September 2019

Posted 12 September 2019

Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus / Netflix / 2019 

I’m craaaaazy for Invader Zim so bear with me through this lengthy post.

Finally…AGAIN!

The day of August 16th, 2019 was the day of great anticipation. Many Invader Zim fans and admirers opened their Netflix accounts to find that the highly awaited movie, Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus, became available for viewing. I was among those anticipating fans who have waited for ages for its release. Let me say, this was like watching a new ep but with many improvements made in a short time since the premiere of the last official episode. Either way, with Invader Zim, you can’t go wrong.

Chicken and Rice…YUM!

The first part of this movie is based on issue 1 of the Invader Zim comic. Later on, it goes into all kinds of “Zim-sanity” that parallels greatly with the original series. I’ve never been good with summarizing “Zim” eps but I can say Zim overtakes Peace Day, the Tallest and their ship fly in a straight line, and an event happens on Moo-Ping 10, the space prison. My favorite part was the “Peace is Nice” song that GIR wrote. I also liked those brief licks about the ever-important ham that was mentioned in the movie twice. What was it used for? Watch the movie to find out!

A Welcomed Art Style Change

I enjoy the new art style of the Zim franchise. The colors are brighter than the style of the old series but still maintains its signature look with prominent greens, purples, and blacks. Though the new style looks a lot cheaper than the old animation style (which was very expensive to animate), I’ve warmed up to it a bit. I like how the actual opening credits are in the font reminiscent of Jhonen Vasquez’s’ comics. These fonts complement this new art style.

The Effort with Different Styles

To set this reboot movie apart from the other ones that stayed mostly true to their original style, this Zim movie boldly experimented with multiple different styles. One case was the pretty sweet cold intro. Dib had a dramatic monologue in the humanly realistic art style similar to the anime “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure” (as people on the internet say, I just watched a few clips of the anime and somewhat agree). Toward the end of the movie, they used multiple animation styles for something happening that made me remember the Gravity Falls Weirdmageddon series.

Retained Essence and More

What’s more awesome was that the original cast returned to reprise their roles (Richard Horvitz, Rikki Simons, Andy Berman, to name a few) and they still have it! They even brought back the original series composer (Kevin Manthei) and he still has it! New music was composed for this special but when GIR told his giant pizza story, listen to the music. Was that music recycled off an older ep? Which one? Or was it just in a similar style to the familiar piece? They also brought in Justin Roiland (of Rick and Morty fame) to voice Foodio 3000. Perhaps this was to appeal to those Rick and Morty fans who are also Zim fans.

More Depth for Membranes

I also like how the Membrane family now has more depth. The older eps have them more two-dimensional and with not as much personality leading viewers to think they were a broken family. As portrayed in the movie (and starting in the comics), Prof. Membrane was actually present in person, more fatherly, and not a floating head like in the original series. Dib looks slightly different now, too. Being subject to the slight character designs of the comic, he now has a fuller head of hair, a new t-shirt, darker skin, and wears sneakers. The trench coat is what makes Dib Dib. Gaz has more personality, too, with a wardrobe change that makes her look more approachable and less anti-social. It’s good to see those pretty eyes opened more often. I’m not too fond of Clembrane but maybe as an occasional character to which I can warm up. The more I watch the movie, the more OK he becomes.

Was It Worth It?

Each reboot movie I reviewed (Arnold, Rocko, and now Zim) was great in their own special ways but this movie is in a league of its own. It went beyond its comfort zone especially to change to art style to that of the comic as well as to attempt other styles for certain parts. It’s a really happy feeling to see something Zim-related that is officially animated. Do I want a revival series? Yes, but maybe for just 6-13 episodes only. Don’t kill this masterpiece of a show. If not, the monthly comics are sufficient enough. I have been super fond of Invader Zim since shortly after its debut. For all my years of loyalty, this movie should get 10 stars. Since that’s not in my rating system (which needs to change soon), I’ll just give it 5 stars. Still the best in its own Zim way!

I have much more to say about my loyalty to the Invader Zim franchise but I might leave it for a separate post to be written soon.