Even when it was introduced as a segment on "Oh Yeah! Cartoons," the demented, frantic, slapstick pace of "The Fairly OddParents," made the old Warner Bros. 'toons seem like post-war sugar-coated Disney shorts. Cartoon shorts like this HAD to have a series of their own, and better yet had to have a movie tie-in. In this case though, a made-for-TV-movie tie-in would suffice. Like the first Daria TV-movie "Is It Fall Yet?," watching a previous episode of the regular series is helpful to understanding the story. Unlike the Daria TV-Movies, it relies heavily on additional computer animation to grab the audience's attention. To call this cartoon an epic may be an overstatement, but I suppose if you're the same age as Timmy Turner, or at least remember what it was like to be that age, it's a well-deserved description.
Speaking of Timmy Turner, he's now one of a lucky few who've been able to conceal the presence of his Fairy Godparents Cosmo(Daran Norris) and Wanda(Susan Blaskeslee) for more than a year, and for this many fairies and other magical pixie-like mythical creatures hold a party for him. But not even Cosmo and Wanda can give him a life where he doesn't feel betrayed by his parents, or protect him from a school that would employ such a madman as Denzel Crocker(Carlos Alazraqui)...or can they? Among the array of gifts that Timmy receives for his fairy-versary is a magic muffin that can grant one rule-free wish. The trouble is, it'll grant that wish to ANYBODY who gets a bite of it(I know what I'd wish for, and so do you). Two people who shouldn't eat it end up doing just that, and you'll find out who they are in a few minutes.
Actually, the first "person" who shouldn't get a taste of the all-powerful Muffin isn't really human, even if he is a primate. It's a monkey mistakenly brought to school by A.J., who wishes(in chimp chatter, that is) that we humans would switch places with lower primates on the evolutionary ladder. It's also a world filled with horrible puns, a fact it admits quite proudly. After Bippy finally saw the results of his wish, and how it would put Timmy's life at risk, he wishes everything back to normal. But that doesn't mean it's time for a sigh of relief, because someone far worse gets a bite out of the muffin -- Denzel Crocker!! And the first things he does is capture Wanda, quit school and take over the world, which sends Fairy World into a panic. Somehow, the rainbow bridge between Fairy World and the real world seems similar to as episode of Tiny Toon Adventures, but that's not necessarily relevant. Timmy realizes that if he doesn't stop Crocker, nobody will. And since he has fairy magic leftover from his recent party, he does just that. Somebody who made a comment on the next-movie "Channel Chasers," called that the darkest FOP episode ever, but I always thought this one was pretty dark. The fight segments between Crocker and Turner seem a bit Wagnerian for a kid's cartoon, and the realization that he may have to sacrifice two prized "possessions" to stop Crocker is momentarily sad. Fortunately, since this IS a kids' cartoon, things do work out for our heroes.
In a TV Guide interview, Carlos Alazraqui described Mr. Crocker as a combination of Richard Dreyfuss, Montgomery Burns and Gene Wilder. Personally, I think he's more like Walter Kornbluth(Eugene Levy) in SPLASH(1984). Whichever description you find appropriate for this Fairy-Mad teacher, you'll find Butch Hartman and his crew are just as good at writing crazy cartoons, as they are at epic TV movies.
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