A Very Perry Christmas (2009/2010)

PHINEAS AND FERB: 
A VERY PERRY CHRISTMAS  (2009/2010)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
    D: Zac Moncrief, Jay Lender, Robert F. Hughes
Chances are, unless you've got kids or grandkids or nieces or nephews of a certain age, you've never even heard of Phineas and Ferb. If that's the case, here's the scoop. "Phineas and Ferb" is a Disney cartoon series about two stepbrothers who live in a town called Danville and have lots of wildly imagined adventures over a summer vacation that goes on forever, or 104 days, whichever comes last. Phineas is the idea man. (His signature line: "I know what we're gonna do today!") Ferb is the engineer, the quiet kid who can build anything and brings those fabulous ideas to life. Their endearingly vain and shallow sister Candace is a few years older and determined to bust them, which she never quite manages to do. Perry, their pet platypus, transforms into the daring and intrepid "Agent P" whenever somebody asks, "Where's Perry?", which somebody always does. Agent P's archenemy is Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz (of Doofenshmirtz Evil Inc.), who in every episode has just invented some new high-tech beam apparatus designed to bring darkness and doom to the entire Tri-State Area. Are you still with me? It doesn't matter. The show's full of jokes and puns and cultural references that will amuse the grownups while flying right by their children, who will still find something to relate to in the show's animated characters. The closest thing I could compare it to is "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle", if you're old enough to remember that. The highlight of this DVD compilation is a 33-minute story called "Christmas Vacation!", in which the kids and Perry try to stop Dr. Doofenshmirtz from tricking Santa into skipping his annual Christmas drop over Danville. It's not as tightly plotted as some of the shorter episodes, but all the characters are in play, doing what they do best. Four of the shorter (12-minute) episodes are included on the DVD. If the current vapid state of kids' entertainment is driving you nuts, give it a shot. You might like it. Your kids might like it. It might make you all want to watch more "Phineas and Ferb".