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Reviews
Peppa Pig (2004)
Eh...pretty bad
This show is pretty bad. And before you say "You're an adult, it's made for kids" I did watch it as a kid, and hated it then too. Parents of young children may get some enjoyment out of it but others may hate it. The series is quite boring. The animation is way too simplistic and is flat and bland. The colors are okay, but I think they're just meant to hold the attention of the young audience rather than actually benefit the backgrounds. The show's morals, if any, are always bungled up and never clear. Not saying every show for kids needs to have morals, but it seems like Peppa tries to have them and fails. The show features fatshaming of family members (Peppa and family constantly calling Daddy Pig fat), imitable tantrums by George in nearly every episode, bossiness from Peppa, and unnecessary torment of Daddy Pig aside from the fatshaming. The show's episode ideas are okay and simple, which they should be for a young kid's show, but often the plots are too simple and involve staying in one location with very little change of scenery or activities. I would imagine this would bore 2-4 year olds, who have a hard time focusing and sitting still. There are some okay jokes thrown in from time to time, nothing laugh-out-loud hilarious but are okay, and the side characters are somewhat interesting, especially Ms. Rabbit and her dozens of jobs.
And now: the narrator! This show does not need him. He just repeats what the characters say, do, or are thinking, usually when it's quite obvious even to young children what's going on. He never shuts up, either.
In general, Peppa might be an okay watch for your young children but I would recommend Bluey.
Bluey: Sleepytime (2020)
Absolutely brilliant and beautiful
Bluey is such a cute and charming show. I enjoy it as an adult without children, and I know many other adults do as well. It's a testament to the creators and their talents that they are able to write and create a show aimed at children that all ages can enjoy as well. That's something that many kids' shows, like Peppa Pig and Caillou, cannot claim. Many of the episodes are silly and charming, but then there are a few like this one and some others that just pack a punch and are just...beautiful.
Let's face it...Sleepytime is, in my opinion, the greatest Bluey episode ever made so far, and I cannot wait to see what the crew will do to top this later on in the series' run. And yes, as an adult male, I did shed some tears upon first viewing. Showing Bingo's dreams of flying through space with her Floppy, and trying to stay in her bed all night as a big girl, this episode is beautiful. First of all, the music composed by Joff Bush sounds prettier than usual, and the featured music, Planets by Gustav Holst that they use is absolutely stunning in the environment in which it's used, which is space. Without much dialogue, the space scenes are just beautifully done and pack an emotional punch. The scene where Bingo flies towards the sun and hears her unseen mother, Chilli's voice saying "Remember, I will always be there for you, even if you can't see me, because I love you." Combined with the beautiful music and wonderfully done animation, this is perhaps the greatest scene I've seen in a children's show. And no, I am not exaggerating. Give the episode a watch yourself if you don't believe me.
The camera angles they use and the animation is superb. Lighting, shading, it's all perfect. There is only one problem I find with this episode, and that's the part where Bingo jumps on her dad, Bandit's crotch, causing him to cry out. I don't think they needed to include a lowbrow joke like that in such a beautiful episode.
SpongeBob SquarePants: Truth or Square (2009)
A horribly disappointing 10th anniversary special
This hour length special is the younger brother of Atlantis SquarePantis, and it showed that the crew could still not put together a good TV movie, 2 years later. When it was announced and I was young, it sounded great. Now that I've rewatched it as an adult and know what bad episodes are, yeah...this sucks. I guess it's supposed to be a parody of a clip show, but as the 10th anniversary special, why not do something original?? The opening sequence is animated in a different style and sung by CeeLo Green, but the title card's music is not special at all and is just a generic track used repeatedly in the show. So already off to a 'meh' start. Yes, the continuity in SpongeBob does not really exist, but they could've had the gang go on a grand adventure. Instead, they get locked in the air vents (despite Mr. Krabs saying the vents were UNDERNEATH the restaurant at the beginning) and end up basically sitting around and barely interacting, while setting up boring Family Guy-style cutaways that are supposed to be funny, but end up just being boring filler. Once again, Plankton gets thrown in like in Atlantis SquarePantis for no reason. His whole sideplot of stealing the formula while everyone is trapped doesn't get really any screen time, and he ends up failing like always, so it didn't seem to have any purpose. Thankfully, there aren't many songs in this sung by the characters. And the flashbacks that they cut to are bland and uninspired. The whole marriage scene was made entirely to hype up the special and get people to watch, otherwise it had absolutely no point. And celebrating the 10th anniversary of SpongeBob, you'd think they would've used more characters. Sandy gets a cameo in the marriage scene, and a small appearance and voice role later on, but as a main character, you'd think she would've been more involved in the special. She could've come in to rescue the gang in an exciting scene, but instead they had to pull another 'Patrick is stupid' joke by destroying the walkie talkie that let them talk to her. And none of the side characters appear in the special (I'm not counting their appearances in the flashbacks, if any). Would it have been so hard to throw Mrs. Puff, Pearl, Larry the Lobster, or Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy in the crowds waiting for the Krusty Krab to open? If they weren't going to be involved, why not at least give them cameos in the 10th anniversary special?? Yeah, a couple appear in the wedding scene, but only for a few seconds. And lastly, the gang just crashes their way out of the vent, which they could've done from the beginning. Therefore, the entire reason for all these flashbacks and the special itself is utterly pointless, and makes the characters just look stupid for not doing anything sooner.
