Recess: School's Out

Many teenagers don’t like to admit this but they still watch Saturday morning cartoons. I was one of them and in the late 90’s, “Recess” was one of my very favorites. The show took many things about recess & being a kid and exaggerated them in the form of the Ashleys, the Kindergarteners, King Bob & Miss Finster to name a few. The Recess gang had all different personalities & talents and thereby had the ability to represent all kids (Gus is the one I can most relate to for example but Spinelli entertains me the most). The movie “Recess: School’s Out” is for kids obviously but it came at time of change for me and therefore is a sentimental animated favorite of mine. The movie has everything you loved about the TV show but most importantly has a message that is very important for all kids.

Paul Germain and Joe Ansolabehere hit the jackpot with “Rugrats” by exaggerating what made being a baby great. They decided to do the same with elementary school life and once again came out winners on TV. A theatrical movie was inevitable and their story for this film is fun. Chuck Sheetz has not only directed many memorable “Recess” episodes but he worked on the Simpsons and other animated shows. He was the best director to bring “Recess” to the big screen. I love the Disney logo at the start with the Recess gang accompaning the well known music on their kazoos The movie is good at establishing TJ and the gang as well as all those at Third Street School for those who did not see the TV show. We understand that TJ is a troublemaker but at the same time, he and his friends right the wrongs at 3rd Street School through pranks. He is much like Aladdin or Robin Hood. We, as the audience, know that TJ is right about the strange events at the school but at one point even his friends begin to walk out on him. It is a relief for us when his friends get the proof they want to see. I like how the gang uses what they learned at camp in saving the world. Some of the funniest parts of the movie are with the cops and their reactions to the events reported to them. I love how Finster even tries the police but because her story is the only thing false reported to the police, the scene is even funnier. I did not know until a few years after it happened that Canadian Robert Goulet died in 2007. One the funniest parts about “Recess” is his role as Mikey’s singing voice and it is such a delight that the joke was carried over in the movie. That will be the thing I will always remember him for. I liked the performances of other celebrities in this film, namely James Woods, Melissa Joan Hart and Peter MacNicol. The best part of the film is the flashback to ’68. It is so well done. It is hilarious that Finster is hot but sounds the same. Many stereotypes of the decade are portrayed and exaggerated to very humorous effect. It is sort of fitting that it is 1968 when Benedict begins his plot to get rid of recess. 1968 was a bad year in the world with two assassinations, the peak of the Vietnam War and other events. It is funny but satisfying to see the antagonists from the TV show, Principal Prickly and Finster, as “pro-Recess”. I love the moment preceding that flashback when Benedict reveals that Prickly is always standing up for kids. Prickly doesn’t know whether to be proud of embarrassed in TJ’s presence and it is funny. The end credit sequence with Goulet singing is one of the best I have seen in the closing of an animated film. It references the well-portrayed flashback earlier in the movie and is fun because we see our favorite characters like never before.

In 2001 when I saw “Recess: School’s Out” in theaters, I was in Grade 12. When it came out on DVD, I was just starting university far away from home in Idaho. Especially during that latter time in September 2001, this movie had an effect on me to a small degree emotionally because of its central message. I would watch it and miss my good times back at home in Canada. Also in that particular month, the world itself lost some innocence. Back in Grade 10 during a band concert, I began to realize that soon my high school days would be over. Sadly, many of my friends didn’t come to that realization until one month before graduating. I credit this film alone with cementing my conviction that you must cherish things in life while they are happening. Certain times may not be easy but they do include fun moments and when you look back later on, you realize how much you miss the whole experience. You forget about the bad times and can only remember the good times. High school is something I wish I had cherished more as well as my time in university. Thankfully my time as a missionary in the Philippines was well cherished and lived. The scenes in “Recess: School’s Out” that quite movingly illustrate its central message of enjoying the fun times in life before they are gone are in the tree house with the song "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt", in the cage with Principal Prickly and the final scene in his office. Kids who watch this movie hopefully will understand the truth of this theme and therefore, the movie is a success. The final shot of the movie is emotionally perfect: “Let the Sunshine In” plays as the gang runs off into the distance to have fun.

“Recess: School’s Out” is a kids movie clearly but it is sentimental for me and it is a great way to preserve for my future kids one of my favorite cartoons. At a time of change in my life, this film was there to make me laugh and reminisce. Now when I watch the movie, it reminds me of the summer/fall of 2001. The central theme of having fun as a kid before it is too late is a good one. For those of us who are already grown up, at least we have our memories.

4 Stars