Voices of Amari McCoy, Sophie Peterson, Christopher Fitzgerald, and Cristina Valenzuela
Directed by Bronah O'Hanlon
Music and Lyrics by Greg Nicolett
This isn't the first time we've met the Sneeches, the class-conscious yellow critters with stars on their bellies who live at the beaches, at this blog. I reviewed the half-hour anthology special they debuted in, Dr. Seuss on the Loose, last year. Netflix got the rights to make children's cartoons from beloved Seuss characters who hadn't turned up as often in animation. They already did One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish and Horton the Elephant as children's shows. This is their first special, and the first Seuss special since Daisy-Head Mayzie in 1995. How does this class-war parable look on streaming? Let's begin with the pelican Daniel (Fitzgerald) and the story of how the Sneeches fractured into two warring groups and find out...
The Story: The Sneeches make up two groups, the star-bellies and the moon-bellies, each of whom believe their tummy symbol to be the better one. The star-bellies live in trees, while the moon-bellies make their homes by the ocean. That's the way it's always been, until imaginative star-belly child Stella Sneedly (McCoy) takes her many creative ideas to the beaches. There, she meets moon-belly Pearl Puddlesnuff (Peterson), a shy young miss who can build everything Stella comes up with. They become instant best friends, sneaking away to see each other whenever they have the chance.
Stella insists on meeting Pearl's parents and seeing her world. Given the animosity between the star and moon-bellies, this is impossible, until Stella invents and Pearl builds a machine that can erase and change symbols. Now the girls can visit each other's worlds...but Stella has no idea about living on the seas, while Pearl is upset and offended by the star bellies' Star Festival with speeches that verbally attack the moon bellies. When a huge storm threatens both groups, it's up to Stella and Pearl to come up with a way of protecting everyone and proving that "no Sneech is the best on the beaches."
The Animation: Colorful, rounded, and utterly charming. Netflix really had fun with this. You can see every bit of fur on the girls and every line of those green symbols that cause so much trouble. There's so much detail the girls' worlds, especially by the ocean, that you wish you had more time to explore it all. Honestly, it seems a little bit too soft and round for the bright, sketchy world of Dr. Seuss...but it works fine for a young children's show.
The Song and Dance: Divorced from its source material, this is a charming and lively little parable about two very different kids who become friends and just want to see how the other lives. McCoy is a sweet ball of energy as Stella, while Peterson's more nervous energy is adorable. The colorful animation is another plus, with it's incredible attention to detail.
The Numbers: We open with Stella's "Something Wonderful" as she dances among the star-belly Sneeches, creating new inventions and pointing out how much fun something different can be. She reprises this after arguing with her family over the Star Festival and her inventions. Pearl and Stella say "Me Too!" when they realize how much they have in common when they first meet. "Look at This!" says Stella as she and Pearl explore the moon-bellied Sneeches' ocean-going world. "Something Wonderful" is reprised in the finale when all of the Sneeches come together to admit that being different can be pretty cool.
What I Don't Like: Um...what does this have to do with The Sneeches? In the original story and the 1973 special, there were only star-bellied Sneeches and Sneeches with nothing on their bellies. The star-bellied Sneeches snubbed the ones with no stars. Sylvester McMonkey McBean was a con-man monkey, not a kid's pet, and the original inventor of the symbol-removing machines. In the book (and a subsequent Russian short based on it), the Sneeches never do learn their lesson. The 1973 version comes a little closer to this, with the Sneeches realizing that "no Sneech is the best on the beaches." All of this is cute, but it's not nearly as memorable as the rather cynical original story or the slightly-more-hopeful 1973 cartoon.
The Big Finale: Great for families with young kids who'll appreciate the story and the engaging central best-friend pair and won't care about the lack of book-accuracy.
Home Media: This is currently a Netflix exclusive.
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