Now on to the Patchy stuff. He takes up a ridiculous chunk of the special doing nothing but calling celebrities. Unlike normal episodes and even Atlantis SquarePantis, Patchy gets a huge amount of screen time, maybe even a little more than the animated segments, which are the whole point of SpongeBob in the first place! And as for the celebrities...who are some of these people?? Why didn't they get celebrities or voice actors that kids would know? Are a majority of kids going to know who Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, Craig Ferguson or Tina Fey are? I had no idea who Triumph or Craig were, and barely knew anything about Tina Fey. Pink was the best celebrity they got. She sang a song, and it was actually decent. At least kids would probably know who Pink was, as she is a pop singer. Robin Williams (rest in peace) was also a great celebrity to get, except that they gave him barely anything to do. He's kidnapped by Patchy and then he escapes. That's it. I'm glad that he was included, because even without much to do Williams was able to make me laugh. For the most part, the celebrities they get to guest star aren't even in the same room as Patchy, and that is incredibly lazy.
In general, this special sucks. The only things to call back to the earlier episodes are featured at the beginning and end, and are just clips from Patchy segments, not actual episodes. The animated stuff is bland and boring, the clips they show are quick and also uninspired, and Patchy takes up way too much screen time, especially with the celebrities kids wouldn't know just popping in randomly despite having no purpose to do so. The only highlights in my opinion were Pink's presence and her song, and the brief presence of Robin Williams. Highlights in the SpongeBob segments? Nope, I can't think of any. This episode was just a dull money-grabbing scheme by Nickelodeon. Thank God that the 20th anniversary special in 2019 was amazing.
SpongeBob SquarePants: Atlantis SquarePantis (2007)
Boring, annoying, wasted potential
This special could've been great. I mean, they had David Bowie guest star! But of course, they didn't tell anybody this would have a song every 5 minutes (or less), and didn't give Bowie, who was a singer, a song at all. This is also a ripoff of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, with the whole gang going on a tour of Atlantis and each member leaving at some point until there's only SpongeBob and Patrick left. Also, did Plankton really need to be shoehorned in at all? The 'conflict' of the episode, which is very late into the special and doesn't last more than a minute or two, was related to Patrick popping the bubble. So why did Plankton need to be thrown in at all like he was the villain? Also, the whole main story of the oldest living bubble was completely stupid. They couldn't have given SpongeBob and Patrick a better motivation to take this journey? Maybe Atlantis had the biggest jellyfishing museum in the ocean, for example. Why a bubble?? Every character gets a song and sings it horribly, even Tom Kenny, who is usually a great singer in SpongeBob's voice. Bowie, again, does not get a song. And the episode was originally going to be a regular 11 minute episode, but Nickelodeon thought money could be made so they upped it to 44 minutes. And if it had been a regular length episode, it probably wouldn't have been nearly as bad. Because the story was originally designed for an 11 minute episode, and Nickelodeon extended it to an hour length with commercials, the story goes really slow and is stretched out, with very little substance. And the songs were thrown in to fill time as well. And the ending is a complete disaster. All the characters except SpongeBob cry as they leave Atlantis, very annoyingly, and SpongeBob doesn't care. And let's not forget Patchy's appearance. For some reason, instead of being at home with Potty, Patchy gets lost...in the desert where Encino used to be, and runs into aliens. What?? Again, the Patchy segments were thrown in to fill time and extend the episode as well, without any purpose or reason. I get Patchy introduces the specials and sometimes plays a minor role, but they should've stuck with the traditional introduction with Patchy and Potty, and then had one halfway through, and one at the end. We didn't need this as a subplot.
