YMMV / The Banana Splits Movie

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Was the cancellation of the show the real cause of the Splits turning murderous, or would the update they were given have turned them psychotic no matter what happened? Although Karl the Engineer was the one who gave them the update, so that also leads to this other question: Did Karl intend for them to become homicidal, or did he just want to protect his precious animatronics by giving them some way to fight? Or did he even know that was what the update did? Furthermore, did the update even have anything to do with the Splits turning homicidal, or did it simply make them capable of fighting and they simply used that ability to get disproportionate revenge on those who played a role in cancelling the show?
  • Snorky in this movie has several. Was he the Token Good Teammate all along or was it a Heel–Face Turn upon seeing Harley? Also, while he is the only one who didn't kill, he clearly tried to run over Mitch with the car and did injure him. Could this have been Snorky trying to get payback for Mitch cheating on Beth? Or did he try to kill Mitch because he thinks Mitch might also mistreat Beth in other ways? Did Snorky turn on the others just for Harley's sake, or is it because he knows that murdering the adults and forcing the children to watch the show forever won't bring them their show back and that the band will now be remembered not as child entertainers but as murderous monsters? Did Snorky always know that murdering the adults and forcing children to watch the show is wrong and only reacted to save both the kids' lives and the Splits' legacy, or did he realize that later on and then turn on the other Splits after the realization?
• Angst? What Angst?: One of the primary issues most people complain about. A lot of the characters seem to take the terrifying situation they're in relatively lightly. In particular, Harley never seems scared throughout the whole movie, and even wisecracks during the ending.
• Audience-Alienating Premise: On one hand, some people were open to the idea of a horror movie based on Hostile Animatronics thanks to the popularity of Five Nights at Freddy's, combined with the Development Hell the official film adaptation had been in for years. On the other hand, the fact the movie is based on a real kid's show and is also way more violent than one would expect has definitely turned some people away.
• Awesome Music: Patrick Stumph's score does a decent job mixing cartoonish and intense. Also, his rendition of the iconic Tra La La song in the end credits is downright fantastic.
• Broken Base: Some people despise the film for changing the tone of the original from a kids show to a horror film amongst other things, while others don't mind the film and find the horror turn rather intriguing.
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • Thadd's proposal to Poppy, which is done on the set of the show they love and streamed to all their followers. Sadly, it occurs immediately before tragedy.
  • Harley winning over Snorky's trust by doing the "Snorky Shuffle".
• Hilarious in Hindsight: This hypothetical fusion of the Banana Splits and Five Nights at Freddy's predates the movie by several years. Cue the artist being called a prophet.
  • Added to the comparisons, in this film, Poppy ends up taking up the costume and identity of Hooty, several years before Vanny appeared.
  • The reason of the animatronics in this movie becoming hostile is the result of a programming error rather than becoming possessed, a few months later this exact plot point would be used in the series that this film was supposed to adapt.
• Love to Hate: Stevie. Despite being complete douchebag with no redeeming qualities, he is rather hilarious to watch.
• Nausea Fuel:
  • Stevie having tons of blood pouring out of his mouth after Drooper forcibly shoves a lollipop down his throat.
  • The results of Thadd getting sawed in half.
  • Jonathan's spine getting exposed after having his back cut open by Fleegle.
  • The "Wheel of Endings", where Andy is given the "Banana Split".
• Older Than They Think:
  • The Hostile Animatronics trope is nothing new in pop culture; however, since Five Nights at Freddy's is one of the most famous examples of it, that's all people have been comparing this film to.
  • Likewise, as a Hanna-Barbera property, this isn't the first time one of their works was dramatically re-purposed into something more adult-orientated than before; [adult swim] got their start by remixing HB properties into shows like Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Sealab 2021 or Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, and there's DC Comics' Hanna-Barbera Beyond series that released Darker and Edgier takes on Hanna-Barbera properties such as Wacky Raceland and Scooby Apocalypse.
  • This isn't the first The Banana Splits have been given a Darker and Edgier reimagining. This comic from 2017 shows them teaming up with The Suicide Squad.
• So Okay, It's Average: Currently holds a 5.0 on IMDB. Generally, it's agreed that the movie is fine, with some pretty good effects on both the animatronics and the gore, but the plot is weak and the characters are very flimsy. It's pretty much your run-of-the-mill horror movie, with the only thing making it stand out from the crowd being the source material.
• Special Effect Failure:
  • While the gore effects are appropriately disgusting and surprisingly convincing for a Syfy movie, the blood splatters that sometimes accompany them are obviously added in post production.
  • Poppy running down Mitch is also a rather dodgy composite shot.
• Spiritual Adaptation: As the actual film based off of it has only recently gotten out of Development Hell, this is the first movie adaptation of Five Nights at Freddy's.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Poppy bursting into tears as her fianceé gets butchered in front of her by Fleegle.
  • Snorky's Heroic Sacrifice.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Fans of the original series were angered by this being a horror film rather than a more faithful take on the series.
• They Copied It, So It Sucks!: A number of people are put off by how similar the film seems to Five Nights at Freddy's. See Older Than They Think above. Ironically, there are rumors that the screenplay for this film was in fact originally supposed to be for a FNAF film but it fell apart due to disagreements with the creator, so WB re-purposed it into a Splits movie instead.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: In the original series, the Banana Splits all had distinct personalities that worked off of each other (Fleegle is the Only Sane Man, Bingo is the Cloud Cuckoolander, Drooper is the Motor Mouth, and Snorky is the Butt-Monkey). While Eric Bauza's performance as all of them (minus Snorky) is one of the most praised aspects of the film, the aforementioned personalities are completely absent, with the Splits being voiceless through most of the kill scenes and the dialogue they do get is rather generic and interchangeable between them. Having the Splits' classic personalities and banter on display while they're killing off the cast could've made the film less of a standard slasher film and helped the self-aware tone it tried to go for.
• Unpopular Popular Character: Stevie is clearly The Scrappy In-Universe both on-set and off, but several viewers have grown to like him, either for his hilariously dickish attitude or for his status as an Escapist Character (who wouldn't want to perform with the Splits like he does?)
• What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: When the movie was released to DVD, Amazon categorized it as a Kids and Family film because it was based on a children's show. Not only is it a horror movie based on the show, but it contains many gruesome deaths, along with a few instances of mild swearing and a scene in which a character goes onstage while drunk.
• The Woobie: Many of the characters count, but Poppy probably takes the cake. She's Forced to Watch her fiancé get sawed in half right after he proposes to her, and the trauma from that ends up causing her to snap and take on the role of the fifth Banana Split, Hooty.

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