Have you ever been jealous of a sibling? I know I have—I am the middle of five. The next sib to be jealous of the middle child will be the first. Hence, I found it easy to sympathize with Candace, an elder sib who finds frustrating that there seem to be a different set of rules for her inventively unshackled younger brothers Phineas & Ferb. This is the very first Phineas & Ferb I’ve ever watched and I guarantee I’m gonna watch more.
The initial dilemma for Candace (voice of Ashley Tisdale) is that her brothers have created –as they are apt to do- an amusement park of sorts in their backyard. It seems like Candace could join in and roll with it, but that isn’t how sibs work. Most people view sibs the same way Trump voters view life, something along the lines of – “I would rather hurt myself if it means hurting you, too, than choose a world where everybody has a good time. ” Candace, of course, can’t ever seem to catch her brothers in acts of naughtiness –which only exacerbates her frustration—and … the frustration doesn’t end when she’s abducted by aliens.
So, what do you do when your big sister is abducted by aliens? It’s Fineas (Vincent Martella) and Pherb (David Errigo Jr.) to the rescue! Phineas and Ferb are small, odd shaped boys – Phineas has a head that doubles as an acute triangle; Ferb’s head is the shape of a lower-case f– and they’re also –as I understand it- impressive mad scientists. But I’m skipping over a ton of good jokes, like the part where a rival mad scientist supplies the rocketship, but doesn’t call it a rocketship, instead labeling his construction a “Galactic Travel-inator” and the series of colorful and skill-specialized playmates who join the F brothers for the ride, including the overachieving
type-A girlscout who induces the comment, “you know I love ominous patch-related threats” and their largest friend who has opted to take a canoe along on the trip to space because, hey, you never know.
My favorite joke in a movie filled with winners, however, was the phenomenon discovered on planet abduction: “Candace” is the exact sound the easily self-combustible denizens of Feebla-Oot make when they explode. I do not know which of the 87 writers on this film invented that joke, but I’d like to buy that person dinner; it will never not be funny.
You probably have gathered by now that Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe isn’t much more than a collection of gags. This, of course, only works as long as the gags keep being funny. This film isn’t Airplane! level funny, And its attempt to soften hearts did not go unnoticed, but seems wildly out-of-place given the incredible amount of silliness in the film. My conclusion is: before the film I had no interest whatsoever in Phineas and/or Ferb. Now, they’re something I would choose for entertainment. I don’t give higher praise than that.
An abduction in cartoonland has been staged
Aliens have collected Candace, enraged
But with P& F on the job,
She’ll be free, yesiree, Bob
Unless there’s a good joke to keep her caged
Rated TV-G, 86 Minutes
Director: Bob Bowen
Writer: Dan Povenmire & Jeff ‘Swampy’ Marsh and Jon Colton Barry and Jim Bernstein and Joshua Pruett and Kate Kondell and Jeffrey M. Howard and Bob Bowen
Genre: Silly
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Nerds!
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: The hijink intolerant
