As a longtime fan of The Fairly OddParents, I was excited to see the advertisements for this movie which would end the series (though there always seem to be ways around this).
On the whole, the movie was a worthwhile finale and general tribute to the cartoon. I was entertained the whole way through. That being said, however, there were some very specific points that irked me. I have taken the liberty of arranging them into a top-five list for you.
5) A point is made in this movie about Poof's first words. Yet this was (to my recollection) never a running gag in the series. A much more interesting idea would've been to finally reveal Mr. and Mrs. Turner's first names which had been a constant teasing gag for years in the cartoon. Additionally, when Poof does say his first words, he is speaking like a thirty-year-old thug. Does that not feel like a gag that would be more at home in a stupid 90's film?
4) At one point, Cosmo and Wanda pose as normal human adults. However, they are portrayed by entirely different actors. While I am always entertained by Jason Alexander, these portrayals of the couple felt like pale imitations. Furthermore, this is nothing like an earlier time they had done this same thing. In that episode, they simply grew taller and their wands, wings, and floaty-crowny things disappeared.
3) I bought all of the characters as either just the live-action version of their cartoon counterparts or the original character just 13 years later, except Vicky. Cartoon Vicky seemed to pulsate with pure, unadulterated evil. Live-action Vicky seemed more like a generally sweet girl going as the Wicked Witch of the West for Halloween. Additionally (and this is more of a nitpick) but did you ever notice that Vicky's breasts were unnaturally pointy in the cartoon? Well, those get carried over here. Why? None of the other ridiculous physical traits get transferred. Jorgen's chin isn't a foot long, Timmy doesn't have huge buck-teeth, and Crocker has only a slight hunch and his ears are on his head rather than his neck. Why should this of all things make it through?
2) Mr. Crocker is, as always, a delight. However, he is almost entirely overshadowed by new villain Hugh J. Magnate, Jr., a corporate tycoon who wants to build a hotel/oil rig in Dimmsdale. In my opinion, this fails in several ways. For one, Magnate is a very stereotypical villain. Mind you, in watching a live-action cartoon, I'm not expecting The Godfather, but Fairly OddParents would at least have original characters who may or may not have had much depth. Plus, much like Poof talking, this is something that would be more at home in a stupid 90's film. Furthermore, Crocker was way too entertaining, memorable, and interesting character to get the shaft by a guy created for the movie. In fact, nothing in their scheme that Magnate did couldn't have been done by Crocker. Now it could be argued that we've already seen what Crocker does with magic (Jimmy-Timmy Power Hour 1, Abra-Catastrophe) so if he had been in on this by himself we'd just be retreading old territory. That's fair, which brings me to my next point: Crocker was never intended to be Timmy's archenemy; Vicky was. She was the reason he got fairy godparents, so it would've been some very nice irony if she was the one responsible for him losing them. Not to mention the fact that she is, in fact, Tootie's sister, which goes unmentioned.
1) Timmy accepts responsibility, grows up, and gives up his fairy godparents. The series gets the resolution that we all knew was coming and Timmy goes through some very nice character development. All is right...until Jorgen shows up and declares that Timmy is now exempt from losing his fairy godparents. Bullcrap! While it is explained that this is in reward for all the times he saved Fairy World (which makes sense), this was never foreshadowed and Jorgen actually spent the entire movie up until that point trying to ensure that Timmy did grow up and lose Cosmo and Wanda. Plus, this creates some notable problems with the other time we'd seen Timmy's future: Channel Chasers. In the end of that movie, we see Timmy as a thirty-year-old man (a mere seven years after this), married, with two children, and having forgotten all about his fairy godparents (save for some residual memories) who are now assigned to his children. While not necessarily a contradiction, it certainly appears that whoever wrote this installment neglected to research established parts of the show's history. Finally, this raises significant problems for Timmy's development because it undercuts his accepting of the fact that he has to give them up. Mind you, he still does grow as a person, promising to only make unselfish wishes, falling in love, and being a responsible member of society, but this does make me question how much the writers actually cared about such things.
