CANON FODDER
Latest movie in beloved Phineas and Ferb franchise is fun, but a mediocre followup
With its marquee-busting title, Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe positions itself as the second in the Phineas and Ferb the Movie franchise, following 2011’s Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension. But it’s also the latest return of the beloved animated franchise, which ran for 222 shows between 2007 and 2015.
Each episode famously juggled several subplots, sometimes with an almost Seinfeldian adroitness. In one, stepbrothers Phineas (Vincent Martella) and the almost silent Ferb would spend a day of summer vacation working on some outrageous, dangerous hobby, while their sister Candace (Ashley Tisdale) tried to “bust” them by alerting Mom.
At the same time, evil Dr.
Heinz Doofenshmirtz would be attempting to conquer the tristate area, while Major Monogram would task a secret agent /platypus named Perry to stop him. Doof and Monogram were voiced by series creators Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh.
Oh, and there was a musical number in every 22-minute show.
Candace Against the Universe is a fun addition to the canon, but like so many movie spinoffs it fails to fully capitalize on its expanded scope and running time. If it were one weekly episode among many, I’d happily eat it up. As a one-off, separated by years from its siblings, it feels like it could have done better.
The plot finds Candace and friend Vanessa (also Doofenshmirtz’s daughter) abducted by an alien race led by the oddly named Super Super Big Doctor (Ali Wong). Initially terrified, Candace warms to her captors when she learns that their leader also has annoying younger brothers. She’s also told she’s their chosen one, which is seldom a good sign in an alien-abduction story.
Working together on their rescue efforts are Phineas, Ferb and their gang of friends, along with Doofenshmirtz, who has the benefit of owning a “galactic travel-inator,” which everyone else is at pains to point out should really just be called a spaceship. (He also has an axe-inator, complete with the standard Doofenshmirtz feature, a self-destruct button.)
The feature-length story calls out many of the running gags from the series, including the very Trekkian show Space Adventure, and Ducky Momo, a cartoon show within a cartoon show. (But how did the extraterrestrial Meap not make an appearance in this spacethemed story?) And there’s music, including the paradoxical number Unsung Hero. But the movie is less than the sum of its parts. While it’s nice to see the gang again, I wish they’d come prepared with more to do.