Zim, Zim, Zala Bim

There will probably always be timeless tales that will be told and retold over the course of humanity’s existence. One such tale is “a boy and his (fill in the blank).” There’s “a boy and his dog.” There’s “a boy and his giant robot.” And there’s “a boy and his alien from outer space.” Obviously, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial is the most successful and influential version of that last example. Except in that story, it was about a boy befriending a lost and harmless alien, and doing his best to keep him a secret. I wouldn’t be surprised if the creator of Invader Zim thought to himself, “What if the alien wasn’t so harmless, and the boy was trying to expose the alien as the danger that he is?" I'm glad to say that the results are quite hilarious.

Netflix’s Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus takes place after an unspecified time since the finale of the original series. Dib Membrane is a grade school boy who happens to live next door to Zim, a small yet wily alien who masquerades as a human and plots to take over the Earth on behalf of his people, known as the Irken Race, led by the Almighty Tallest. Being the son of a genius scientist, Dib uses his wits to undermine each of Zim’s sinister plans. However, it’s been quite a while since Zim has shown himself, and Dib has let himself go while waiting for Zim to make his move. Dib becomes attached to his favorite chair and unable to confront Zim. This was all phase one of Zim’s master plan, and now he will move onto phase two.

I must confess, I never watched Invader Zim when it was a TV series during the early 2000s. By that time, I had stopped watching Nickelodeon altogether, mostly because they wouldn’t stop pushing the painfully annoying Spongebob Squarepants down everyone’s throat. In other words, I went into this movie without any idea of what to expect. I did recognize Zim and his sidekick, GIR (who is often disguised as a little green dog), from merchandise that I’ve seen at the local Hot Topic, but I never knew of the context of either character. I’m happy to say that I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw.

Right away, the movie won me over with its humor. From the moment that Dib’s father, Professor Membrane, says that he once trusted a shark, only to remove one of his gloves to reveal that he has a cyberonic arm and hand and say “never again,” I knew I was going to enjoy the next 71 minutes. In fact, I found myself relating a little too much to Dib. A brainy outcast with a sister who doesn’t respect him and a father who he is always trying to seek praise from. I dare say, if I was a child watching this series when it first aired, I probably would have related to Dib as much I relate to Peter Parker from Spider-Man! But it’s Zim who is the real star of the movie, and boy, is he a laugh riot. His ongoing gag is that he will throw himself in overdramatic monologuing and laughing maniacally about his own evildoings. This could have gotten tiresome quickly, but between Zim’s character design and his voice, I found him to be uproariously funny.

Another running gag that I enjoyed was how the Tallest want nothing to do with Zim. Be it the Tallest forgetting who Zim ever was, or Zim finding out that the Tallest are nowhere near Earth’s orbit while on their path of galactic conquest, it provides some of the best humor of the movie. One final running gag that I found amusing was how Professor Membrane refuses to believe in anything he deems “unscientific,” like aliens and ghosts. As such, he doesn’t believe in Dib’s warnings about Zim being an alien. This is only taken to new levels of hilarity when the Professor is kidnapped and taken into outer space, yet when surrounded by spaceships and aliens, he is still in denial about everything and claims it’s all a hallucination due to a bump on the head.

That being said, not everything about “Invader Zim” is endearing. I thought GIR was irksome, and most of what the character did to be unfunny. Yeah, I get it, “GIR” stands for “garbage-level information retrieval,” and he was created by the Tallest using a garbage can and whatever they found inside their pockets, so he’s going to be defective, but his voice was like nails on chalkboard at times. Yes, I take it GIR is like the mascot to the series based on all the merchandise he appears on, but that doesn’t change the fact that by the end of the movie, I wanted the character to be killed off in the most violent way that a movie made for children could allow.

Overall, I give Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus a well deserved four out of five stars. I was thoroughly entertained throughout the runtime, and found myself laughing at all the jokes (unless GIR was the one telling them). If you’re a fan of the series, this is definitely worth a watch. And if you’re looking for a fun movie for the entire family to watch that isn’t owned by our Disney overlords, this is a great choice. For once, Netflix wasn’t given the shaft for buying another studio’s unwanted movie. That concludes this fan-picked review. And remember, when it comes to the media that you consume, be like Indiana Jones, and choose wisely.

Short Version

Pros:

Genuinely funny humor and running gags.

Cons:

GIR is annoying, regardless of popularity.

Verdict: **** (four out of five stars).