On the whole, the movie was a worthwhile finale and general tribute to the cartoon. I was entertained the whole way through. That being said, however, there were some very specific points that irked me. I have taken the liberty of arranging them into a top-five list for you.
5) A point is made in this movie about Poof's first words. Yet this was (to my recollection) never a running gag in the series. A much more interesting idea would've been to finally reveal Mr. and Mrs. Turner's first names which had been a constant teasing gag for years in the cartoon. Additionally, when Poof does say his first words, he is speaking like a thirty-year-old thug. Does that not feel like a gag that would be more at home in a stupid 90's film?
4) At one point, Cosmo and Wanda pose as normal human adults. However, they are portrayed by entirely different actors. While I am always entertained by Jason Alexander, these portrayals of the couple felt like pale imitations. Furthermore, this is nothing like an earlier time they had done this same thing. In that episode, they simply grew taller and their wands, wings, and floaty-crowny things disappeared.
3) I bought all of the characters as either just the live-action version of their cartoon counterparts or the original character just 13 years later, except Vicky. Cartoon Vicky seemed to pulsate with pure, unadulterated evil. Live-action Vicky seemed more like a generally sweet girl going as the Wicked Witch of the West for Halloween. Additionally (and this is more of a nitpick) but did you ever notice that Vicky's breasts were unnaturally pointy in the cartoon? Well, those get carried over here. Why? None of the other ridiculous physical traits get transferred. Jorgen's chin isn't a foot long, Timmy doesn't have huge buck-teeth, and Crocker has only a slight hunch and his ears are on his head rather than his neck. Why should this of all things make it through?
2) Mr. Crocker is, as always, a delight. However, he is almost entirely overshadowed by new villain Hugh J. Magnate, Jr., a corporate tycoon who wants to build a hotel/oil rig in Dimmsdale. In my opinion, this fails in several ways. For one, Magnate is a very stereotypical villain. Mind you, in watching a live-action cartoon, I'm not expecting The Godfather, but Fairly OddParents would at least have original characters who may or may not have had much depth. Plus, much like Poof talking, this is something that would be more at home in a stupid 90's film. Furthermore, Crocker was way too entertaining, memorable, and interesting character to get the shaft by a guy created for the movie. In fact, nothing in their scheme that Magnate did couldn't have been done by Crocker. Now it could be argued that we've already seen what Crocker does with magic (Jimmy-Timmy Power Hour 1, Abra-Catastrophe) so if he had been in on this by himself we'd just be retreading old territory. That's fair, which brings me to my next point: Crocker was never intended to be Timmy's archenemy; Vicky was. She was the reason he got fairy godparents, so it would've been some very nice irony if she was the one responsible for him losing them. Not to mention the fact that she is, in fact, Tootie's sister, which goes unmentioned.
1) Timmy accepts responsibility, grows up, and gives up his fairy godparents. The series gets the resolution that we all knew was coming and Timmy goes through some very nice character development. All is right...until Jorgen shows up and declares that Timmy is now exempt from losing his fairy godparents. Bullcrap! While it is explained that this is in reward for all the times he saved Fairy World (which makes sense), this was never foreshadowed and Jorgen actually spent the entire movie up until that point trying to ensure that Timmy did grow up and lose Cosmo and Wanda. Plus, this creates some notable problems with the other time we'd seen Timmy's future: Channel Chasers. In the end of that movie, we see Timmy as a thirty-year-old man (a mere seven years after this), married, with two children, and having forgotten all about his fairy godparents (save for some residual memories) who are now assigned to his children. While not necessarily a contradiction, it certainly appears that whoever wrote this installment neglected to research established parts of the show's history. Finally, this raises significant problems for Timmy's development because it undercuts his accepting of the fact that he has to give them up. Mind you, he still does grow as a person, promising to only make unselfish wishes, falling in love, and being a responsible member of society, but this does make me question how much the writers actually cared about such things.