The Tide Mice (Hilda Season 1 Episode 8) - 'Toon Reviews 26

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:

The Tide Mice

Raising stakes is a great way to make an animated work an unforgettable experience.  It gives a variety of feels that use heavy and life-threatening moments to make happier moments meaningful.  To do it well, I believe that one must have it naturally build up through a character doing something seemingly innocent only to realize the truth of actions later.  Not to mention, it gives a major edge through showing what happens when morals aren’t followed.  It’s for these reasons why this episode is especially strong. 

Hilda, a well-known loyal friend to those she knows, innocently wants to help them achieve their dreams.  David is talented at singing, but every time he tries out for the Sparrow Scouts chorus group, the Warblers, something happens to embarrass himself and ruin his audition.  In addition, Hilda’s mother, Johana, can’t get a big break as a graphic designer in Trolberg and has to take up menial work at a hardware show.  Both cases feature believable goals that seem unattainable, so Hilda has a believable cause to take action. 

By chance, the local library has a vast reference section, and one of the books contains a section on what sounds like the perfect way for Hilda to help her friend and mother.  There’s a simple, yet creatively structured spell involving offering their items to a tide, saying a chant, and getting a mouse to bring them good luck.  Both David and Johana finding success in their respective goals thanks to the mice brings a suggestion that Hilda brought the right solution.  Subsequent montages of things going great because of their successes further suggest this. 

However, since all this happens in the first half of the episode and that Hilda getting that book was quick to get the attention of that mysterious librarian, you feel there’s a catch.  It’s soon discovered when Frida apparently notices something about David.  It seems Hilda was never around to see him, or her mother for that matter, acting weird with glowing eyes and other anomalies.  This is all an after effect of the tide mice spell where at the end of 30 days, Hilda will possess the souls of those she offered the mice to.  Hilda didn’t know this because she didn’t bother to check the suggested footnote in the book she read. 

It’s at this point where the stakes are raised, and the story is not so innocent.  Hilda, as an adventurer always keen to discover, was in too much of a rush to get all the facts.  Now she’s made herself a witch, and the lives of two good people are at stake.  It’s by far one of the biggest scopes her adventures have had.  There is an antidote to the spell that Hilda only has one night to enact.  During a Warblers concert where David steals the show, Hilda has to break the act and hurry to get him and Johana to the tide to lose their mice and reobtain their souls.  There’s a scramble to get the mice that cause a panic followed by a climactic drive as they head to the tide pool as Hilda starts absorbing the souls.  It’s very suspenseful that they all have to rush to a designated place while the victims are losing their life forces. 

They get to where they need to be, and all is well with the right steps, but the brink of death for those involved is seen as so major, it cannot be brushed off afterwards.  To balance things out, it’s nice that Hilda’s intentions are understood, and it feels like she’s learned not to overlook important details again.  I imagine anyone watching will see the good reasons of adhering to certain policies since this lesson has near-death involved. 

This episode is one of the works that defines this series as a modern animated achievement.  The bravery of the story through its willingness to get dark is a testament to its genuine sense of adventure and appeal to all ages.

A+

The Ranking

1. The Nightmare Spirit
2. The Tide Mice
3. The Bird Parade
4. The Midnight Giant
5. The Hidden People
6. The Troll Rock
7. The Lost Clan
8. The Sparrow Scouts

The next Hilda review tests Hilda's friendships with a messy room and the presence of a ghost.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is the DuckTales episode, "Once Upon a Dime."

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

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. McDuck (DuckTales Vol 3 Part 9) - 'Toon Reviews 25

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:

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. McDuck

Something about Jekyll and Hyde stories has a winning quality that lends itself well to animation.  The idea of a man uncontrollably turning into a monster and back is very interesting in its own absurd way with many possibilities how each phase of the story works.  In a medium where anything a crew can think of can be drawn to life, takes on them can fit any creative vision.  This show, known for creative adventures, makes the Jekyll and Hyde formula stand as something all its own. 

The catalyst for the curse is a cologne bottle obtained in Dr. Jekyll’s mansion by Jack the Tripper who gets his way through various ways to make people to trip.  The cologne bottle and other items of Dr. Jekyll get sold to an auction in Duckburg, so Jack pursues it there.  Scrooge ends up with one of many trunks which has that cologne, and he sprays some on himself.  This is where the take on the Jekyll and Hyde formula becomes especially creative.

The cologne’s effects do more than just turn Scrooge into a crazy looking figure dubbed Uncle Moneybags.  He uncontrollably gives the wealth he has away.  It’s fitting for this show’s emphasis on the power of money, and has an interesting double standard. It can be seen as a positive that the cologne’s victims give their riches away, but also weird for how haphazardly they make themselves poor.  It’s both a light-hearted take on the formula and something that can be seen as a genuine threat. Even after being cured by getting doused by liquids, Scrooge turns into Moneybags at the mere sight of money.  Also, Jack the Tripper gets the cologne and uses it to turn several people into spending lunatics back in London which raises the stakes of the situation more than normal. 

Scrooge and the boys are in London too to look for an antidote to the effects of Dr. Jekyll’s cologne. It soon becomes a case where Huey, Dewey, and Louie are the only hopes when Scrooge quickly turns Moneybags again.  Since they’re in London and there’s a mystery, you’d be right to think they’d bring in this universe’s version of Sherlock Holmes in for the matter, only here he’s called Shedlock Jones.  He plays to what you’d expect from the famed detective. He uses elementary to deduce the boys’ problem before they explain it and being too egotistical to help them and write off their issue as unimportant. Shedlock also plays to the creative edge of the setup by turning out to be a Junior Woodchuck. 

Some could argue that him coming around and helping the boys anyway is forced with no scene of him changing his mind prior, but given what happens, the sudden feel works.  They find the cologne’s antidote and Jack trips them into stealing it to get the crown jewels from Duckingham Palace.  Then they give him a slip of their own and reveal that he was actually the more important criminal Shedlock was looking for.  It’s an impressive twist that satisfies both sides through the lesser criminal acting like a bigger criminal. 

The episode’s conflict wraps up with another take on its double-standard. Everyone cures Scrooge with the antidote, even if it means giving up the chance for him to buy everyone nice expensive stuff.  It’s a funny kind of bittersweet endingg since the only negative to curing Scrooge is actually quite petty.  This and other humorous takes on the tropes of the Jekyll and Hyde formula make this a greatly entertaining episode that intrigues and has fun with what it brings from start to finish. And that’s elementary.

A+

The Ranking

1. Duck in the Iron Mask
2. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. McDuck
3. Nothing to Fear
4. The Uncrashable Hindentanic
5. Dime Enough for Luck
6. Duck to the Future
7. Launchpad’s First Crash
8. Jungle Duck
9. The Status Seekers

The next DuckTales review documents Scrooge's past and the importance of his Number One Dime.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is an Annie Award-winning Hilda episode, "The Tide Mice."

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

The Lost Clan (Hilda Season 1 Episode 7) - 'Toon Reviews 26

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:

The Lost Clan

The concept of elves is interesting, but also a tad overly complex.  It’s creative that people have to sign paperwork to see them. However, they often bring up the details of paperwork so much it doesn’t fit the optimistic fantasy tone of the series.  At least the details are explained through a cute supporting character like Alfur.  This adventure develops elf culture, and by extension the lore of the series, but the aforementioned complexities and other issues don’t make it the most investing watch. 

It all begins with Hilda, Frida, and David going for a Sparrow Scout badge on picking plants.  Initially picking up weeds, David recalls a rare flower near a place where he heard ghosts.  Hilda recognizes these “ghosts” as elves which neither Frida nor David can see without signing the proper contracts.  Like the clan of elves in the series premiere, this clan attacks the larger people for intruding and stepping on their houses.  It’s somewhat humorous that they do so with small weapons that are more of a nuisance than an immediate threat, and charge in on rabbits.  Still, they show they mean business when they capture David. 

Their friend in trouble, Hilda and Frida learn about the situation from Alfur.  While the backstory of the clan he shares has some complex details, the point is still easy to get.  His own clan and the hidden clan formed a real estate contract about what to do about a plot of land that would become the present elf village.  The hidden clan isn’t a part of it because they enraged the king by not showing enough signatures.  The section of the plot they would have gotten was later named “no elf’s land” just to mark their shame.  This is very harsh, but Alfur charmingly states that the rules are much fairer now.  This issue can be easily fixed since the lost clan is found and someone from there can sign the needed signature.  However, the hidden clan is too enraged by the past to do anything with paperwork.  Their feelings are a bit justified, but with things improving and promise for a better life in front of them, there’s no real reason to not play along. 

To be fair, if not for this direction, we wouldn’t get creative additions to this world as Hilda, Frida, and Alfur set off to find a loophole in the contract.  Hilda finds one saying that contracts will be null and void if burned by a lindworm.  It’s said that lindworms are too rare, but it’s hard to believe because they find out where one lives with a quick trip to the library and get there with an easily summoned water spirit.  Nevertheless, it’s a nice creative occurrence when they do meet the spirit, as well as the lindworm itself. 

