthday is his 81^st, and no one in his family has ever lived past 81 creating a family curse, so he’s preparing to “buy the farm.”  He may not seem sickly, but considering how old he already is and his background, it does make some sense for Grandpa to feel the way he does.  He has a lot of energy when he’s berating others, and does incredibly well at his physical, but even this isn't enough to convince Grandpa to not worry so much.  To him, age 81 is when his time is done, and no amount of good strength is enough to change that. 

Now while Grandpa’s beliefs in the family curse mostly consist of comedic outbursts towards difficult people, there’s also time for heartfelt moments.  One of them is one of the quieter moments of the cartoon where Grandpa discusses to Arnold some of his most pleasing memories in which he sounds like he’s talking from the heart to someone he has a good relationship with while still holding onto the death anxieties that drive his angst.  His memories come into play when Arnold tries to take Grandpa’s mind off of the family curse by taking him on a day of fun to give Grandpa a chance to relive his glory days.  It’s a very pleasing montage of any fun thing imaginable set to an old-time music piece that instantly makes you think of being with a grandparent.  It could be said that this turns out to be a great way for Grandpa to spend what’s apparently his last day on Earth, especially since despite having a good time, he hasn’t forgotten that he’s supposed to croak in accordance with the family curse. 

So, you can imagine the mood whiplash when after such a nice montage, we cut to the whole boarding house come to watch Grandpa pass at the stroke of midnight.  The eerie mood of everyone watching with an organ playing and a storm outside is perfectly fitting for the drama of the moment capped off with a bell tolling for every individual reaction just as a bedside candle blows out with Grandpa’s last breath.  It’s a chilling yet greatly constructed way to bring about a death…at least until Grandpa suddenly gets up, hilariously shocked that he’s still in the boarding house.  It turns out there was a simple mathematical error in the family curse (he was 10 years off in fact) which leads to a great cause for celebration and annoyances from the boarders who stayed up so late for nothing. 

It does leave a mystery if the family curse is real and if Grandpa will buy the farm at age 91, but through his range of feelings on the matter and resulting memorable moments, what we have is a great way for him to appreciate the good health he has at such an old age.  With all this said, we’re left with a birthday cartoon unlike any other. 10/10

Road Trip

Cartoons focusing on Helga’s family life are worth looking forward towards.  They give interesting background on Helga’s mean behavior, and show potential for development from her parents beyond just being neglectful, and in this regard, this cartoon is no exception. 

Helga is roped into going on a cross-country road trip with her mother, Miriam.  Now, Miriam’s usual neglect is being driven to make and drink “smoothies” which make her lackadaisical resulting in her being anti-social, passing out a lot, and especially not providing her own daughter the care she needs.  It’s no wonder why Helga has many problems with Miriam and is not pleased with being trapped in a car with her. 

During the road trip however, Miriam does prove to have some likable qualities.  She makes genuine attempts to socialize with her daughter such as recounting stories of her past, and attempting to show she enjoys being with Helga.  These moments show that even if Helga’s parents are bad at being parents, they’re not neglectful on purpose and can show effort at being good parents, and this is easily seen in Miriam.  Still her faults are on full display as Miriam is very careless through dropping and spilling things, leaving her purse on top of the car causing it to fall off and get run over, and losing the directions.  To top it all, Miriam fails to pay attention to the road, and through veering out of the way of a huge truck, she drives off the road, through a field, into mud, and what an awesome crash scene it is.  Even if she means well, it’s clear that Miriam’s neglect is very prominent in everything she does, allowing the cartoon to be blunt about how unqualified she is to be a parent. 

At the same time, Helga is presented very well.  She’s clearly annoyed by everything her mom does which understandably prevents her from seeing Miriam’s attempts to bond with her, yet doesn’t go too far with her angst.  Even when they’re at their lowest point with a broken down car, no money to fix it, and being stranded in the middle of nowhere, she restrains herself from getting too mad or hurtful and is simply blunt with the hard truth that Miriam is a lousy mom.  However, because of her earlier good efforts, it’s easy to care when Miriam finds a way to redeem herself.  In an interesting turn of events, she finds an ad for a mechanical bull riding contest and enters it to get the money needed to fix the car.  It makes sense that Helga wouldn’t think her mom could do it after all the trouble she caused and can’t bring herself to watch Miriam.  The scene of Helga walking out on the competition is particularly touching, with no dialog and only a simple music piece to take in the lonely and hopeless feel of what’s happened and how she has to take on the responsibilities her mother can’t.  It’s truly one of Helga’s most sympathetic moments.  Then comes a surprise when Miriam ends up with the best mechanical bull riding time and wins the cash, proving she CAN do something right after all, and it even makes for a nice ending as she and Helga have a nice civil conversation all the way home. 

The only problem with this is that Miriam’s shining moment is hardly expanded upon after this with her going right back to her old habits in her next major appearance.  Fortunately, this cartoon by itself is a great heartfelt character-driven adventure. 9.5/10

The Ranking

1. Helga Blabs it All
2. Harold the Butcher
3. Cool Party
4. Grandpa’s Birthday
5. Crabby Author
6. Mr. Hyunh Goes Country
7. Road Trip
8. Helga Vs. Big Patty
9. Hey Harold!
10. Curly Snaps
11. The Aptitude Test
12. Pre-Teen Scream
13. The Pig War
14. Olga Gets Engaged
15. Oskar Gets a Job
16. Phoebe Takes the Fall
17. Best Man
18. Career Day
19. Gerald’s Tonsils
20. Rich Kid
21. Dangerous Lumber
22. Casa Paradiso
23. Arnold’s Room
24. Helga and the Nanny
25. Roller Coaster
26. Stinky Goes Hollywood
27. Sid’s Revenge
28. Arnold Betrays Iggy

The next Hey Arnold review covers the start of a running trope of Arnold crushing on the cute girl, Lila, along with a more slice-of-life driven cartoon about a grand prix.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is the Steven Universe episode "Sadie's Song."

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 14: Animaniacs Vol 1 Part 19: Meatballs or Consequences/A Moving Experience

Episode 19

Meatballs or Consequences

Cartoons starring the Warners are always sure to be hilarious and feature great portrayals of the siblings.  This particular Warners cartoon is as great as it is because of a rarely seen moment of heart between the siblings amidst their funny ways. 

Wakko, who’s always been known to “pack away the snacks,” ends up eating too many meatballs, even for him, and that’s enough to call upon Death himself.  When he comes to take Wakko with him, both Yakko and Dot quickly insist he take them too so the siblings can stay together.  Through it all, they’re loud and whiny which could make them annoying and hard to sympathize with.  However, through their tone making all their whining highly exaggerated, and that they often break to crack a one-liner, they’re entertaining, and can engage you in their conflict.  You’re sympathizing with the Warners to find a way to stay together and laughing your head off at the same time, which is a special cartoon viewing experience.  Plus, it’s just astounding to see the Warners face something as big and threatening as death itself like it’s nothing and never let up on humor.  Through expressing excitement of going to a never-ending plain of death and casually talking with Death, it’s once again a different approach to a situation with their lives on the line, in which most people would be scared or angry, brought to life, and you just can’t get enough of it. 

Death himself is also a major highlight.  While we do see a bit of what we’d expect from him such as him personified as a skeleton in a black robe and summoning dark magic to scare people, he’s mainly portrayed as someone not uncommon to real life.  He treats his job of taking the living-impaired away like a businessman striking a deal with a client, referring to the rules and clauses that go along with the job and getting annoyed at those who don’t get it.  It’s all the more interesting that it’s a side of him most people wouldn’t see since they’re not as brave to face Death as the Warners. 

The dynamic traits of the Warners and Death are further shown when Yakko and Dot fight to get Wakko back by challenging Death to a game of checkers.  The kids work their usual antics on Death to trick their way to beating a being who’s never lost a game of checkers since time began.  However, Death, in his by-the-rules fashion twists things around to make it so that all three Warners are dead instead of just Wakko.  Still, it’s the humor of the Warners that wins in the end when they all continue to approach Death with extreme happiness and wit of being with him as a family.  The following scene of them treating Death as their dad as he’s led through many painful obstacles is both exciting and funny considering that three mere kids are putting the ultimate threat towards life through torture. 

This great show of character reverts back to the status quo where the Warners are alive once again.  Going back to the cartoon’s heart mentioned earlier, it’s meaningful that even with all this hilarity literally in the face of Death, all that happens is part of the effort for the Warners to stay together as siblings.  It really shows that there’s an undeniable sense of family love between them, and that in addition to being incurable pranksters, these kids are just as endearing as any good person.  For that, along with the top-notch entertainment in general, it’s one of this show’s most masterful cartoons. 10/10

A Moving Experience

This is the cartoon that was meant to officially introduce us to the Hip Hippos, even if it didn’t air first.  As an introduction, it’s all right and does what it needs to do, but like Flavio and Marita themselves, there’s very little to it that makes it stand out as a one of this show’s best works. 

