Starring Vincent Martella, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Dan Povenmire, and Ashley Tisdale
Released by Walt Disney Television Animation, 2007
Rated TV-G

Author’s note: This review contains some spoilers.

Aren’t I, a grown adult, a little old to love Phineas and Ferb cartoons? No. No, I’m not.

No one is ever too old to be inspired by the adventures of two young passionate valuers who know that their minds are their most important possessions, joyfully live each day to the fullest, and use their boundless creativity to accomplish their goals no matter what stands in their way. In this uplifting show, the title characters make it their policy to do all of the above. Up at seven every morning to cram in as much fun as possible, they start their days with Phineas’s enthusiastic “I know what we’re gonna do today!” and then proceed to do it.

Their extraordinary adventures include building a rocket, inventing a teleporter, and discovering Atlantis. As varied as their escapades are, they invariably put their reasoning minds to work to achieve their goals. They draw up blueprints and complete complex calculations to build their inventions. When they fail, they learn from their mistakes and try again. For example, in “Summer Belongs to You!” (the episode I find most inspiring), the boys and their friends try to make the “biggest, longest, funnest summer day of all time” by following the sun around the globe. Their plane loses its wings in the Himalayas, and they have to find a creative way to fix it with whatever they have at their disposal. Their solution is only temporary, resulting in new difficulties in Paris and, again, on a desert island. But they persevere and manage to return home before the sun sets.

Even in rare moments of discouragement, their motto is always, “We can dream it, do it, build it, make it.” They maintain that using their minds to bend nature to their will in order to achieve their values is “the measure of Man.” Phineas and Ferb complete their inventions quickly, safely, and efficiently by using modern tools and technology. The life-enhancing aspects of technology are illustrated in every episode—especially those that show what life without technology is like. For instance, in “She’s the Mayor,” the children build an old-fashioned pioneer town using only antique tools because they hear someone praising the practice of building something without relying on modern technology. At the end of the day, they are uncharacteristically dirty and unsmiling. Phineas says unenthusiastically, “It took a whole lot of toil, pain, sweat, and hard work to build this town. We should be proud.” But there is no pride in their faces. Ferb replies, “Let’s never do that again.” The children regain their cheerful disposition and go inside the house to enjoy the perks of modern technology, such as air conditioning and indoor plumbing.

Phineas and Ferb show how, by using their minds fully, they can achieve all their personal values, whether finding a fun way to clean the garage, helping a friend find a lost pet, or saving the world from a new ice age. Irrational characters, on the other hand, illustrate the self-destructive nature of focusing on others when determining their values and choosing the destruction of others’ values as their goal.

For example, Candace, the boys’ neurotic teenage sister, is obsessed with “busting” her brothers by showing their unsuspecting mother their creations and so getting them in trouble. Despite claiming that she is doing it to protect them from their “dangerous inventions,” it is obvious that she is jealous. She compares herself to their genius instead of focusing on her many talents and abilities. She suffers from a lack of self-esteem that drives her to destroy what she cannot match, thinking this will prove her superiority. As a result, she risks losing her best friend, misses dates with her boyfriend, and wastes the precious time of her vacation trying—unsuccessfully—to ruin the boys’ fun.

The boys know Candace is a good person and see in her the qualities that she cannot. They love their sister and want her to join in their activities, and sometimes they try to help her achieve her goals with their inventions. She finds peace and happiness only when she sees in herself the qualities that her brothers see, and she realizes that she, too, can benefit from their achievements.

The show’s “evil” scientist, Doofenshmirtz, more clearly epitomizes irrationality than does Candace. He is driven by envy and a desire for revenge. He aims to destroy what he lacks, spending most of his time enacting hilariously ridiculous, petty schemes that often backfire. For instance, in “Chez Platypus,” his response to his romantic failures is to build a ray that eliminates the feeling of love. But then he meets his ideal woman, and they fall in love—only for her to be hit by his ray and lose her feelings for him.

When Doofenshmirtz’s plans are not self-defeating, they are thwarted by his nemesis, Perry the platypus. Posing as the boys’ mindless pet, Perry is actually a quick-witted secret agent who uses his mind and gadgets to escape from Doof’s traps and foil his schemes.

Cheerful songs, witty writing, benevolent humor, and contagious optimism make Phineas and Ferb a great work of soul-fueling art, not only for children but for adults as well. Its brilliant optimism and reality-first approach make every episode a delight. As Phineas says, “You don’t have to build a roller coaster to find your own way to make the most of these days of summer”—or of life in general. All you need is to use your creativity to its highest potential.

P.S. If you want to see a cartoon that concretizes the soul-crushing conditions of dictatorship and the connection between freedom and the mind, also check out Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension, a feature-length special in which the boys travel to a parallel universe and meet alternate versions of themselves living under a totalitarian regime.

Cheerful songs, witty writing, benevolent humor, and contagious optimism make Phineas and Ferb a great work of soul-fueling art, not only for children but for adults as well.
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