Admirable film.

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Even though some of the later season episodes weren't as funny and imaginative as the earlier ones, 'Phineas and Ferb' became a favourite when first introduced to it in 2009 or so. Eight years on, despite being finished, 'Phineas and Ferb' airs regularly on the Disney Channel and it's still a pleasure and one of their best shows in a long time.Although starting with an original concept, the stories in terms of structure are based around the same formula mainly. The ideas and situations however have enough variety to avoid it becoming too repetitive, while it looks good, has one of the catchiest theme tunes of any show in recent years, has wonderful, clever and funny writing, interesting and entertaining character relationships and characters that are easy to like. As likable as the two protagonists are and Candace is more than the stereotypical, tell-tale older sister that she seems, the scene stealers are adorable and funny Perry the Platypus (another example of mastery of actions and expressions registering hugely without uttering a word) and hilariously loony and incompetent Doofenschmirtz.It was inevitable that 'Phineas and Ferb' would get its own feature film, and it richly deserved it with characters and writing strong enough to warrant one. 'Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension' more than does the show justice and as far as films based on Disney Channel shows not released in theatres it's one of the best there is, proof too that 'Phineas and Ferb' had not lost its mojo at this point.Maybe the pacing is a little too fast on occasions, especially in the second half, and the finale is rather overblown and descends too much into silliness (something that the rest of the film avoided, so it was a shame). Flaws aside, 'Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension' is absolutely perfect for existing fans of the show and does a very good job in its attempt to attract a wider audience which shows that the film works on its own too. Children will love it and there is plenty for adults to enjoy, if anything adults or older fans will appreciate the story and humour more most likely.The animation is good and true to the animation style of the show but with a little more visual invention thanks to having a premise that allows for that to happen. It's simple but never simplistic, it's all vibrant in colour and the attention to detail is often marvellous. The music is catchy with some clever lyric writing, despite loving the infectious music in the show there was the fear that the music wouldn't be to my taste here, having heard polarising opinions on it, but coming from someone raised on classical music and opera it was right up my street.'Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension' is particularly good in the writing, characters and character relationships. The writing is remarkably intelligent, witty, inventive and clever with cracking puns and one-liners and references that will delight older audiences. All in the spirit of the show. The characters are both interesting and likable, it has been said that Phineas is out of character, and he is (showing a side to him that has never happened in the show), but one can understand why if anybody knows what its like for someone you love and trust is not who they seem while also understanding Perry's point of view.The characterisations of Perry and Doofenschmirtz are on point and stay true to their original personalities, and Candace's subplot actually to me was crucial in her development while not being as interesting as the rest of the story. The interactions are a joy all round, especially Phineas/Ferb, Phineas/Perry and Perry/Doofenschmirtz.Really liked the story. The fast paced energy of the show's story-lines are intact as are the inventiveness, the characterisations and relationships. Even better was how well 'Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension' did in opening things up with all the ingredients that made the show work so well intact while having the alternate dimension concept that gave the film a darker, bigger and edgier approach. This concept was intriguing and gave a suitable amount of tension and fun. The alternative universe versions of the characters are creepy and entertaining. It even has a touching moment with the reconciliation scene that warmed the heart too.Voice acting is typically terrific, particularly from Vincent Martella (Phineas), Ashley Tisdale (Candace) and Dan Povenmire (Doofenschmirtz).Overall, a real pleasure and complements 'Phineas and Ferb' perfectly. 9/10 Bethany Cox

I followed the Animated Series much later than at the time of its release, and it's pretty damn good. I've seen both movies, and Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension is truly superior.By now, there are SPOILERS, so don't read anything unless you REALLY want to.It breaks the most of the traditional build-up from the regular episodes, and it's really action-packed. It caught me off guard, and that's what I've been searching for : an ouch factor. The new characters helped that factor, especially the 2nd Dimension's Candace (Candice in my country), who flat out outshines the Candace we all know from the Animated Series.As you might have guessed, the plot is far from boring, and I won't reveal THAT much out of it. But the reason why I don't want to put a 10/10 for this movie or at least a 9.5/10, was the ending. During the movie, Phineas, Ferb and Candace finally discover who's Perry : a secret agent. And at the end, every main character (except the parents) gets brainwashed, and all say goodbye to the Perry they got to know in the movie. It was touching, but it shows the following season will go back to basics again. The action scenes between Perry and the main characters were amazing, and it makes me sad it won't happen in the series. Also it makes inconsistencies as the entire city, if not the world saw gigantic robots piloted by the main characters saving the day, anyone else like Jeremy (who doesn't appear) could remind Phineas, Ferb & Candace what they did that day, hell, the attack was even filmed on TV.Maybe the TV Series would have lost the charm it has now if Phineas & Ferb were now secret agents or anything, but I can't help thinking they were AWARE of Perry's identity then had saved the world, just to get brainwashed next as if nothing happened, it makes me pull the hair out of my head.Apart from that, it was imaginative, and the movie shows that the Animated Series, after 3 Seasons, still got it.9/10

At age 50, and too cheap for cable, I have almost no knowledge of today's animated kids' shows. It wasn't all that long ago, though, that I was still watching cartoons on network TV on Saturday morning (of course, I watch cartoons on Sunday evenings on Fox, but that's a totally different matter since those should not be seen by children). Still, I had never seen "Phineas and Ferb" before this movie and knew next to nothing about them.Still, this movie has enough intelligent writing to make it tolerable for adults, enjoyable characters, and a fun plot involving an alternate dimension. The main villain is enough of a bumbling idiot to be appealing, though his alternate-universe counterpart was plenty scary.The music was certainly not my taste for the most part, but I don't think it was supposed to be. Actually, like many of the cartoons of my childhood, this movie's music doesn't seem particularly contemporary (Slash was popular 20 years ago, for example), but it's plenty loud.The kids from our universe are geniuses, and we can be sure that no matter how bad things get, they'll figure out a solution. This sis good for kids to see because maybe it will make them want to study.I do question the TV-G rating, given the amount of violence. ABC has a tendency to put a TV-PG on squeaky-clean content, so it's nice that they're recognizing this is a clean movie. But this movie has only the cartoon kind of violence, though, and most of it is against robots, and not really enough to justify a TV-PG rating when TV-PG can be given to content that is much worse.I especially liked the nonsensical but humorous lines given to one of the robots. I don't recall him being given a name, but Irving's voice was Jack McBrayer of "30 Rock", so that was probably him.It's certainly worth seeing if you're a kid.

I absolutely love this movie. Phineas and Ferb always reminded me of the Saturday morning cartoons of childhood past. The regular episodes are somewhat silly and hilarious, but this movie is a true summer blockbuster. It's full of well-done action sequences mixed with doses of good humor. The songs are great, ranging from hard rock to disco, compared to some of the ones in regular episodes, which seem forced at times. Plus, the plot isn't too complicated but not your average children's made-for-TV movie plot line. The pacing is a bit fast though, and comedic timing is lost through hurried lines and lack of pauses. The animation, although much better than normal TV episodes, is a bit sloppy at times, is at times sloppy. If you're a long-time or even a short-time fan of this series, the movie will make you laugh at references to previous episodes. In short, I absolutely love this movie. If it was released in theaters, with crisper animation and better comedic timing, it might be one of the best things Disney has released this decade.