Everyone's favorite Irken soldier Zim is back with a new master plan to defeat his old rival Dib, and conquer Earth for the Irken Empire once and for all!
The film opens with a narration from Dib Membrane (Andy Berman), who seems to be a Jojo's Bizarre Adventure fan based on his flashback art style.
He details how Zim (Richard Horvitz) arrived on Earth, with only Dib seeing through his disguise and attempting to stop him. To his surprise, however, Zim disappeared one day, and he's been keeping watch ever since, certain the invader will return. In present, Professor Membrane (Rodger Bumpass) and his robot Foodio 3000 (Justin Roiland) prepare dinner for Gaz (Melissa Fahn) and the absent Dib. Gaz doesn't want to fetch him, as he's been in his room becoming disgusting since Zim disappeared. Membrane urges patience, thinking Dib is letting go of supernatural beliefs and growing up, like he did after losing his arms to sharks he thought were his friends. Gaz grudgingly agrees to go and puts on her "Gazmat suit," and heads upstairs with a frying pan, knocking open Dib's door to order him to come to dinner. Dib says he can't leave his screens since no one else sees through Zim's actions, which he still can't understand, and everyone, even their dad, will be forced to believe him. Gaz postulates that Zim could be gone forever, only to see him on a screen. Overjoyed, Dib drags himself in his chair to the hall, despite her pleas that he take a bath first. He wheels himself to Zim's house, where the alien doesn't recognize him due to his grotesque, crusty form. Dib demands to know where he's been, and Zim produces a video that shows he was hiding in his house all along, sitting in a toilet laughing. Though this confuses Dib, Zim explains the boy was the only one to see through his disguise, so he waited, knowing Dib would sit on watch and let his body weaken. Zim enacts Phase 2, which consists of"evil" like swapping people's mail and reading someone's newspaper when he isn't subscribed. Gir (Rosearik Rikki Simons) launches a pug into space, and Dib admits he can't fight because he's fused to his chair. With Dib helpless to stop him, Zim returns victorious to his house, with Dib crying out as Zim's lawn gnomes shoot lasers at him.
In his house, Zim declares there's still much to do and has his computer contact the Tallest, sure they'll be sick with worry since he hasn't called in for so long.
As it turns out, the two are bored as their ship blasts planets, when Almighty Purple (Kevin McDonald) brings up Zim. Almighty Red (Wally Wingert) struggles to recall him, then laughs as they reminisce about sending him to Earth to be rid of him. They are horrified and angered when his transmission then reaches them, and though they thought he was dead, he confirms his living status by dancing. Telling them of Dib's fate, he says he's ready for Phase 2, but realizes he can't remember what that is, and his only recording mentioning it was when he said he didn't need to write it down, as he forgets nothing. With the Tallest bored, Zim gets no help from Gir, who throws a tantrum when his plan is tossed, and Zim destroys his screen upon realizing the Tallest aren't on hold. The terrified Zim envisions a scenario where the Tallest, angered at him for forgetting, strip him of his rank and mark him as nothing, calling him dumb and stupid. Certain they have little time before either the Tallest arrive or Dib returns to fighting shape, Zim intends to formulate Phase 2. The pair goes through numerous plans, each a flop, while at the Membrane house, Dip trains and returns his body to normal. Zim worries about his time limit again and demands that the computer access the Irken flight plans, which requires them to be "sneaky" and siphon more power. The computer reveals a map with the straight Irken path. Unable to spot Earth, Zim orders the computer to zoom out and watches curiously as it does so over and over.
With the computer taking its time, Dib is able to return to his normal appearance. He rushes outside where his dad is testing his Peace Day "Membracelet" on some kids, causing them to float away, and receives his own bracelet.
