Review: Star vs. the Forces of Evil “Monster Arm / The Other Exchange Student”

After watching this episode all I can say is…

Star vs. the Forces of Evil is one funny god damn show. If you look at the show closely, you will notice something very odd, but kind of fulfilling. This is what would happen if a man tried to make a cartoon geared towards young females. You have monster tentacle arms, inappropriate jokes, and a huge fucking dragon! Oh, and the fact that Star seems a little naive doesn’t hurt my case.

Between “Monster Arm” and “The Other Exchange Student,” The better of the two cartoons was “Monster Arm.” The episode was just funnier, and had more entertainment value to me. Call it the tentacle arm, or the fact that it went sentient, but the constant violence towards Marco and whoever he had a confrontation with. Going in, I was trying to find something wrong with “Monster Arm,” but it was a great episode.

However, “The Other Exchange Student” was not as entertaining. The final 15 or so minutes just felt like it was dragging, and there wasn’t so much of a payoff. When Gustav was outed as a liar, there could have been something more fulfilling to round out the episode. I felt a little cheated when he said he was from Bakersfieldville, and all he wanted was a little bit of recognition. It went doubly so when he looked like he was going to unleash a new breed of evil, only to cop out at the end. I was not happy.

As to be expected, “Monster Arm / The Other Exchange Student” really is a tale of two episodes. “Monster Arm” felt like the writers were firing on full blast, but “The Other Exchange Student” felt like a cylinder was cracked and misfiring. “The Other Exchange Student” wasn’t the worst I’ve seen, but it was very middle of the road, especially after watching “Monster Arm.”

This was actually a great preview of Star vs. the Forces of Evil, because it shows the two extremes for the show. Oh, and before I forget, the theme for Star vs. The Forces of Evil is probably one of the best themes I’ve heard yet, and the animation for it reminds me of the Scott vs. the World comic.

You can catch the two episodes here.