Recess: School's Out

Recess: School's Out (also known as Recess: The Movie – School's Out and Recess: The Ultimate Summer Vacation or Summer Vacation: The Ultimate Recess in the working titles) is a 2001 American animated comedy film based on the Disney television series Recess.[3]

Recess: School's Out
Theatrical release poster
Directed byChuck Sheetz
Produced by
Screenplay byJonathan Greenberg
Story by
  • Paul Germain
  • Joe Ansolabehere
  • Jonathan Greenberg
Based onRecess
by Paul Germain
Joe Ansolabehere
Starring
Music byDenis M. Hannigan
Edited byTony Mizgalski
Production
company
Distributed byBuena Vista Pictures
Release date
  • February 10, 2001 (2001-02-10) (premiere)
  • February 16, 2001 (2001-02-16) (United States)
Running time
83 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$23 million[2]
Box office$44.5 million[2]

It was produced by Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Television Animation and Walt Disney Television Animation Digital Production with animation done by Sunwoo Animation and Sunwoo Digital International. The film was distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, premiered on February 10, 2001, and released theatrically in the United States on February 16, 2001.

Plot

School's out at Third Street School, but T.J.'s friends have all decided to go to various summer camps. T.J. unhappily rides around town, doing things by himself, when he notices that there's something going on at the school. He sneaks inside and finds the school using a tractor beam to levitate a safe. Panicked, he tells his unbelieving parents and the police. When he gets Principal Prickly to come to see what's going on, he is shocked and dematerialized as soon as he puts his key in the door, leaving only his shoes behind as evidence. T.J. uses his sister Becky's diary to blackmail her into driving to all the camps to pick his friends up.

T.J. and his friends steal a box of documents, but filled with no information, T.J's friends then accuse him of making up an idea just to bring them back. They are about to head back to their camps when they see the tractor beam come out of the school and shoot out a green laser and agree that something is going on in the school. The next day, T.J. finds Prickly's golf pants in a dumpster with a "HELP ME!" note in the pocket; T.J. and his friends begin to infiltrate the school at night. While there, they are caught spying after Mikey let out a huge burp and they tried to flee, but T.J. is captured and is put in a storage room where he finds Prickly gagged and all tied up. A man named Dr. Phillium Benedict enters the room to speak to them.

After Benedict leaves, Prickly relates how, back in the fall of 1968, he and Benedict were best friends. Benedict then became the principal of Third Street School. During a private conversation with Prickly, Benedict showed him that he had intended a move to abolish recess as a way to improve test grades. Prickly went to the superintendent as a mean of convincing Benedict to change his mind. The superintendent instead fired him and promoted Prickly to principal. To make matters worse, Benedict's girlfriend, Muriel P. Finster, broke up with him, driving Benedict into a hateful vengeance. Later, Prickly says, Benedict went on to become Secretary of Education but was fired when he tried to abolish recess again nationwide.

T.J. and Prickly escape, but they are caught again. T.J. uses his walkie-talkie and tells his friends Benedict wants to destroy summer vacation after seeing graffiti about it. T.J.'s friends go through the box of documents again. Spinelli finds a date book that says lunar perigee (which happens to be 12:22 the next afternoon) on it; Gretchen deduces that Benedict is trying to move the moon's orbit via tractor beam when it is closest to the Earth, which as a result, will create a new Ice Age. Benedict reveals to T.J. and Prickly that his ultimate plan is to make summer winter so that kids will be forced inside to study.

T.J.'s friends gets Becky to drive to the camps again, where they pick up all the children. Gus draws up the plans to attack the school. T.J. and Prickly escape. Gus' plan works, and most of Benedict's guards and ninjas are knocked out or captured. All the kids pour into the auditorium. Another set of guards protects Benedict as he prepares to pull the lever. However, Muriel P. Finster arrives. After rejecting Benedict again, she brings the teachers in and a fight breaks out. During the fight, Prickly gives Benedict a "Prickly Punch" by punching the hell out of Benedict in the face, but as Benedict slumps, he triggers the beam and Prickly cannot reverse it. T.J. tosses his baseball to Vince, whose accurate arm destroys the machine. Benedict and his gang then get arrested for theft and breaking and entering.

T.J.'s friends inform him they intend to spend the rest of their summer with him, and T.J. rushes into Prickly's office to thank him, only to be thanked by Prickly for reminding him of why he went into teaching in the first place: to help kids. T.J. runs off with his friends, while Prickly puts on the peace symbol necklace, a memento of his past friendship.

Cast

Music

Soundtrack
Recess: School's Out (Original Movie Soundtrack)
Soundtrack album by
Various Artists
ReleasedJanuary 13, 2001
GenreSoundtrack
LabelWalt Disney
Soundtrack
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic
No.TitlePerformerLength
1."Dancing in the Street"Martha and the Vandellas2:38
2."Born to Be Wild"Steppenwolf3:27
3."One"Three Dog Night3:01
4."Incense and Peppermints"Strawberry Alarm Clock2:46
5."Wipe Out"The Surfaris2:37
6."Purple Haze"Jimi Hendrix2:40
7."Nobody But Me"The Human Beinz2:14
8."Let the Sunshine In"The 5th Dimension2:29
9."Green Tambourine"Robert Goulet2:36
10."Recess Suite"Denis M. Hannigan5:07
11."Dancing in the Street"Myra3:57

Reception

Box office

The film earned $36.7 million in North America and another $7.8 million from other countries. The worldwide gross was $44.5 million, against a $23 million budget.[2] The film was released in the United Kingdom on July 27, 2001, and opened on #7.[4]

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, the film has an approval rating of 61% based on 69 reviews, with an average rating is 5.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Though basically a television cartoon stretched out to movie length, Recess has enough successful jokes and smart writing to make it a worthwhile view."[5] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 43 out of 100, based on twenty critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[6]

Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times, gave the film a two and a half stars out of four, saying: "Parents may find it amusing, but it doesn't have the two track versatility of Rugrats in Paris, which worked for kids on one level, and adults on another."[7] Bob McCabe of Empire Magazine, gave the film a one out of five stars and said: "Even if it did keep the ankle biters quiet for an hour or so, this still wouldn't be worth your money."[8]

Common Sense Media gave the film a two out of four stars and said: "Simply a TV episode blown up for the big screen."[9]

Home Media

Recess: School's Out, was released on VHS and DVD on August 7, 2001.[5]

As of November 12, 2019, the film, along with the series, is available to stream on Disney+

References
  1. "Recess: School's Out". American Film Institute. Retrieved March 7, 2017.
  2. "Recess School's Out (2001)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2015-01-26.
  3. "Scale Down the Bad Guy in Kids' Animated Films". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-11-10.
  4. "UK Weekend Box Office 27th July 2001 - 29th July 2001". www.25thframe.co.uk. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  5. "Recess: School's Out (2001)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2015-10-03.
  6. "Recess: School's Out reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
  7. https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/recess-schools-out-2001
  8. https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/recess-school-review/
  9. https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/recess-schools-out
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