Overall, the episode is way too long for the story it is trying to tell, the songs are forced, bland, and annoyingly sung, the plot is unmotivated, Patchy's segments don't make a lick of sense and are just weird, but not in a good way, David Bowie gets a role but no song and his talents were wasted, and even the animation seems lackluster compared to other episodes and specials. Skip this episode.
Bluey (2018)
Great show! (spoiler warning)
Bluey is a breath of fresh air in the world of children's television. I, as an adult with no children, caught an episode on TV and found it entertaining for me as an adult! If a children's show is able to hook adults into watching it as well, then they're doing something right. The stories are simple, 7 minute long adventures with Bluey and her family, but despite the short length a lot gets packed into each segment. The Australian-based show is very charming and happy. Unlike Peppa Pig, which is lazily animated, boring, and with a narrator who might as well be a parrot for all the repeating he does, Bluey has great animation, colors, and awesome background music. Fun characters, great stories, an all-around good watch. Skip Peppa Pig, with the incompetent parents and bland stories, and watch Bluey, a wholesome family show that is just fun.
Franklin (1997)
Charming TV show (2D series)
Franklin is such a charming TV show for young children, and I still watch it as an adult in their 20s because of the nostalgia it has, and the messages and stories still hold up, even though the show premiered 25 years ago. Animation (in the first couple of seasons) is calming and colorful with watercolor-like backgrounds. Voices are pleasant, though the Canadian accents can be heard a bit (Franklin Says Sorry being a good example). Some plots seem quite similar to fellow Treehouse series The Berenstain Bears, but that's probably coincidental due to the fact that both series originated from books and were made for young children.
The addition of Harriet, I feel, was not needed, and took away some of the charm that was a young turtle learning about the world by himself with his family and friends. Though yes, a Franklin book did introduce a new sister for Franklin, The Berenstain Bears also introduced a new sister, Honey, but she didn't appear at all in their show despite it coming out after Honey was introduced. I feel this would've been a better choice to exclude Harriet.
Overall the show is not offensive, there are no crude jokes or toilet humor, the music is lovely, and the morals are good for young children.
Toy Story 4 (2019)
SPOILER ALERT An okay film, does not hold up to the original three
Oh, boy. Another Toy Story! Sounds amazing! Unfortunately, when I gave it a watch, it was just slightly above average to me. And I really hate to give an average review to a Toy Story film, but that's what it deserves. Toy Story 4 is really lacking in what made the original three special. Plus, the series had a bunch of shorts that were pretty good compared to this film, which is unfortunate. It was directed by a new member this time around, Josh Cooley. And no offense to him, but I think he did a terrible job directing this film and adapting the characters.
First are the characters. The original toys plus Bonnie's toys get a huge shove to the sidelines for this film, surprisingly so for a Toy Story film. It seems like the entirety of the gang, excluding Buzz and Woody, are shoved aside. Except for a few scenes, they barely get any lines and have basically NOTHING to do with the plot. And the whole thing where they mess with the RV to keep the family stuck is bizarre and I've seen this kind of thing in other media forms, where someone or something sabotages another person. It's not original. I was so hoping for more time spent with my favorite characters, like Jessie, Rex, Hamm, Slinky, the Potato Heads (RIP Don Rickles), and Bullseye, but instead they were sidelined for some new, forgettable characters. On top of that, they barely move, and are mostly seen in the back of the RV with very little interaction, if any, between each other. I just finished watching the movie and I already don't remember most of their names, whereas I can remember all the characters' names from the first three movies after not watching them for years. It doesn't help that the new characters have very little personality and are seemingly just generic toys. The duck and chicken were, to me, very annoying and I wouldn't have minded at all if they had been excluded from the movie.
The antagonist, Gabby Gabby, is the worst antagonist in the franchise's three films (excluding the shorts). She is useless compared to Sid, Stinky Pete, and Lotso. Whereas those three were threatening in some way to the toys, Gabby Gabby is not. Yes, the movie tries to make you think she is, where she kidnaps Forky and has her henchmen ventriloquist dummies attack the other toys. However, compared to the previous antagonists, there is never really any danger to the toys. She wants Woody's voice box? So what? He can talk without it. Sid was a threat because he destroyed toys. Stinky Pete was a threat because he tried to force Woody to go to the museum in Japan, and Lotso wanted to destroy the toys by having them abused by children and later killed by a furnace. Gabby Gabby is a well-mannered and eloquently spoken girl, who never raises her voice or does anything 'evil.' And that to me is a problem. For a cartoon film, the antagonist should be 'cartoony' and over the top, like the previous three. You never actually were scared of what they were doing, but you could see how they were intimidating to the toys. On top of this, Gabby Gabby does not interact with ANY of the original toys excluding Woody, Buzz, and Bo Peep, meaning the antagonist is only partially effective. I don't even know if she speaks 5 lines to Buzz. And she gets what she wants, too, taking Woody's voice box, which he really has no problem with at all. The previous villains in the franchise all got their comeuppance, but because Gabby Gabby is not evil, technically speaking, she gets none, therefore there is no satisfying conclusion to her as a character.
