'Toon Reviews 9: Star vs the Forces of Evil Season 1 Episode 2

Matchmaker

As a being from another dimension, it’s only natural that Star doesn’t have that strong of an understanding of how Earth works even little things such as life at her high school, Echo Creek Academy.  This is the source of this episode’s comedy and it’s not just fun to watch, but also makes for an interesting center in a story that brings about a change that actually lasts for the entire series.  It happens during a humorous moment of Star learning that the F she got on her recent test means she failed, and she thinks that she can simply ask the teacher, Ms. Skullnick, to change it to a better grade.  When she hears her lament about being dumped by some guy, Star decides to play matchmaker in exchange for a better grade by casting a spell to get Ms. Skullnick the perfect date.  However, in keeping with her recklessness with magic, Star ends up turning Ms. Skullnick into a troll.  As one might expect, the main focus on the cartoon turns to trying to change Ms. Skullnick back to normal which is a challenge since Star doesn’t know how to simply undo her spell her only being a beginner with her wand at this point and all.  Adding to the challenge is her fear of her parents finding out and getting her sent to St. Olga’s Reform School which eliminates calling them as an option.  Ultimately, they don’t find a way to change the teacher back to normal, but there does seem to be another way around the issue.  When Ludo and his men attack to get Star’s wand again, amidst another fun fight scene with cool and at times creative combat moves from Star and Marco including a humorous bit where Star and Ludo debate over whether Star killed one of his henchmen or not, Star notices some intimate ties between Ms. Skullnick and one of the monsters.  She convinces Ms. Skullnick that the monster likes her and they leave for another dimension together.  It seems like a solid conclusion to Ms. Skullnick’s story even if she’s still a troll, but she soon ends up back to her miserable self when she gets the impression that the monster dumped her.  While it is technically a problematic conclusion where nothing was accomplished, it’s worth noting that Star praising Marco for the fight to her class gets his crush, Jackie Lynn Thomas, to say a few words to him, which Marco feels is a step in the right direction towards winning her over.  In other words, Star did somewhat succeed as a matchmaker because of this.  Plus, since Ms. Skullnick is still a troll, this cartoon does have the benefit of consequences that affect the show, even if it is in a small way thus giving it some edge.  On the whole though, this is a basic episode made entertaining by Star’s interpretation of how Earth things work and little effects on the status quo (emphasis on little). 9/10

School Spirit

The last episode gave us a taste of how Star doesn’t fully understand how things work on Earth, and this one shows off that concept in much bigger proportions.  The final result is one crazy and hilarious watch.  The main subject of the episode is a football game against Echo Creek’s Opossums against the opposing team, the Warriors.  Everyone talks about how the Warriors are going to destroy, slaughter and do other horrible things to the opossums, and Star, as anyone from another dimension probably would, doesn’t get that all this means the Warriors keep beating the Opossums in football games every year.  In her mind, different teams of Opossums actually get killed in battles every year around this time and her showing sorrow for the many teams at one point is both hilarious due to her misunderstanding, and somewhat emotional if you view the scene with her mindset.  Her feelings for the team and all the advice she picks up to prevent another “tragedy” all add up to the night of the big game where she rigs the football field to take down the Warriors with booby traps.  It comes with a lot of crazy and exciting events with bombs setting off sparkling explosions, and other traps that release monster cats and birds, and Star putting on an awesome display of magic to beat them all back, though at this point it shouldn’t be surprising.  It even leads to a satisfying conclusion for the Opossums when the Warriors become so freaked out by what occurred that they forfeit, giving victory to the other team.  While all this clearly shows that Star still has a lot to learn about Earth and self-control, her being able to fix everything and have things turn out good for who she’s trying to help in the end keep her likable and the story entertaining which is good because of how fun the antics are.  There’s also a subplot of Marco attempting to do something about the Warriors constantly kidnapping the Opossums mascot, who this year is played by his friend, Ferguson.  Through it all, you can really admire Marco’s devotion to keep his friend safe but also see his obsession through the crazy strategies he teaches him, which appears to set him up to learn to not worry so much.  In the end though, the Warriors do kidnap Ferguson, which is a bit anti-climactic.  However, it does lead to Ferguson, who’s been seen as a total wimp the whole time, get a moment to shine by breaking free on his own and even surviving one of Star’s traps, so I can at least say the subplot has a humorous conclusion.  This is easily one of the most entertaining episodes so far mostly fueled by Star’s literal take on life on Earth. 9.5/10

The Ranking

1. School Spirit
2. Party with a Pony
3. Star Comes to Earth
4. Matchmaker

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where Marco gets a "Monster Arm" right before an important karate match, and Star is shown to enjoy the Diaz family's hospitality a little too much when "The Other Exchange Student" comes to visit.

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 8: Peanuts 1970s Specials Part 10

It’s Your First Kiss Charlie Brown

Some Peanuts specials are not as strong as others, but there are very few ones that are actually bad, in my opinion anyway.  Unfortunately, not only is this special bad, it’s probably the worst of all specials.  It takes the idea of Charlie Brown not being well-liked and known to always keep messing things up, and portrays it in the worst intelligence-insulting manner.  It has Charlie Brown learn that his crush, the Little Red-Haired Girl, is his school’s homecoming queen and he must escort her to the homecoming dance and give her a kiss.  It’s a nice setup and a good way for Charlie Brown to move forward with his love life.  Now, this special gives the Little Red-Haired Girl a physical appearance, which goes against her status as a symbol of a love interests we’re too timid to talk to.  Her not being shown when Charlie Brown saw her in the past was a creative way to get the idea across, but with her being shown, the idea isn’t shown much differently from how it would in any other show.  Now, if this was the only issue, the special would still turn out fine, especially since, in all honesty, it’s necessary for the Little Red-Haired Girl to be shown here since the plot requires Charlie Brown to physically interact with her.  The fact is, things get a lot worse when the focus turns to the homecoming football game which occurs before the dance.  It all boils down to the classic Peanuts trope of Lucy pulling away the football just as Charlie Brown’s about to kick it.  In normal instances, it would be a comedic highlight from the ways Lucy entices Charlie Brown, him buying into it, and the hilarious scream as he flies through the air after Lucy pulls the ball away.  Here, it’s just stupid for Lucy to pull that stunt when Charlie Brown runs for the kickoff because it's an actual game.  If the team wants to win, WHY would she think pulling the ball away is appropriate?  And that’s not the worst part.  Even though, we can clearly see that the only reason Charlie Brown misses the kickoffs is because Lucy keeps pulling away the ball, Charlie Brown gets all the blame.  That’s just unacceptable.  It’s one thing for people to acknowledge his faults and not their own, but this is blaming him for something that is OBVIOUSLY not his fault in the slightest.  We see that Lucy keeps pulling the football away in front of everyone in CROWDS.  How can they not see that SHE’S the reason Charlie Brown keeps messing up?  It’s like it’s a law that Charlie Brown is responsible for all problems no matter what, and an unfair law that blinds all from reality at that.  The real kicker comes in when we get to the dance, and Charlie Brown is chastised by the girls for coming to the dance after costing them the game.  They take the idea of Charlie Brown being completely at fault so seriously here, the special goes from a major nuisance, to a total disaster. I mean seriously, why do they never realize that their loss is ALL LUCY’S FAULT?!  Do they seriously hate Charlie Brown so much that they blame him for something someone else CLEARLY did?!  AAUGH!  Yes, after this we get a good scene of Charlie Brown successfully pulling off his kiss to the Little Red-Haired Girl complete with a very beautiful fantasy sequence of Charlie Brown flying through clouds.  Then, the happiness of the movie is quashed when Charlie Brown doesn’t remember this big moment the next day.  Linus does say something to get Charlie Brown to look on the bright side, but it isn’t too convincing.  Either way, the finish simply isn’t enough to forget the cruel, blind to reality tone that makes up the bulk of the special.  This is clearly Peanuts at its worst, and a sign that the specials would never be as good as before.  Not all the specials to come would be bad, but very few would come out as highly recommended, and considering how many highly recommended specials we got this decade and in the 1960s, it’s really a shame.  Good Grief.

Skip It

The Ranking

1. There’s No Time for Love Charlie Brown
2. It’s the Easter Beagle Charlie Brown
3. You’re Not Elected Charlie Brown
4. You’re a Good Sport Charlie Brown
5. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
6. Be My Valentine Charlie Brown
7. Play it Again Charlie Brown
8. It’s a Mystery Charlie Brown
9. It’s Arbor Day Charlie Brown
10. It’s Your First Kiss Charlie Brown

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next special where Snoopy, the most versatile dog in TV and comics, is forced to do the work of a normal dog in "What a Nightmare Charlie Brown."

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

'Toon Reviews 7: Hey Arnold Season 2 Episode 8

Mudbowl

You know a cartoon is good when it can get you invested in the characters playing a sport even if you’re not into sports.  That’s the case with this cartoon which turns out to be highly entertaining and well-told because of what the characters involved get up to.  Arnold and his friends run into Wolfgang and his gang of 5^th graders again who crash the park they’re using to play football and challenge them to a game in exchange for it.  Rather than focus on the game itself which would limit the cartoon’s appeal just to sports fans, the focus instead goes for the idea of using strength or wits against those who are bigger than you.  I’d like to think that a strong, relatable theme is what people with all interests can get behind.  Anyway, at first the kids believe that strength is what’s needed to beat a group of kids who are considerably bigger and stronger than them, so they’re easily roped into Helga’s training methods that include grueling exercises and eating a bunch of protein shakes every day.  Not only do her methods make everyone miserable, but they don’t make any improvements to their strength.  Things get so bad that they have to resort to using Torvald, a 4^th grader who was held back making this his only other major appearance apart from his starring role in Season 1, to get through the eventual game…only for him to immediately hurt himself.  By the time the 5^th graders give the 4^th graders a major thrashing during the game, building on the unfortunate implications that all 5^th graders are psychotic bullies from “Longest Monday,” it becomes clear that feats of strength are not always the way to deal with stronger enemies.  However, when Arnold takes over as quarterback and leads the team with his smart, strategic plays he’s had for the whole cartoon, they put up a better fight.  This is especially true when it starts raining, and they still come up with a strategy that gets them a satisfying victory as well as give a good reason why this cartoon is called “Mudbowl.”  Given that we have to put up with the one-dimensional behavior from the 5^th graders as well as their aforementioned unfortunate implications for much of the cartoon, the 4^th graders winning makes their weak and annoying personas work here, unlike in “Longest Monday” where they were the victorious ones in the end.  Even if they still have problems, the strength and appeal of the cartoon as a whole lie within the inspiring theme that smarts and wit can be just as good as brute strength when surviving in this world. 9/10