Its debut appearance is handled cleverly looking like part of a garden before catching the audience by surprise.  Also, while Hilda and the others plan to have it unknowingly burn the contract, it backfires when she wakes up enraged of being used in her sleep. However, they make good use of the weeds by exchanging them for the burn.  The lindworm itself is also an entertaining character with an understandable frustration of people using her services and being easily swayed by plants. 

Thanks to this creature, the hidden elf clan is now free to own its section. However, in a believable turn of events, they’re so comfortable in where they settled that they don’t want no elf's land anymore.  This can make their problems with the elf culture unwarranted, but they do let David go and seem to be on better terms with Alfur’s clan anyway, so it’s all good.  This episode isn’t perfect with a few complexities, irrational moments, and confusing lore. Ultimately though, it’s successful through the undeniably strong creativity and character moments.

A-

The Ranking

1. The Nightmare Spirit
2. The Bird Parade
3. The Midnight Giant
4. The Hidden People
5. The Troll Rock
6. The Lost Clan
7. The Sparrow Scouts

The next Hilda review covers a supernatural endeavor where Hilda makes her friends dreams come true with a frightening cost.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews, you'll meet "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. McDuck" in DuckTales.

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

The Nightmare Spirit (Hilda Season 1 Episode 6) - 'Toon Reviews 26

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:

The Nightmare Spirit

To me, animation, a medium where anything can be drawn out, goes well with dreams or pictures in one’s head where anything goes.  This concept works in this episode’s favor, and through developing characters in the process, it all works well. 

By now, it’s clear that Hilda’s relationships are the heart of the show, and bond with David and Frida is at its most endearing here.  David, who’s easily frightened, has a problem of dealing with nightmares every single night.  The opening features one of a crazy adventure of getting lost in a sewer and attacked by rats.  This is a big reasons he blame Hilda for his nightmares.  This may be harsh judgement, but given how much of an outlier Hilda is to the group, it makes sense that her adventurousness can be problematic. 

Still, that part of Hilda helps her plan to cure David’s nightmares.  She leads David and Frida to where an all-knowing being called the rat king is spotted.  Following an eerily familiar incident with sewer tunnels, the rat king is revealed to be made of innumerable rats talking in unison.  This imaginative being is productive in Hilda’s cause as she exchanges one of her secrets for a reveal of who’s been giving David nightmares.  The answer validates Hilda’s constant concerns about a teenage girl she was suspicious of.  When she and Frida catch her near David’s while he has another nightmare, they follow her to a campsite. There, she tells other girls about his nightmares, giving a strange green glow in the process. 

The next day, with the help of a mysterious caped librarian who somehow knows what book they need, the kids learn that girl is a marra.  That is, a creature who haunts rooms every night to continuously give people bad dreams.  All the pieces picked up in the episode build up to a huge climax where Hilda sets out to stop the marra’s torment over David.  Through switching bedrooms with him behind the adults’ backs and applying what she knows about marras, Hilda successfully catches the main one.  A deal is made to have the marra try to give Hilda, a usually brave child, a nightmare, and if Hilda doesn’t wake up, David will be spared. 

The ensuing nightmare brings an interesting idea to light.  Hilda’s nightmares start out frightening with spiders, giants, and other supernatural creatures, but given her knack for adventures, she’s unmoved by all this.  Then you consider earlier scenes like being quick to brush off bike-riding, and her uneasiness while riding Frida’s bike as well as what the secret she gave the rat king was.  Not to mention the marra knows the rat king. 

Hilda’s biggest fear turns out to be something as simple as being unable to ride a bike. She suffers through a nightmare where she loses her friends and the earth crumbles because of this.  It says a lot that her biggest fear is something so seemingly insignificant.  That’s so true to life.  Eventually when the room switch is discovered, David returns and feels bad for Hilda’s cries of agony over the nightmare.  Deciding it’s not fair for her to suffer for him, David wakes Hilda out of her horrors, claiming he can deal with his own nightmares if she can.  With this bold move from a timid character, we get closure with David is no longer affected by the marra, and he and Frida better accept Hilda as she is. 

It goes without saying that the episode really makes the bond of these friends feel like something special.  Through unfolding in a story of impressive growth, imaginative plot points, and going all out with dreams, it’s easily one of the series’ grandest experiences.

A+

The Ranking

1. The Nightmare Spirit
2. The Bird Parade
3. The Midnight Giant
4. The Hidden People
5. The Troll Rock
6. The Sparrow Scouts

The next Hilda review centers around the elves' business with legal paperwork-related matters as Hilda and Frida have to settle a land matter with a lost clan of them to save David.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is the Season 3 premiere of Star vs the Forces of Evil.

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