The plot is all over the place, too. It's first set up that Bonnie is scared of kindergarten, but after that first scene in kindergarten we never see the classroom again or any interaction with her new peers. And I get that it's the catalyst for the remainder of the film, with her inventing Forky, but she could've done that anywhere else. The whole kindergarten subplot is ditched after a few minutes to spend the rest of the movie on the road trip. And the road trip is basically a montage of Woody trying to keep Forky from throwing himself away, which ruined any possible interesting locations or jokes until the carnival. And speaking of jokes...were there any?? This movie seemed intent on being extremely heavy (Bonnie being scared of school, Woody dealing with abandonment and loss of a friend, Gabby Gabby's whole plot of wanting love and attention). It seems that they tried to be so heavy that the jokes and funny, lighthearted moments of the first three films were lost. And yes, the first three movies all had heavy moments, but they had jokes and could be very lighthearted as well. Toy Story 4, however, does not have many, if any, jokes that I found funny.
The music this time around is basically recycled from the previous three films. I understand the music is a staple of the franchise, but Randy Newman couldn't have composed some new music for the film? Most of it is just taken from the previous movies and there's so much of it reused that it's distracting. I did, however, enjoy the rendition of 'You've Got a Friend in Me,' but most of the rest of the background music was recycled.
Forky is also a very annoying character. I didn't like him at all. He seemed like a child that they had to babysit, which is not a fun trope in any media or films. And him continually trying to throw himself away got old, fast. A few times would've given us the idea, but they have to show him doing it over, and over, and over, and over again. And it's not clearly established when he realizes his purpose. One minute he thinks he's trash, the very next he knows what his purpose is. In fact, after the walking scene, he doesn't try to throw himself away at all, but they had very little to show how he changed.
I loved Bo Peep in this film, though. I think that her rebrand as a character was excellent, and gave her some much needed and sorely missed screen time, especially since we didn't see much of her in the first two films to establish a good character. This movie did this excellently.
Overall, the film is an average watch. The voices are pleasant, the CGI is great, the music is okay yet recycled, most of the characters are decent. It's a good movie if you're bored on a rainy day, but really I would recommend you watch the first three and ignore this one.
SpongeBob SquarePants: SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout (2019)
An amazing 20th anniversary special!
Unlike the lackluster Truth or Square for SpongeBob's 10th anniversary, Big Birthday Blowout is a beautiful tribute to the late Stephen Hillenburg. Plenty of throwbacks and references to older episodes. Despite the disappointing ending with the party falling apart, the episode is still a great and touching episode. Really celebrates the 20 years of the series and is an enjoyable watch all around. Live action scenes are surprisingly funny and feel like an above water Bikini Bottom. Enjoyable.
Sylvanian Families (1987)
A charming cartoon
I can't believe this cartoon is over 30 years old at this point in time. I was born in 2001 and watched this show as a kid growing up. While some might criticize it for its lackluster animation (DIC Animation was not the best at animating), I find it charming for the time. The series is very wholesome, and though only 26 episodes were made (13 two-part segments), I believe it should have gotten a second season. The characters are very sweet and the series is a great one to show to children, even 33 (nearly 34) years after it aired. The villains are not too villainy or intimidating for a children's show, and instead provide humor. I only removed two stars because of the short length of time this was on, and the somewhat lacking animation quality. It is a very enjoyable watch and if you look at this without judgment it is quite fun.
Big City Greens (2018)
A promising new cartoon!
I really enjoy this show. With just 30 episodes out so far, it's clear to see that this will become a hit. It is not a cartoon for just children, it has adult themes in it too (like Cricket and Tilly's mom in jail and getting out, as well as being divorced from Bill). I love the characters, and especially the grandma!
Wonder (2017)
Eh...
In this movie, the mom and dad are totally out of character. In the book they were portrayed as warm and kind, however the mother seems a bit rude and abrasive, especially towards Auggie. In the book she was a great parent and very warm. Julian is a bit of a jerk, much more in this movie than the book. I don't think this was a good movie at all, just mediocre.