Gerald Moves Out

Getting your own place to live is something anyone, young or old, can want to achieve.  I know want that to happen to me someday.  However, in life you have to learn that even when you get your own space, you have to take caution that things might not be as easy as you think.  This cartoon is a good tool to get this point across.  We open with a long sequence that gets Gerald to long for his own place which honestly presents little good from the life he lives.  His older brother, Jamie O, comes out of nowhere to tackle him when he least expects, his younger sister, Timberley, is always destroying his stuff, his dad never shuts up about the electricity bill, and his mom doesn’t seem to listen to his problems.  That’s got to be a hard life for him to put up with, and with his concerns being ignored, Gerald really has all the reasons he needs to want to move out.  He has an idealistic view of what life on his own will be like with a nice room, a maid and butler serving him, and eating nothing but his favorite foods for all his meals.  That’s a believable childlike view of what one might think getting your own place is like which slowly becomes fabricated as you get older and develop a more realistic mindset.  This slowly connects to Gerald’s conflict when he jumps on an opportunity to rent a room in Arnold’s boarding house.  Since Gerald’s been there before, and it’s where his best friend lives, you’d think he’s found the perfect home.  However, just as Gerald settles into the newly rented room, he starts discovering that hardships of your home can occur even if you live on your own.  His room is dilapidated and can’t keep out noises, the food isn’t as good as he expected, he has to take a number to use the bathroom, and most of all, he has to do his own laundry which he has no skill of which gets him involved in some memorable humorous moments of Mr. Hyunh complaining about cleaning his lint.  Even though Gerald does try to tough all these issues out, he slowly admits that he wants to go home though he’s hesitant to tell his family that.  So, when they come and he’s expecting them to ask him to come home, he feels dejected and bad for what he started when they just come, make small talk, and leave.  Gerald is then left to ponder that even if it’s not what he expected, he’s still living the life that he wanted and is forced to deal with it.  Thankfully, he gets out of it by finally swallowing his pride and admits he wants to go home in front of his family, and they gladly take him back, especially since letting Gerald live on his own was part of their plan to teach him a lesson.  This is a believable, thought-provoking cartoon anyone of any age should see to remind them that for all its strong points and weak points, there really is no place like home. 9/10

The Ranking

1. Harold’s Kitty
2. Monkey Business
3. Eugene’s Pet
4. Save the Tree
5. Gerald Moves Out
6. New Teacher
7. Mudbowl
8. Ms. Perfect
9. Big Caesar
10. Ransom
11. The Big Scoop
12. Best Friends
13. The High Life
14. Hooky
15. Arnold Saves Sid
16. Longest Monday

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where Arnold and Gerald's movie-making gets them involved in a supposed murder plot in "Freeze Frame" and we learn that even the smart ones can break the rules every now and then when "Phoebe Cheats."

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 4: The Loud House Season 1 Episode 21

The Loudest Yard

 

 

 

  

 

There are only three cartoons in this season that I consider bad.  We’ve already covered two, “The Green House,” and “Two Boys and a Baby,” and this is the third one.  It’s the least bad of the three, but there are still a lot of factors that prevent it from being enjoyable.  The main premise of the cartoon is that Lincoln is signed up for football despite not being good at sports after not being willing to do basic exercises.  I’m not fond of Lincoln being forced into something he’s not good at when Mom could’ve just goaded him to try harder at basic exercises and use football as a threat if he doesn’t, though you have to wonder why she only has him and no one else exercise.  At the same time, Lincoln doesn’t hold much sympathy because he really doesn’t try.  As a result, I can’t go along with either side of the situation.  Now, we are treated to a lot of Lincoln’s relationship with Lynn here which is nice.  We’re used to seeing her roughhouse with Lincoln a lot due to her love of sports, but as we watch her willingly coach Lincoln at football, this cartoon proves that she really does care for him.  The only problem is that, once again, Lincoln isn’t really trying, resulting in a lack of sympathy.  The lack of sympathy grows even more when Lincoln decides that Lynn should disguise herself as him on the actual football team, perhaps the most stupid idea he has ever come up with.  The kicker is that it actually works for an entire season with Lynn going in Lincoln’s place while he sits around and reads comics literally everyday even if it should’ve been easy to figure out that the player wasn’t Lincoln if someone just looked closely or took off the helmet. In other words, this part of the cartoon is hard to suspend disbelief towards.  What really makes the cartoon bad though is the ending.  The truth ends up exposed during the final game when Lynn sprains her ankle and everyone sees who she really is when her helmet comes off.  Lincoln admits his wrongdoing and fills in for her, the moment staged to be one to redeem himself by winning the game.  Instead, Lincoln ends up scoring for the other team and everyone’s mad at him.  If he had actually won the game and realize that he is capable of sports, everything in the cartoon would’ve been worth it and this would be one of his best performances.  However, we close things out with the impression that Lincoln is a disgrace to everyone who can’t do anything right, and, as is normal with most weak cartoons of this show, nothing is accomplished.  If it wasn’t for the great portrayal of Lynn and Lincoln’s relationship, this cartoon would be a lot worse than it is.  Still, it suffers from stupid plot decisions, unlikable characters, and an ending that really sours everything.  Because of this, it’s a good one to skip. 4.5/10

