PHINEAS AND FERB: THE MOVIE: CANDACE AGAINST THE UNIVERSE:
DISNEY+ MOVIE BASED ON BELOVED DISNEY CHANNEL ANIMATED SERIES HAS A LOT OF LAUGHS AND HEART!
By Nico Beland
Movie Review: *** out of 4
DISNEY+
(From left to right) Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz, Super Super Big Doctor, Candace, Perry the Platypus/Agent P, Phineas, and Ferb in Phineas and Ferb: The Movie: Candace Against the Universe
I know what we’re gonna do today, talk about a very funny Phineas and Ferb movie that premiered on Disney+ recently via this review. Disney’s lovable troublemaking brothers are back in Phineas and Ferb: The Movie: Candace Against the Universe, the new Disney+ film based on the beloved Disney Channel animated series and the second Phineas and Ferb movie overall after 2011’s Phineas and Ferb: The Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension.
Aside from seeing a few episodes as well as the first movie, I did not watch that much Phineas and Ferb during its run on Disney Channel, I was more into Kim Possible, Gargoyles, Gravity Falls, and Recess when it came to animated Disney shows. However, from what I’ve seen it’s a very enjoyable and funny cartoon for both kids and adults with memorable characters, hilarious hijinks, catchy as heck songs and musical numbers (Gitchee Gitchee Goo, anyone?), and plenty of heart and nostalgia about childhood and how you spent your summer vacation, it’s definitely one of Disney Animation’s finest that even spawned crossovers with both the Marvel Animated Universe and Star Warsas well as the spin-off series Milo Murphy’s Law.
For those of you who have never seen or heard of Phineas and Ferb before, I’ll give you the basic gist of it. The show revolves around two young brothers trying to find the best ways to spend their summer vacation, they do the usual things kids normally do on their summer vacation like build a fully functional rollercoaster in their backyard, Fighting Treehouse Robots, form a rock band, surf in outer space, play badminton with a giant Platypult (Catapult that looks like their pet platypus Perry) to name a few and often getting the attention of their older sister Candace who constantly tries to “Bust Them” for whatever contraption they make for the day (Though it often shows that she cares for her brothers very deeply). Meanwhile in Plot B, their pet platypus Perry is actually a secret agent known as Agent P who frequently thwarts the evil yet strangely huggable Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz’ plans to take over the tri-state area (He pretty much makes Dr. Drakken from Kim Possible look like Thanos by comparison) often colliding with the main plot of Phineas and Ferb’s shenanigans.
The show ran from 2007 to 2015 as one of the longest running Disney Channel shows, so naturally a couple of movies were made.
So, how does Candace Against the Universe hold up compared to the show and Across the 2nd Dimension? It’s…Phineas and Ferb and it gives exactly that, all the imagination, heart, colorful characters, and silly humor that made the show a classic even if the story isn’t quite as interesting as Across the 2nd Dimension.
After a failed attempt at busting Phineas (voiced by Vincent Martella-Final Fantasy XIII, Batman: Under the Red Hood, McFarland, USA) and Ferb (voiced by David Errigo Jr. replacing Thomas Sangster) goes horribly wrong, Phineas and Ferb’s sister Candace (voiced by Ashley Tisdale-High School Musical trilogy, Kim Possible (Season 4), Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure) and Dr. Doofenshmirtz’ daughter Vanessa (voiced by Olivia Olson-Love Actually, Adventure Time, The Powerpuff Girls (2016)) are suddenly abducted by aliens from a far-off utopian planet free of pesky little brothers where Candace befriends their leader oddly named Super Super Big Doctor (voiced by Ali Wong-Ralph Breaks the Internet, Always Be My Maybe, Birds of Prey) and becomes their chosen one. Meanwhile, Phineas, Ferb, and their friends Isabella (voiced by Alyson Stoner-Mike’s Super Short Show, Step Up franchise, Camp Rock 1 and 2), Baljeet (voiced by Maulik Pancholy-30 Rock, Whitney, Sanjay and Craig), Buford (voiced by Bobby Gaylor-Roseanne, Hope & Faith), and Perry the Platypus/Agent P (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker-Space Jam, The Fairly OddParents, Codename: Kids Next Door) team up with Agent P’s arch nemesis Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz (voiced by co-creator Don Povenmire-The Simpsons, SpongeBob Squarepants, Milo Murphy’s Law) and use his “Galactic-Travel-Inator” to blast off into space and rescue Candace and Vanessa who soon realize this brotherless planet is not all as it seems.
The film also features the voices of Wayne Brady (Whose Line Is It Anyway?, The Wayne Brady Show, How I Met Your Mother) as Stapler-Fist, Thomas Middleditch (Silicon Valley, Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, Zombieland: Double Tap) as Garnoz, Diedrich Bader (Office Space, Napoleon Dynamite, Veep) as Borthos, YouTube’s Thomas Sanders as Throat-Lobster, Caroline Rhea (Sabrina the Teenage Witch, The Biggest Loser, Sydney to the Max) as Linda (Mom), Richard O’Brien (The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Dark City, Ever After) as Lawrence (Dad), Mitchel Musso (Monster House, Hannah Montana, Life is Ruff) as Jeremy, Kelly Hu (The Scorpion King, X2: X-Men United, Arrow) as Stacy, co-creator Jeff “Swampy” Marsh (The Simpsons, Rocko’s Modern Life, Milo Murphy’s Law) as Major Monogram, Bill Farmer (Goofy) as Hermellivue, Sarah Hudson (Frontline, Project Runway) as Ernox, John Viener (Family Guy, Arrested Development, Ted 1 and 2) as Norm, Corey Burton (Return to Never Land, Star Wars: Clone Wars/The Clone Wars/Rebels, DC Animated Universe) as Farmer, John O’Hurley (Seinfeld, Family Feud, To Tell the Truth) as Roger Doofenshmirtz, “Weird Al” Yankovic (The Naked Gun trilogy, Batman VS Robin, Teen Titans Go! VS Teen Titans) as Shirt Cannon Guy, and Tiffany Haddish (Girls Trip, The Carmichael Show, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part) as The Sound Someone Makes When They Explode From The Waist Up.
Overall, Phineas and Ferb: The Movie: Candace Against the Universe is imaginative and hilarious fun for the entire family especially if you have a family of Phineas and Ferb fans. Kids will be greeted by a colorful and silly adventure in space while those who grew up with the series will have a nostalgia-filled reunion with their favorite characters that was well worth the wait.
However, I don’t think you have to be super familiar with the show to enjoy this movie as was the case with Across the 2nd Dimension, despite being a very casual viewer, there are plenty of moments in this film where I not only laughed but laughed hard. Most notably any scene related to Dr. Doofenshmirtz because the character cracks me up whenever he’s onscreen and this ingenious sequence where Phineas, Ferb, and the gang are traveling at light speed and they gradually change from fully-animated characters to sketches and storyboards on the wall, in my opinion the best joke in the entire movie.
The plot is very predictable and isn’t quite as creative or funny as the previous movie, if you’ve seen a movie or show with a premise like this then you know exactly what’s going to happen. Thankfully, the writing, humor, and characters more than make up for it.
Phineas and Ferb: The Movie: Candace Against the Universe is a fun adventure through space with a lot of laughs and heart, I mean it, I almost felt teary-eyed by the end. It doesn’t do anything game-changing for the show but if you’re a fan of the series or at least familiar with it then grab your Chicken-Replace-Inator (A device that replaces whatever it zaps with the nearest chicken), hop into your Galactic-Travel-Inator, and strap in for a joyful space romp that’s no Guardians of the Galaxy but it’s close enough.
