Aqua Teen Forever: Plantasm - Movie Review

 - Rhett Rhodes @rhettrhodes98

a link to my predictions of this movie from September

    The moment I have been waiting for is finally here; watching 'Aqua Teen Forever: Plantasm', the first (out of 3) new Adult Swim films made straight to video and streaming. Actually, within the first 10 minutes the Mooninites make a joke about how "theaters rejected" this movie, even though I'm pretty sure it was always intended to be a video/streaming release.

SOME SPOILERS (but limited to just few)

photo via: Icon vs Icon

    It was hard to stress while watching this; it was genuinely such a funny and comfortable watch. One thing I can say right off the bat is how the pace is so much different from the first movie. As reboots and other terms go, this is obviously not a sequel to the first film whatsoever; this is a full-fledged brand new story with brand new characters, and it did not f*ck around. I have to mention because I noticed, the animation is slightly different. When I was watching, I literally thought of how the animation is smooth and has the quality of the Bob's Burgers movie or maybe even the Bob's Burgers show, and to my surprise (or not) Aqua Teen Forever: Plantasm's animation was done strictly by Bento Box Entertainment; the same animation studio that (as you guessed it) does Bob's Burgers, the show and movie adaptation.

    I'm not sure why as it hasn't been stated by the creators or Adult Swim, but Radical Axis, Inc. the original animation studio for Aqua Teen Hunger Force and a ton of Adult Swim shows was not involved with the creation of this movie or anything with its production. My honest guess is either a falling out between Matt Maiellero and Radical Axis founder Scott Fry, or the creators just genuinely wanted a fresher look and feel to the movie. Either way, I do miss how the animation was before in the series and previous film, but I can live with this new style and renditioning.

    The story is an actual understandable story, unlike the first film which while I guess it's an understandable story, it's confusing at times and the story is a bit pointless we can agree in the end. (Great movie, I love the first film.) Well, in the new movie, we see in the beginning the Aqua Teens in a large and lengthy spacecraft fighting monstrous squid creatures that all have Carl heads and have spawned from Carl who himself is a bigger monstrous squid creature. Meatwad and Frylock make it safely to an escape pod as Shake opens the mouth to the spacecraft so the squid creatures all begin getting sucked out and nearly take Shake with them but he shoots the one grabbing him in the head after a hilarious and memorable quote, and closes the mouth. The Aqua Teens, in a two person escape pod, realize there is room for Shake but, in true Shake fashion, he vows to stay behind (for no reason) and panders too long heroically to Meatwad and Frylock as a detonation timer counts down and the ship explodes.

    Obviously, in the next scene it's revealed that this opening story was an exaggerated story told by Shake to a Fraptaculan (a strange burrito shaped shelled creature that now roams with humans) in a homeless shelter. After all of this, which may have happened but not as exaggerated obviously, Shake considers himself a space hero from then on out and thinks that giving himself that title will make people want to give him things like a house, of course. Now all of that, that's the only spoilers you get, moving on to much shorter and simpler writing.

    One thing I thought was strange because I feel like if it was just pitched up a little higher it would've been spot on was the fact that Err's voice was a little deeper/different. I couldn't help but focus on it whenever Err and Ignignokt would appear on the screen and talk. But one of my favorite things was at about 55 minutes into the movie, they played the outro from the television series for a joke and I found that pretty nostalgic and cool to throw that in. And unlike the show where the monster is already created (usually by Dr. Weird, who is not in this movie), we see the monsters (which are plants of course) be created from the very start by the scientist who works with the antagonist Neil, Elmer, who himself turns into a giant elm tree.

    In a cut scene at the end of the incredibly short credits that even Err and Ignignokt make fun of at the start, Shake hints that he "smells a sequel" before flying into the camera and ending the movie. I honestly do hope that is true and not just some gag or joke they threw in. It felt awesome to be able to laugh at Aqua Teen Hunger Force again; I never realized how much I really missed this franchise. So yes, let's hope for another one!

7.8/10