Review: Craig of the Creek “Escape from Family Dinner”

What’s on the menu?

Overview (Possible Spoilers Below)

After being informed by Kelsey & JP in a video-chat message about an epic water balloon fight within the creek at this very moment, Craig is stuck at home for a family dinner – unless he can escape.

Our Take

While the episode relies heavily on the comedic exaggerations of Craig’s point of view by treating his predicament like a prison to break out, the heart of the episode gives us a deeper insight into Craig’s family dynamic. Compared to the other times where they’ve had family dinner, Craig’s Mother treats this occasion as something more important than usual, but we eventually find out why near the end.

The water balloon fight itself that Craig attempts to partake in, is told mostly from Kelsey & JP’s point of view, and looks hilariously epic in scale, but the scenes when they convey this info to Craig are mostly told through video messages and pictures via-smartphone which give a sense of urgency to Craig’s motivation.

The animation is colorful with a fluid energy in terms of movement, and even in an episode where Craig feels confined to his house, a lot is going on in the scenery with the episode starting off in a comedic red text written in Japanese Kanji on top of English letters. There’s also a sub-plot where Craig expresses a genuine sense of unease due to some changes his school is subjecting him to doing, such as “Advanced Math”.

Overall, while the twist ending caught me off guard, this was still a fun episode with a genuine attempt at heart. It also helps that there are comedic setpieces that seem grounded in reality in combination with witty dialogue during the proceedings that manage to keep things equally fun & entertaining.