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Release: September 13, 2011Movie: James and the Giant Peach (1996)
This review contains examples of:
- Big "WHAT?!": Critic writes "What?" on a sheet of paper after hearing the out of nowhere fate of James' parents and writes a bigger "WHAT!?" after replaying the clip.
- Call-Back: Critic questions the existence of the Internet State Penitentiary and notes it's right next door to the State Home for the Ugly.
- Captain Obvious: Critic makes fun of Randy Newman for writing songs for this movie that state the obvious, such as "My Name Is James".
- Creator Killer: In-Universe. Critic's Let's Play review from the week before has his fanbase out for his blood.
- Death Is Cheap: Critic is shot dead at the end, but he shows up alive and well in the next episode.
- Downer Ending: Critic gets gunned down at the end simply because he didn't love the movie.
- Felony Misdemeanor: Critic is sent to jail for his terrible Let's Play review a week earlier.
- Godwin's Law: At the beginning when the Critic is taking questions from the audience:Man: Melvin the Brother of the Joker, Emo Jones, this recent Let's Play, Nazi Germany. That is all.
- Happiness Is Mandatory: Critic has to be positive throughout the review or else.Critic: [That cloud] looks like a crappy CGI effect. (Guns point at him.) I mean... a good CGI effect...
- Parental Abandonment: To parody the abrupt death of James' parents, Critic rewrites a scene from The Lion King (1994) where Mufasa shows Simba his kingdom to have him be abruptly eaten by a rhino. Ironically, one of the writers of the film, Jonathan Roberts, was also a writer of The Lion King (1994).
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: The evil rhino.
- Running Gag: "Work, work, work, work, WORK!" and guns being pointed at the Critic constantly.
- Serious Business: The Critic is being held in jail for making a bad Let's Play.
- Shout-Out:
- Critic rewrites a clip from The Lion King (1994) to have Mufasa gobbled up by a rhino.
- Critic mentions that the skeleton pirates looks very familiar.
- Critic makes the seagulls shout "Mine!".
- "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" plays during James' Calling the Old Man Out moment.
- The Critic is being held in the Internet State Penitentiary, which is next door to the State Home For the Ugly.
- "Heeeeeeeere's Peachy!"
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: When Critic introduces the movie.Critic: It's not like the film did poorly at the box office but got a surprising cult following over the years. Or that the critical reaction at the time was lukewarm at best, but recently is being declared as a timeless classic. And it's not like my need to please the masses is going to affect my opinion in any conceivable way. I'm just gonna praise it for the wonderful family romp that it is.
- Take That!: The Critic takes several hits at songwriter and singer Randy Newman, finding his songs repetitive and simplistic.
- During the Critic's cloud-reading gag, after getting the directions he wants, the clouds write out "Map Quest can suck it!"
- Take That, Audience!: In the initial draft for the episode, it was Douchey McNitpick who was to complain to the Critic about the Let's Play: Bart's Nightmare review. But at Mike Michaud's suggestion, he changed Douchey to Chester A. Bum.
- That Cloud Looks Like...: Critic mocks the film's opening scene by saying a cloud looks like a map of Chicago, followed by the cloud showing an actual map. When Critic thanks the cloud, the cloud spells out "MapQuest can suck it!".
"Work, work, work, work, WORK!"
