Phineas e Ferb: Il film - Nella seconda dimensione

I absolutely love this movie. Phineas and Ferb always reminded me of the Saturday morning cartoons of childhood past. The regular episodes are somewhat silly and hilarious, but this movie is a true summer blockbuster. It's full of well-done action sequences mixed with doses of good humor. The songs are great, ranging from hard rock to disco, compared to some of the ones in regular episodes, which seem forced at times. Plus, the plot isn't too complicated but not your average children's made-for-TV movie plot line. The pacing is a bit fast though, and comedic timing is lost through hurried lines and lack of pauses. The animation, although much better than normal TV episodes, is a bit sloppy at times, is at times sloppy. If you're a long-time or even a short-time fan of this series, the movie will make you laugh at references to previous episodes. In short, I absolutely love this movie. If it was released in theaters, with crisper animation and better comedic timing, it might be one of the best things Disney has released this decade.

I loved this movie. I am a huge fan of the TV show and this movie takes everything that the show does well and runs with it. Phineas, Ferb, Candice, and all the rest are wonderfully characterized. The musical numbers are fun and there are just the right number of them.

I liked the story as well and I thought it made good material for a movie-length episode.

I highly recommend this one.

At age 50, and too cheap for cable, I have almost no knowledge of today's animated kids' shows. It wasn't all that long ago, though, that I was still watching cartoons on network TV on Saturday morning (of course, I watch cartoons on Sunday evenings on Fox, but that's a totally different matter since those should not be seen by children). Still, I had never seen "Phineas and Ferb" before this movie and knew next to nothing about them.

Still, this movie has enough intelligent writing to make it tolerable for adults, enjoyable characters, and a fun plot involving an alternate dimension. The main villain is enough of a bumbling idiot to be appealing, though his alternate-universe counterpart was plenty scary.

The music was certainly not my taste for the most part, but I don't think it was supposed to be. Actually, like many of the cartoons of my childhood, this movie's music doesn't seem particularly contemporary (Slash was popular 20 years ago, for example), but it's plenty loud.

The kids from our universe are geniuses, and we can be sure that no matter how bad things get, they'll figure out a solution. This sis good for kids to see because maybe it will make them want to study.

I do question the TV-G rating, given the amount of violence. ABC has a tendency to put a TV-PG on squeaky-clean content, so it's nice that they're recognizing this is a clean movie. But this movie has only the cartoon kind of violence, though, and most of it is against robots, and not really enough to justify a TV-PG rating when TV-PG can be given to content that is much worse.

I especially liked the nonsensical but humorous lines given to one of the robots. I don't recall him being given a name, but Irving's voice was Jack McBrayer of "30 Rock", so that was probably him.

It's certainly worth seeing if you're a kid.

Albeit not being a real fan of the TV-Show, I must admit that I watch it (like many other adults, I presume) occasionally for the sole reason of Heinz Doofenshmirtz, who is targeted to older audiences and always manages to get a chuckle out of me.

Keeping in mind, that it is the film-feature based on a kids TV-show (with your mandatory song per episode), I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. The animation is slightly above that of the show, it is cleverly written and the tone more 'serious' than that of the show itself. Because of that it is enjoyable for children as well as their parents.

I can recommend this movie for all fans of the show and assure any parent, that it is a much better rental/buy than many Direct-To-DVD Disney movies.

Addendum: Watching the show prior to the movie is not required, but being familiar with some of the shows themes, might improve your experience of the movie. Due to the nature of the show it is not necessary to watch more than one or two episodes, since the plot is always roughly the same.

Even though some of the later season episodes weren't as funny and imaginative as the earlier ones, 'Phineas and Ferb' became a favourite when first introduced to it in 2009 or so. Eight years on, despite being finished, 'Phineas and Ferb' airs regularly on the Disney Channel and it's still a pleasure and one of their best shows in a long time.

Although starting with an original concept, the stories in terms of structure are based around the same formula mainly. The ideas and situations however have enough variety to avoid it becoming too repetitive, while it looks good, has one of the catchiest theme tunes of any show in recent years, has wonderful, clever and funny writing, interesting and entertaining character relationships and characters that are easy to like. As likable as the two protagonists are and Candace is more than the stereotypical, tell-tale older sister that she seems, the scene stealers are adorable and funny Perry the Platypus (another example of mastery of actions and expressions registering hugely without uttering a word) and hilariously loony and incompetent Doofenschmirtz.

It was inevitable that 'Phineas and Ferb' would get its own feature film, and it richly deserved it with characters and writing strong enough to warrant one. 'Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension' more than does the show justice and as far as films based on Disney Channel shows not released in theatres it's one of the best there is, proof too that 'Phineas and Ferb' had not lost its mojo at this point.

Maybe the pacing is a little too fast on occasions, especially in the second half, and the finale is rather overblown and descends too much into silliness (something that the rest of the film avoided, so it was a shame). Flaws aside, 'Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension' is absolutely perfect for existing fans of the show and does a very good job in its attempt to attract a wider audience which shows that the film works on its own too. Children will love it and there is plenty for adults to enjoy, if anything adults or older fans will appreciate the story and humour more most likely.

The animation is good and true to the animation style of the show but with a little more visual invention thanks to having a premise that allows for that to happen. It's simple but never simplistic, it's all vibrant in colour and the attention to detail is often marvellous. The music is catchy with some clever lyric writing, despite loving the infectious music in the show there was the fear that the music wouldn't be to my taste here, having heard polarising opinions on it, but coming from someone raised on classical music and opera it was right up my street.

'Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension' is particularly good in the writing, characters and character relationships. The writing is remarkably intelligent, witty, inventive and clever with cracking puns and one-liners and references that will delight older audiences. All in the spirit of the show. The characters are both interesting and likable, it has been said that Phineas is out of character, and he is (showing a side to him that has never happened in the show), but one can understand why if anybody knows what its like for someone you love and trust is not who they seem while also understanding Perry's point of view.

The characterisations of Perry and Doofenschmirtz are on point and stay true to their original personalities, and Candace's subplot actually to me was crucial in her development while not being as interesting as the rest of the story. The interactions are a joy all round, especially Phineas/Ferb, Phineas/Perry and Perry/Doofenschmirtz.

Really liked the story. The fast paced energy of the show's story-lines are intact as are the inventiveness, the characterisations and relationships. Even better was how well 'Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension' did in opening things up with all the ingredients that made the show work so well intact while having the alternate dimension concept that gave the film a darker, bigger and edgier approach. This concept was intriguing and gave a suitable amount of tension and fun. The alternative universe versions of the characters are creepy and entertaining. It even has a touching moment with the reconciliation scene that warmed the heart too.

Voice acting is typically terrific, particularly from Vincent Martella (Phineas), Ashley Tisdale (Candace) and Dan Povenmire (Doofenschmirtz).

Overall, a real pleasure and complements 'Phineas and Ferb' perfectly. 9/10 Bethany Cox