Netflix synopsis:

When Zim reappears to begin the next phase of his evil alien plan to conquer Earth, his nemesis Dib Membrane sets out to unmask him once and for all.

*Even though this is a spoiler review, I won’t go too deep on details. I want you guys to check it out.

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The classic cartoon in Netflix!

Here goes another classic returning and unfortunately, you have to pay for Netflix to watch it. Joining Rocko’s Modern Life; Static Cling, we have the return of Invader Zim. The creator and voices for the characters are back and they were able to do a movie on this dumb alien invader. This movie is called Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus. Invader Zim is a Nickelodean cartoon created by Jhonen Vasquez and it aired on TV in 2001. The show gained so much positive feedback for it’s silly dystopian world and random humor. The series only two seasons and it was unfortunately canceled in 2006. According to AWN.com, even though series was good, it started losing ratings because it couldn’t appeal to ages 2-11 audiences. Regardless of its cancellation, the series had a big influence in merchandising such apparel in Hot Topic. After years of disappearing, the show came back as a movie in 2019. Before I begin this review, I am going to talk about the cartoon itself. If you already know about Invader Zim, skip over the section.

Invader Zim: Invading your Channel

Invader Zim tells a story about an alien called an Irken named Zim who gets “sent” to Earth so it can get conquered for the Irken Empire. The true reason why Zim gets sent to Earth because according to his leaders, Almighty Tallest Red and Purple, Zim is very annoying and dumb and they want to get rid of him. Zim, believing everything his leaders say, he accepts the mission and takes with him a goofy child like robot named Gir so they can conquer Earth. However as they make it to Earth, they can’t conquer because there is a kid named Dib who wants to prevent the invasion. Dib is a kid who believes in aliens and paranormal activities. He has a well known scientist dad named Professor Membrane and video game loving sister named Gaz. Throughout the series, Zim is trying to conquer Earth, but he fails miserably while Dib tries to prove that Zim is an alien but he also fails too.

Now that you got the background of the cartoon, let’s talk about the movie.

Enter the Florpus: Waiting and waiting and wait even more

The story begins with Zim disappearing for months and Dib constantly watching over Zim. Dib has locked himself in his room watching Zim’s house in order to make sure he can stop him. However, this makes Dib hideously fat and unable to move and relying a chair to move. The movie begins when Zim finally reappears and ready to initiate his plan phases. Dib tries to stop Zim but he can not move because he gained so much weight; however likewise, Zim also can’t do his evil plans because he forgot what was the plans while he was sitting and waiting for months. This gives Dib the chance to work out and regain his figure and this forces Zim to rethink his plans. Unfortunately, for Zim, he does not know what to do and he believes he failed his leaders. Later on, Dib does get back to normal but he wants to catch Zim and prove everyone including his dad that Zim is an evil alien. When Dib is given the perfect opportunity to catch a depressed Zim, he decides to try to lift his spirit to give him a fighting chance. Through out the movie, Zim and Dib are trying to work together fulfill their personal goals, but Zim has something else in mind in his goals.

Review: A Heartwarming Reunion of the show and fans

After seeing this movie, I really want to say this movie hit me in the nostalgia feels. I used to love watching Invader Zim when it was on TV and I was disappointed that this show got cancelled. After waiting for a long time, I am happy to say that I really enjoyed it. I am so happy to see that the team were able to release this, but I do wish this movie was on TV for those who doesn’t have Netflix. The plot of the movie gives me the feeling of watching an episode of the classic cartoon. This movie still had its gross humor and epic moments. The pacing in the movie was pretty good and in my opinion, it was way better than Rocko’s Modern life: Static Cling. I like the Rocko movie, but it was a too fast. Watching this Invader ZIm movie felt like I was watching an hour long episode and I was pretty okay with it. I also like how they wanted to focus on both Zim and Dib’s plot. Zim wanted to please Almighty Tallest and show he is the greatest Irken that he conquered Earth, while Dib wanted to show that he can protect and prove that there are aliens out there. In characters. they are just as wild and random as the cartoon. In my opinion, this movie has some surprisingly good wholesome moments. For example, there is a moment in the movie where Dib blames himself for helping Zim the planet and his sister Gaz does something you don’t expect from the cartoon: she tries to comfort him. In her own words, she mentions that she picks on Dib if he can handle it, but she sees him crying and not handling a situation, she gets uncomfortable and tries to help. It’s so different from usual character but it works out good. There is another moment where Dib and Gaz saves their father Professor Membrane from Space Jail and Dib mentions he wants to make his dad proud of him, but his father responds back that he doesn’t need to prove anything to him because he is already proud of him. This movie hit me some wholesome content I did not expect. The animation in this movie is up to date but still retains the same animation. This movie does play around with new animation in which the creators even tried to replicate anime animation or even puppet style or even child like cartoons.

Overall – a crazy come back from this classic

Is Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus worth watching? Absolutely! If you grew up watching Invader Zim or you know some knowledge of the cartoon, I say go watch this movie. This movie still retains the same content as the TV show and the characters are the same as ever. The voices for characters are incredible and I really like how the animation feels news but also not too different to feel out of place. It’s like Rocko’s Modern Life: Static Cling where it was something new, but familiar. The pacing was better than Rocko so I was able to enjoy this movie. This movie does a good job making moments either funny, serious or awkward. I like the new elements in this movie such as wholesome moments, playing around with animation and butt kicking action involving Professor Membrane. This movie was so good that it help spawn some new memes. The ending of the movie was pretty satisfying for both Zim and Dib. It feels like it could get a sequel movie or at least TV return, but it also shows it doesn’t have to, I do wish this movie was on TV for the general audience so they watch it without Netflix. As someone who grew with classic cartoons, Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus is a must watch.

Did you watch it? Comment down below your thoughts.