Dr. Membrane explains how kids all over the world will hold hands wearing the bracelet, then notices Dib's briefcase and expresses disappointment. The two argue about Dib's claims, and when Membrane says he just hasn't seen proof, Dib takes him to the shed, which is full of relics from battles with Zim. He unveils Tak's ship (Olivia d'Abo), but as it hates Dib and refuses to let him fix it, Membrane is unconvinced. Dib wishes his dad would have his back, but Membrane simply tells him wishing isn't scientific, so Dib marches to Zim's. He bangs on the door, which opens, and Gir welcomes him inside the trashed house, and he asks where Zim is. Gir ignores him, then admits he doesn't know, and Zim suddenly pokes his depressed head out of a pile of cheese on the couch. He admits the mess is failed Phase 2 attempts, including a "clone" of Membrane he'd hoped would replace the real one and ground Dib forever. This one failed because he couldn't make pudding the way Dib loves, though Dib says he doesn't love pudding. To his surprise, Zim willingly puts on his handcuffs. The alien shows the Irken armada flight path, which he discovered the Earth is "schmillions" of light years away from. Though Dib is overjoyed about the Earth being safe, Zim's blubbering gets his attention, and a commercial for the Membracelet makes him connect to the alien. He relates as his dad doesn't respect his work, and realizes he could take over his Peace Day speech to reveal Zim, who halfheartedly agrees. At the speech, Gaz is suspicious of Zim being there and warns Dib not to ruin Membrane's day, but leaves to watch the show when he says it'll be fine. Zim sends a robot to take over the control room, then gives Dib his bracelet, which he "updated" with a green goopy creature to allow him access to the controls. Membrane explains his bracelets harness the limitless potential of chaotic "childergy" children possess, and channel it out as peace and joy. He plans to have kids around the world hold hands to create peace like the world has never seen. Dib presses his bracelet, but to his surprise, it turns out the lights, and after a screen flashes the Irken symbol, a disguised Zim takes the stage, with Membrane gone. As Zim talks about changes to the bracelet, Dib jumps in to reveal him, but Zim causes his bracelet to cover his mouth and limbs and declare that Zim is great. Zim wins over the people by revealing the bracelet comes in four colors, and goes crowdsurfing while the horrified Dib retreats from Gaz, who is also trapped.
Dib suddenly wakes screaming in bed, and hears his dad call him for breakfast. To his horror, it's actually Zim's weird dad clone (Jhonen Vasquez), who grounds him forever.
Gaz cuts off Dib's apology, sarcastically amazed that he didn't mean to get them trapped, then calls the clone dad and suggests Dib go along with it. He refuses and calls the clone out, causing him to go into a violent crying fit, so Gaz calms him down, though telling Dib the pudding is also terrible. Dib again calls it a clone, mentioning Zim, but realizes he's getting nowhere, as the clone talks about how much they love Zim, so he sits and eats his pudding. He whispers to Gaz about needing to escape, but she says she already tried, and there's no avoiding the clone, who she's dubbed "Clembrane." He shows up behind them with advice, then rushes to watch the continued coverage of Peace Day, with crowds outside a large building Zim stands atop. Zim laughs maniacally as people await robots that shoot the Membracelets onto their arms before hurling them away. He stops laughing to explain his bracelet has been a success. Kids are already forming a chain around the world, which will complete in front of the building. Dib suddenly recognizes the area surrounding the building, and realizes it's right outside, so he yells at Zim, who can't hear him from atop the building. He tries to leap out the window, but Clembrane stops him, and they see reports of hindrances to the chain: sharks in oceans, volcanoes, and a mean cat. Zim happily talks about his success in selling his domination to people, but since the chain has issues, he tells Gir to make a peace song that will inspire everyone more. He tosses out the first attempt, so Gir zooms to the computer to try again, and the resulting song, which is...excellent(?)...inspires everyone. Dib warns them not to hold hands, but Gaz reminds him that Zim's plans never work, and fittingly, nothing happens when the circle is completed. However, Zim is aware of this, calling the creature from the bracelets "space-phasing alien horror blob," and harnessing the dark power of space is now needed. One creature can do so: Minimoose, who soon blasts the chain of kids, teleporting Earth. Everyone sees a strange sky above, and Zim explains to the angered Dib that they're now in the Irken flight path, as Gaz demands to know where Membrane is. Dib is upset he fell for Zim's sadness, but the alien reveals this wasn't a trick; he was truly downtrodden until Dib told him about the bracelet, inspiring his plot. A hole appears in space above, and Zim's computer explains it's a "Florpus Hole," created when Zim "stupidly" teleported the entire planet, and will suck in all surrounding planets, causing them to collide with alternate worlds. Dib pleads with Zim to fix this, but ZIm isn't worried. He taunts that they should use a spaceship to get Membrane, who is a light years away on Moo Ping 10, space prison. Unaware of Tak's ship, Zim leaves to await the tallest, who get sight of Earth and the Florpus Hole, and Dib and Gaz set out to rescue their dad and save everyone.
Fans of Invader Zim rejoice, because this is a perfect way to bring the tiny Irken and his battles against Dib back to our screens!
Right off the bat, we get a strange scene as Dib catches us up to speed on the show, in a bizarre but incredible anime style. Jonathan Joestar would be proud of Dib's muscles, and they even poke fun at muscular anime guys by having him, in this state, point out he's 12. Another gag comes when Zim puts on his disguise, as he goes from a tall, sinister alien to an adorable little boy, as if his disguise is any good. The show also wastes no time in showing the characters still have their insanity, with Membrane loudly and boldly proclaiming he's making...breakfast. The show acknowledges how long the show has been gone, as although the characters haven't aged years like we have, Zim has been missing. Of course, in ridiculous fashion, he was hiding in his house, and in a TOILET no less, apparently the entire time, which confounds even Dib. The years haven't been kind to Dib, either, as his time spent waiting for Dib has left him an out-of-shape slob with flies hovering around. These are all quick jokes, of course, as Zim reveals himself within minutes and Dib gets himself back in shape soon after encountering his old foe again. The jokes still get the intended laughs, and of course we had to get the two back to the status quo to have an adventure befitting the series. Both characters end up foiling what the other was trying to do initially, and cause the other's actions, as a perfect way to show their relationship. Phase 1 of Zim's plan was to ruin Dib's health, which he does by hiding in his house, but by doing so, he forgets Phase 2. Having not realized this, he inspires Dib to return to form by revealing himself, but after his depression, Dib shows him the bracelet. This is just the never-ending cycle for these two, as neither seem able to take the best action to stop the other, and constantly enable the other's actions. Every scene is just crammed with jokes of all kinds. These characters have always been physical as well as verbal, and there's plenty of background jokes as well. The man example of less obvious jokes comes when Dib sees Zim on tv, and the station has changing headlines at the bottom of the screen like "Professor Zim laughs maniacally for peace, is human." There's also one near the start, when Gaz, to even approach Dib's disgusting room, puts on a "Gazmat" suit, a pun I very much enjoyed. At times, the physical humor even has less-obvious moments to it; it took me a moment to realize when Zim pointed at Dib's face after encountering him again, he uses both hands and a foot. So many of the jokes are intended to be quick things that don't make a return or are explained away simply, like Dib training to the extreme, then pulling back to normal. Rather than have him buff the whole time, he literally just says he went from out of shape to way too in shape, then back to normal. Despite giving us classic Zim aspects, there are a few changes as well, mainly in character designs, which I saw get backlash months ago. Honestly, it isn't a big deal. The characters are still completely recognizable as themselves, with minor polishing to color and edges, and round heads everywhere rather than some having different shapes. Gaz is a bit different from her show self, something I mainly noticed because she seems to talk more. I saw somewhere that the creator disliked how she ended up on the show and wanted her to be like her comic character, which I respect. I have seen much worse art changes after a reboot -cough- Teen Titans -cough- and the overall feel of the movie perfectly captures the series. We actually get another new thing in that for the first time, Zim realizes the Tallest don't intend to come to Earth at all. After spending all his time failing to conquer, he discovers their flight path doesn't even hit Earth, and he's devastated. Because of his devotion, however, he sees it exactly the way only he would: the Tallest aren't coming because they're disappointed he failed and forgot Phase 2. He was already convinced they might designate him "nothing" and feed him to a monster, so he completely skips that they just don't like him. His desire to please them is constantly his downfall and causes the pain of others, with Gaz even reminding Dib that he never succeeds. Heck, Dib has a shed full of failed attempts by Zim to take over the planet. Like always, his plan, however weird, seems to ingeniously work, only for a "schmillion" problems to pop up immediately. In this case, teleporting the Earth creates the Florpus Hole, which will kill everyone, and of course putting Earth right in the Irken flight path means that even if the Florpus Hole doesn't kill them, the collision would destroy the Earth and the Irkens. I honestly can't think of anything I disliked about the movie when watching it the way I watched the show. I was too busy enjoying the fitting humor and the return of so many characters with their true voices. I had a great time watching this, and if you're a fan of the old Invader Zim, I assure you you'll have fun as well.
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AuthorI love the entertainment side of things. Video games, tv shows, superheroes and movies are my passion and I'd love to get the news out for things I enjoy. My contact page has links to my social media, so if you enjoy what I have to say, likes, shares, comments, and follows are always greatly appreciated! Archives
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