Star Butterfly

I only took up this cartoon recently, but now that I've seen it, I honestly think Star vs. the Forces of Evil is the most underrated cartoon Disney has ever released. It has an amazing cast of characters, a great balance between lighthearted and serious moments, and the longer the plot goes on, the better it gets. Since the show changed drastically over its lifespan, I feel it appropriate to review each season.

Season 1: 8/10-When I watched the first season, I was in love almost immediately. Technically, the plot isn't that present in this season, being more episodic than having episodes build on each other, but I was so enthralled by the lovable characters the show had to offer that I didn't even care. Even then, the plot they did have-both in isolated episodes and overall-was really good. If you're looking for a fun time, this season will provide it.

Season 2: 9/10-This is when the show starts transitioning towards plot focus. For the most part, it retains its episodic format, but the connections between episodes become stronger as it goes on. It also sets the stage for many of the events in the upcoming seasons, so this season is essential to anyone who wants to tackle the whole series.

Season 3: 9.5/10-This may be a controversial decision, but to me, this was the greatest season of the show. It was here that the plot was at its most powerful. Granted, there was a bit of a lull after the Battle of Mewni, but once the plot picks up momentum, it becomes one of the most captivating parts of this show. I'll admit that I didn't like a few of the things the characters did, but those can easily be accepted as mistakes. And even with those mistakes, I still enjoyed each and every one of them. Personally, I love this season, and I recommend it even more than I recommend the other seasons.

Season 4: 7.5/10-I'd be lying if I didn't say this was the weakest season. It wasn't necessarily bad: they just didn't do as much with it as they could have, and I wasn't a big fan of its finale. But what they did give us in this season was sill mostly well done-maybe a bit slow paced at times, but the payoff is generally worth it.

Overall, I really enjoyed this show. Was it perfect? No. Is it still worth watching? Absolutely.

Pros: Some great characters (Star, Marco, Eclipsa, Moon, Marco's karate teacher, etc.)

Some great moments and episodes

Pretty good animation (for the most part)

Some strong story and character elements

Cons: Some of the plot-choices are awkward and don't make sense

Plenty of filler episodes

Most of the humor and jokers aren't very funny

FRICKIN PONY HEAD

Conclusion: Not a bad show. Has lots of flaws, but the great characters, mostly very-good second season, and animation kept me watching till the end. Wouldn't really recommend it due to its numerous flaws and poor episodes.

Saw 'Star vs The Forces of Evil' as a fan of Disney, which has been the case since childhood. It has been hit and miss for years, with the Disney Channel being nowhere near as good as it was (going from one of my most watched channels to only watching a small handful of shows and their films since my late teens when they started airing their sitcoms more). Saw it too as someone who really liked the concept and who has been really surprised by the quality of Disney's recent animated shows.

While preferring 'Amphibia' and especially 'Gravity Falls', 'Star vs The Forces of Evil' to me was very good and at its best made for one of Disney's best shows in a while. Can totally understand why there has been so much praise for it, while not going as far to call it one of Disney's all time best. Can also totally understand the polarisation, as it is an uneven show with a couple of major debits. It does succeed a lot more than it doesn't and the best of the many good things are outstanding.

Beginning with the faults, it is a little bit of a slow starter with it taking time for any plotting to get very far, the shorter episodes also feeling too much like filler, and some of the humour is childish and tries too hard to be weird. Very similar issues had with 'The Owl House' when it first started, though the character writing is much better and more consistent here than that show.

Also felt that while appreciating the darker and more mature tone of the later episodes and finding there to be a lot of emotion, it did feel on the rushed side towards the end and the final episode feels rushed and anti-climactic.

However, a lot is great. Really like the animation, which is very vibrant in colour (the colours literally popping out without being too dizzying), quirky in character design (Toffee's very creative character design being a standout) and rich in background detail. The character designs are also creative. The music is always dynamic with the action and full of energy and atmosphere. The theme tune is very catchy. The voice acting is excellent all round, particularly from Eden Sher, Adam McArthur and Alan Tudyk. Michael C Hall is effectively sinister too as Toffee.

The writing often is very funny and smart and mixes humour and poignant emotion very well from late Season 1 onwards. Season 2 being the best and most consistent one. Actually appreciated the darker and more mature tone of the later episodes with the themes as well as more threatening villains, as well as the much tighter pacing, and admired its addressing of relevant and challenging themes such as prejudice, personally didn't find that preachy or out of place and prejudice is something that should be talked about to children early seeing how much this has increased. The more complex plotlines from Season 2 onwards didn't come over as too complex and were intelligently and intriguingly done. The often wonderfully wild and visually creative action excites.

Loved the characters too, and these were characters that were interesting and appealed in personality (even with the flaws) almost immediately and showed significant growth the more complex the character arcs became. The Eclipsa and Ludo arcs stood out. Ludo, Tom and Toffee were particularly well written and Star was a flawed (though not overly so) but likeable and rootable character. Really liked her interactions with Marco.

Concluding, very, very good. 8/10.

It's difficult to explain, this show is simply amazing and entertaining to watch! The main characters are all charming and lovable, the plot is enticing, and the humor is surprisingly fun for adults as well as kids. There has been a trend of brilliant kids cartoons like Steven Universe, Gravity Falls, and Adventure Time reversing the otherwise downward trend kids TV programs face. There seems to be a great disparity between kids shows these days, in that they're all either mindless cash grabs by network producers, or they're completely brilliant and absolutely amazing for kids and adults alike. Star Vs the Forces of Evil certainly falls into the ladder. It actually took long exposure to heavy praise of the show to get me to finally buckle down and watch it. Half way into season 1, I was hooked. Though the traits that make it a kids program are often glaring, the characters are so well-written that it becomes difficult not to love them. Once the plot falls into motion, it's impossible to stop watching. Having watched up to the most recent episode as of posting this, it's impossible for me to give this show any less than a 10. All i can say more is, if you start to watch this show, you'll fall in love, no matter what age you are.

I love watching this show it's one of the best shows Disney has had I hope it continues