Speaking of the hippos, right from their first moments, we get a taste of them as a loving married hippo couple who want to live by the latest trends.  The catch, however, is that apart from Marita being the vocal one about what she wants with Flavio doing the work of making it happen, they’re both very identical personality-wise.  They’re both soft-spoken, laid-back, and completely oblivious to the destruction their heavy hippo weight causes, and the destruction is mostly all there is to humor with these characters.  While it can be amusing to watch things dent or buildings and piles fall over, the fact that moments like this are as interesting as these characters get really sells just how weak they are amongst the cast’s other characters with far more impactful layers and humor styles.  Instead of a large variety of humor like a combination of witty lines, surprise physical gags, or over-the-top reactions, all we follow throughout the cartoon’s plot is the many messes of two oblivious hippos which really gets old. 

The plot mainly continues to set up the premise for cartoons starring these characters by showing how Flavio and Marita move to the city to keep up with the trends while, in the process, they’re tailed by a zoologist named Gina Embryo who wants to keep them from moving to the city to save them from extinction.  What we get out of the plot is solid enough and flows at a good pace, but since it mostly consists of the hippos not knowing that they're causing destruction to all potential homes Gina, disguised as a housing specialist, plans to make them want to go back to the jungle, it’s not as entertaining as they could be.  The destruction scenes themselves are fine, but they don’t stand out as anything special or filled with creative setups.  Maybe if it was done as an overdramatic opera like "La Behemoth" it would be more memorable and have more appeal. 

There’s also a frequent occurrence of Gina getting injured by the hippos’ obliviousness.  I get why it’s in place since she does need to be brought down a peg for wanting to direct the hippos away from their move to the city even though they can clearly take care of themselves, but the cartoon goes too far with how she’s treated.  The injuries she bears come not just from getting knocked into things while hanging onto the hippos’ helicopter or getting crushed by buildings and junk, but also from outside sources like getting strangled by a snake or hit by a truck.  I can at least give credit that they don’t make her pain too realistic for the most part, except for ending up in a cast at one point, so it doesn’t ruin the experience despite it being not all that special to begin with.  As for how the cartoon wraps up, the hippos conclude that the best way to move to the city is to bring their old jungle house too, but they’re still unaware of the presence and the pain they’re bringing Gina as she continues to trail them. 

Overall, this is simply a cartoon that’s way too mundane for this show that specializes in the great things that can be done through animation.  It’s relatively harmless though for its well-told story, the likable moments of Flavio and Marita together, and some light laughs from the destruction their huge weight brings, even if they can get boring put together.  You can watch it fine and mildly enjoy it, but there’s no reason you NEED to. 7/10

Cartoon Ranking

1. King Yakko
2. Hello Nice Warners
3. Meatballs or Consequences
4. Slappy Goes Walnuts
5. H.M.S. Yakko
6. Hooked on a Ceiling
7. Temporary Insanity
8. Bumbie’s Mom
9. Les Miseranimals
10. Space Probed
11. West Side Pigeons
12. Battle for the Planet
13. When Rita Met Runt
14. De-zanitized
15. Win Big
16. Taming of the Screwy
17. Chalkboard Bungle
18. La La Law
19. Nothing but the Tooth
20. Piano Rag
21. Pavlov’s Mice
22. Cookies for Einstein
23. The Big Candy Store
24. Garage Sale of the Century
25. Wally Llama
26. Where Rodents Dare
27. Roll Over Beethoven
28. Hurray for Slappy
29. Cat on a Hot Steel Beam
30. Operation: Lollipop
31. No Pain No Painting
32. Chicken Boo-Ryshnikov
33. Goodfeathers: The Beginning
34. The Cat and the Fiddle
35. La Behemoth
36. A Moving Experience

Song Ranking

1. Yakko’s Universe
2. Yakko’s World
3. The Monkey Song
4. What Are We?
5. Little Old Slappy from Pasadena

Miscellaneous Ranking

1. The Great Wakkorotti: The Master and His Music
2. Gilligan’s Island Parody
3. Nighty-Night Toon
4. Flipper Parody

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode in which the Warners take an Apocalypse Now approach as they attempt to stop an over-budget film from being completed, and the Goodfeathers' attempts at stardom in a parody of The Birds bring them constant pain.

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 Animaniacs reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.