Recess the Movie: School's Out (2001)

It might be overstating things to say that Recess: School's Out has something to offer for the whole family. After all, a bureaucrat's crackpot plan to squash recess and summer vacation won't get anyone riled up above, say, age eight. Still, Disney does an entertaining job bringing its Recess TV show to the big screen, with writing that supplies dimension to the rudimentary drawings and enough cleverness to exceed expectations for an out-and-out kiddie movie. Animators have a reputation as hippie slackers who like to slip drug references into their projects, and here they manage it with nice G-rated fondness, showing giddy flashbacks to the days when the teachers were tie-dyed 1970s radicals (an era the soundtrack mirrors). The film may have the look and feel of a Saturday morning cartoon, but it has a much smarter sensibility than that and gives the characters a lot more credit. Viewers who get an occasional King of the Hill vibe from Recess should not be surprised. Director Chuck Sheetz has helmed episodes of the popular Fox animated series, and Pamela Segall, who voices Ashley Spinelli, the tomboy with pro wrestling aspirations, also does the voice for Bobby Hill. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide