What elevates these themes is the great voice work of the main cast of Quintel, William Salyers, Mark Hamill, Sam Marin and Jeff Bennett, as well as guest voices like Anchorman’s David Koechner as Principal Dean and comedian Jason Mantzoukas as Mr. Their friendship has always been a major theme of the show and has been put through the wringer plenty of times, but to see Rigby finally learn a lesson about what it really means to be a friend is far more touching that one might expect. Though the crazy adventure through time takes a front seat, there is a secondary story of trust and friendship that haunts Mordecai and Rigby as a major betrayal from their high school days is revealed.
What is fascinating is the more emotional through-line that follows the story. As long as viewers are willing to accept that some parts will not be explained and should be taken at face value, they will be just fine with it. Despite how complicated the plot may seem, it is actually quite easy to follow. They story maintains everything that makes Regular Show so great, with a sci-fi plot that is weirdly complex yet easy to digest, the characteristic humor of the park employees, and plenty of referential humor to other great time travel comedies like Back To The Future and Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. What feels like a long explanation is only about the first ten minutes of the film, and things only get more ridiculous and over-the-top from there. Future-Rigby also warns Present-Rigby that “his secret” must be told in order to stop Mordecai from abandoning him. When their mission to destroy “The Time-nado” fails, Rigby rushes to travel back in time and enlist the help of present-day Mordecai and Rigby in stopping themselves from creating the Time-nado while working on a failed science experiment in high school. He has allowed a past betrayal by Rigby to drive him to Ross’s side. The IPR are planning an attack against a large space installation run by evil scientist (and former high school science teacher) Mr. Beginning in an unidentified time in the future, Rigby, Skips, Benson, Muscle Man, and High-Five Ghost are all in league with a rebellious group known as The Intergalactic Park Rangers. The film offers a story that is half space opera and half time travel adventure. Yeah, they’d go all out for a story, while maintaining a sense of emotion for the characters involved. So with that kind of hype, what would Quintel and crew do for a feature-length movie? Add a surrealist, The Mighty Boosh-style humor on top of the lovable-slacker set-up that has been popular since the sleeper success of Kevin Smith’s Clerks, and you have a sense of the show’s unique tone. The absurd and sometimes macabre adventures of Mordecai and Rigby follows two young adults stuck in a dead-end job at a local park. For a Cartoon Network series, that is a decently long life span. Quintel’s slacker comedy was picked from a group of many shorts, and premiered it’s first episode five years ago. Like many of their current lineup of shows, J.G. Regular Show was one of the first shows to come out of the Cartoon Network Shorts Program, which is an artist-driven incubator for creative talent to develop and pitch new show ideas.
What 90s-kid geek doesn’t connect with the dead-end job and video game obsession these two embody? So, I made sure to jump at the chance to bring my insight to you readers on what to expect from the feature-length Regular Show: The Moviein a special advance review. Its surrealist sci-fi plots fed my geekdom while letting me connect with the slacker 20-something character archetypes of lead characters Mordecai and Rigby. Five years ago, Regular Showmade its debut on Cartoon Network, and I have been a diehard fan ever since.