Professor Popinjay's Compendium of Perspicacity

A Non-Review by Professor Popinjay

Superb. Utterly superb.

Honestly, I can’t praise this enough. It’s just… so… good.

My first experience with this show was not the show itself but the movie; Recess: School’s Out. At first glance I thought it was amusing enough but nothing to write home about. Then I finally watched the show. And then I watched the movie again.

You have to watch the show and then the movie. That’s the only way to do it. The movie plays off the love you have for these characters and if you don’t watch the show first then you have no love… or laughter… or joy… or Robert Goulet.

Every kid can relate to the playground antics in this show no matter their generation. Every character was a trope you’d swear you sat next to in some class or another. Every episode was hilarious and had a definite message but was never preachy except when it was appropriate for a character to actually preach something and by golly when those moments came, I was riveted. No matter what though, it was always fun.

Okay so they went a little crazy with the tropes but that was actually pretty hilarious. I’m sure no one knew a guru kid or an opera singer kid or a kid who dressed like Amelia Earhart all the time. The kindergartners were definitely a pack of wolf-raised shirtless wild children covered in finger paints and Nutella. That part was completely accurate.

One teacher trope, Ms. Alordayne Grotkey, voiced by Allyce Beasley (Coach’s daughter from Cheers), was annoying to me at first but I have to admit, very realistic. She was constantly referring to Mother Earth and the Goddess and recycling and so on. If that’s what you’re into, that’s fine. I’m not coming down on you. I love to recycle. Frankly she was kind of preachy in a bad way. But it definitely WAS a recognizable trope and I’ve definitely had teachers like that. It was more forgivable when she started doing things that didn’t coincide with her character. At that point her personality was a great springboard for her comedy. 

I shan’t get into the movie much except to say that it was basically a glorified version of an episode story arc they already did. Not necessarily a bad thing. It’s similar to what they did with the Powerpuff Girls when they made their origin story into a full length theatrical film. Not that Recess: School’s Out is an origin story. That would be weird. Between the Movie and the similar episode, the movie was much better. I loved the love triangle with the villain and Ms. Finster. Yes, I realize a love triangle requires three people. It’s hard to explain without spoilers. It’s hilarious.

The character Randall who was a teachers pet snitchy tattletale spy, had the most shocking joke in the movie. I can’t believe it got past censors! TJ says something like “Last one there has to give Ms. Finster a sponge bath!” And Randall says “ Hey! That’s MY job!” Are you kidding me!?! No! That’s just wrong! Wrong wrong wrong!

The icing on the cake is the movie credits song featuring Robert Goulet (who does the singing voice for Mikey) singing The Lemon Pipers’ Green Tambourine. I could watch that montage over and over again.

There’s a few more Recess movies and shorts I have yet to see. Rest assured I will see them.