 Raw Deal
 

 

 

 

 

 

People often tell me that I shouldn’t let fear rule my life.  This is what helps me relate to this cartoon a lot.  It starts out like it’s going to be a great day out at a national park for the Loud family, Lincoln especially.  The theme of not letting fear rule your life comes into play when Lucy brings out a set of cards that predict everyone’s future, one of them saying that Lincoln’s day will end in tragedy.  It doesn’t seem like much to believe in at first, but slowly, in a lot of clever and funny ways, the rest of the sisters’ good predictions come true, making it likely that Lincoln’s will come true too.  The rest of the cartoon follows Lincoln too paranoid to take part in all the fun things to do at the park with his family.  I can identify with Lincoln a lot because there are times when I worry a lot about certain bad things happening.  However, while I mostly put them aside and live my life hoping for the best, Lincoln goes the extreme route by keeping himself from doing anything.  The ideas he has for what bad things can happen to him have a comedic charm to them and they’re easy to sit through since he’s bringing his lack of enjoyment on himself.  Even so, I can’t help but feel sorry for the fact that he ends up missing out on a lot of great things to do so much so that it overshadows the humor of his paranoia.  That, and Lucy, who’s normally on good terms with Lincoln, doesn’t seem to show much sympathy for him considering that she made him feel the way he does with her predictions unlike most of the rest of the family.  These points are remedied somewhat by Lincoln realizing he had nothing to worry about and learning something from it, him being the only Loud to see a usually dormant geyser go off, and a hilarious ending gag involving Lucy’s cards.  This cartoon’s heart is easy to sense even if you don’t relate to it on a personal level.  Even more importantly, while not perfect regarding entertainment, there’s still plenty of elements to make it an enjoyable experience. 8/10

The Ranking

1.      For Bros About to Rock

2.      Undie Pressure

3.      Project Loud House

4.      Space Invader

5.      Driving Miss Hazy

6.      Left in the Dark

7.      Toads and Tiaras

8.      Picture Perfect

9.      House Music

10.  Save the Date

11.  Sleuth or Consequences

12.  Hand-Me-Downer

13.  No Guts No Glori

14.  Roughin’ It

15.  Attention Deficit

16.  Changing the Baby

17.  Along Came A Sister

18.  April Fools Rules

19.  A Novel Idea

20.  Sound of Silence

21.  Butterfly Effect

22.  A Tale of Two Tables

23.  Cereal Offender

24.  Cover Girls

25.  It’s A Loud, Loud, Loud, Loud House

26.  The Waiting Game

27.  Overnight Success

28.  Raw Deal

29.  In Tents Debate

30.  Lincoln Loud: Girl Guru

31.  Out on a Limo

32.  Linc or Swim

33.  The Sweet Spot

34.  Heavy Meddle

35.  Get the Message

36.  Come Sale Away

37.  Ties that Bind

38.  Making the Case

39.  Chore and Peace

40.  The Loudest Yard

41.  Two Boys and a Baby

42.  The Green House

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where Lincoln has to juggle four dates at a Sadie Hawkins Dance and in turn come up with a "Dance, Dance Resolution" around it, and Lincoln hanging with Bobby and Lori hanging with Clyde at a fair turns out to be "A Fair to Remember."