Recess: School's Out (2001)

Attention all movie lovers: If you were a kid who grew up the 1990’s, like me for example, and miss all your favorite shows at that time, I got one that you must’ve loved watching on ABC’s One Saturday Morning every Saturday morning, also like me for example, that made its way to the big screen in 2001, and that movie is RECESS: SCHOOL’S OUT. Based on the hit Disney animated TV Series (1997-2001) created by Paul Germain and Joe Ansolabehere, Your favorite characters: the prankster ringleader T.J. Detwiler (voiced by Andrew Lawrence), the athletic Vince LaSalle (voiced by Rickey D'Shon Collins), the tough tomboy Ashley Spinelli (voiced by Pamela Adlon), the extremely intelligent Gretchen Grundler (voiced by Ashley Johnson), the chunky and philosophical Mikey Blumberg (voiced by Jason Davis), and usually naïve army brat Gus Griswald (voiced by Courtland Mead), along with the rest of the fellow students of Third Street Elementary School : such as resident playground snitch Randall Weems, The Ashleys, the diggers Sam and Dave, the kindergartners, and King Bob, have finished their school year and are all excited about summer vacation. But trouble quickly sets in as T.J. uncovers an evil plot involving a crazy but insidious ex-teacher named Philliam Benedict (voiced by James Woods) trying to get rid of summer vacation permanently. As the Recess gang are faced with the dire threat of year-round school, the kids, along with some unexpected allies: assistant teacher/constant nemesis Miss Finster (voiced by April Winchell) and generally cold authority figure Principal Prickley (voiced by Dabney Coleman), band together in a nonstop adventure to save summer vacation for all kids worldwide. The film also features Melissa Joan Hart (TV’s Sabrina the Teenage Witch) as the voice of T.J.’s older sister Becky Detwiler, Clancy Brown (Mr. Krabs from Nickelodeon’s Spongebob Squarepants) as Mr. Bald Guy, Peter MacNichol (TV’s Ally McBeal) as the voice of Benedict’s assistant Fenwick, Nicholas Turturro (TV’s N.Y.P.D. Blue) as Cop #1, legendary voice actor Tony Jay (The Hunchback of Norte Dame) as Dr. Rosenthal, and legendary entertainer Robert Goulet as Mikey’s singing voice. The music in the film features classic 60’s songs like Martha and the Vandellas’ Dancing in the Street, Jimi Hendrix’s Purple Haze, Steppenwolf’s Born to Be Wild, The 5th Dimension’s Let the Sunshine In, and Robert Goulet singing Green Tambourine at the end of the film. What I have to say about James Woods, being that we all know him for his work in the hit movies: ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA, CASINO, GHOSTS OF MISSISSPPI, and Disney’s HERCULES; I thought he did a hilarious voiceover job as madman Benedict. Released on February 16th, 2001, the film became a box-office hit in the U.S., earning $36,706,141 domestically. However, it did not do nearly as well overseas due to poor publicity and advertising. It earned $7,754,709. However, with a total worldwide gross of $44,460,850, against the frugal $10 million budget, the film was still considered a huge success. As RECESS is one of the greatest animated shows I ever watched since ages nine to thirteen, I consider RECESS: SCHOOL’S OUT one of the best animated movies I’ve ever seen. Since today’s kids all saw TOY STORY 3, why don’t they watch yet another 90’s era animated show and movie all together.