Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension review

I'm just going to come out and say it.... I love Phineas and Ferb. No, I do not babysit for anyone. No, I do not have any younger cousins or siblings that I watch it with. I was bored one Thursday night in April of this year, I was looking for something to watch on Netflix that I had never watched before, and I remembered that someone told me all about this show. I was startled when I saw the 8.2 rating on IMDB, so after much consideration, I decided to check it out, and saying that it blew me away would be an understatement.



For those of you who are unfamiliar with the show, I'll give you the most basic rundown possible. Phineas and Ferb is a show on the Disney Channel about two boys (whose names are the title of the show) who try to make it through the summer by building all sorts of giant contraptions, from roller coasters to time machines to the world's greatest mini golf course. Their sister, Candace, tries to rat out on them by telling their mom all about it. Meanwhile, their pet platypus, Perry, goes about foiling the plans of an evil scientist named Dr. Doofenshmirtz, and within their battles, the boys' machine ends up vanishing before their sister can show their mom what they've been up to. The show stands out in my eyes because it's more of a family show than just a kids show in the way that it places all of these cleverly hidden jokes that only adults would get, thereby providing something for everyone. It has very colorful and stylish animation, lovable characters, and very swift comedic timing. So, when I heard that they were making a movie out of this, even though it was a TV movie, I couldn't wait to check it out! I wasn't able to see this on TV, but it just got released on DVD today, so I immediately went over to Blockbuster and rented it. Let's take a look!


The movie follows Phineas and Ferb, as they have just built two giant platypus-shaped badminton rackets and accidentally go crashing into the lair of Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz. He's building an "Alternate-Dimension-inator," which will create a portal to another dimension, but the boys end up destroying it, so they agree to help him repair it. As usual, Perry the Platypus (AKA Agent P) ends up crashing into the lair as well, but he quickly goes back into his normal platypus stage before the boys catch him. So, once the boys help Doofenshmirtz rebuild the machine, they travel to another dimension where they find that another version of Doofenshmirtz actually has taken over the Tri-State area with a robot army. This other Doofenshmirtz (let's call him EVIL Doofenshmirtz) tricks Perry into revealing to the boys that he's a secret agent, but then, Perry helps the boys escape. Now, Evil Doofenshmirtz wants to take over the first dimension, and the boys are searching the city to help find someone who can help them get back home.


I have to admit that while the show still remains to be adequately entertaining, its level of humor started to lower within the third season. It wasn't necessarily bad, but the show definitely had higher heights during the first and second season. This movie, on the other hand, manages to re-capture that level of humor. They came back to all of the witty slapstick antics, "captain obvious" sarcasm jokes, and fourth-wall jokes that the show had previously been known for, and it's all done within that same zippy comedic timing. I haven't laughed this hard at a movie since Horrible Bosses over a month ago! Not only that, but without giving too much away, the film's climax manages to reference most of the awesome inventions that Phineas and Ferb created throughout the summer. You can tell that these guys still remember what made this show awesome.


The film also manages to reach much higher heights than most of the show's episodes, mostly through some intense action scenes. No, Phineas and Ferb don't really get in on this action (at least not until the incredible climax). Instead, they come across a rebellion consisting of alternate versions of Isabella (a girl in the neighborhood who also has a crush on Phineas), Candace, and basically all their other friends. They, along with Agent P, are the ones who do all the high-flying kicks and the utilization of weapons, and honestly, I don't see it getting any better. The flight chases are well-photographed, the laser fights are explosively fun, and the hand-to-hand combat is well-constructed as well.


The show has been known to have some of the best musical numbers to come out of Disney since they stopped doing musical classics in (and this is just a wild guess here) 1999, and even after they started doing them again with 2009's The Princess and the Frog and 2010's Tangled. Hell, the show's been nominated for four Emmy awards, and has even won one. Personally, I've found that the show mostly has forced out numbers that are entertaining, but not entirely memorable, while there are a select few that stand out as fantastic. But just like the humor, the show's musical numbers have been going downhill in recent episodes. But once again, this movie is the show's saving grace. The songs in this film, for the most part, are awesome. It's hard to describe them in words, so I'll just post a clip to show an example.

So, on top of being fun in just about every possible way, the film is also surprisingly dramatic. The idea behind Perry revealing that he's an agent makes Phineas think about everything that's happened within the past couple of years. Was this family nothing more than his host family while Perry went out on his secret missions? Was he really a part of this family? How come he never told them about it? Considering all the things Phineas and Ferb have done, they could've helped him out. As the film goes on, they learn to trust one another to help accomplish the mission. At the same time, Candace finds out that her boyfriend, Jeremy, is going to college soon. Since he'll officially be an adult at that point, she attempts to make herself more mature. But when she eventually enters the dimension as well, she sees the alternate version of herself who is much more strict and mature, and she decides that she does not want to become that.


So, there you have it. My initial thoughts on Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension, a fantastic TV movie that, in all honesty, I thought should've been a theatrical release. The animation and action scenes go to much higher heights in terms of set-up and production value than most of the show's episodes. The humor and musical numbers manage to recapture everything that I loved about the show's first two seasons. The emotional conflict is surprisingly compelling as Perry and Phineas learn to trust one another more and more and Candace starts to mature by ironically not trying to grow up too fast. I would go as far as to say this is hands down the greatest thing to come out of the show. I highly recommend it, even if you've never watched the show before.