Phineas and Ferb: Candace Against the Universe

Hey, Ferb, I know what we’re going to do today!

I love Phineas and Ferb – my whole family does. My dad loves the main characters while my mom absolutely adores both Doofenshmirtz and Perry the Platypus. One year for Christmas, I gave them P&F mugs I found in the Disney store and then another year, I gave my mom a plush Doof she keeps in her office.

The kids in her program aren’t too sure what to make of it.

So I was pumped when it was announced that a new Phineas and Ferb movie was going to premiere on Disney+ and even more excited when it got a release date – August 28th! I pulled up Disney+ on my TV and clicked on it, eager to watch a brand new adventure with all my favorite characters.

Curse you, Perry the SPOILERS!

This special is set during the series proper – meaning it is still the summer where Phineas and Ferb decided to seize the day and make as many amazing things as possible. This is confirmed in the opening scene, where Candace (Ashley Tisdale) sings about how she’s going to have an amazing day while also harping on all the things her brothers had done so far that she never could get her mother to see. Along the way, she runs into her best friend, Stacy (Kelly Hu), who asks if she’s going to a game later that day. Candace replies she is before continuing with her ride and song.

She gets home and finds that Phineas (Vincent Martella) and Ferb (David Errigo, Jr.) have built another thing in their backyard. Candace rushes to find her mother to bust them while across town, Perry the Platypus (Dee Bradley Baker) stops another one of Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s (Dan Povenmire) plans to rule the tri-state area. In the process, it knocks down whatever it is Phineas and Ferb built and so there is nothing for mom Linda (Caroline Rhea) to see.

Candace is distraught and says that she is having a lousy summer. Nothing goes right for her and she feels like everything is against her. She storms off and Phineas feels bad for her. He and Ferb decide to make her a special gift, something a bit more permanent than the time they carved her face into Mount Rushmore (complete with a clip from that episode). They head inside and get to work.

Meanwhile, Candace mopes on the front steps when Vanessa (Olivia Olson) stops by. Candace vents to her about how her life sucks and she can never bust her brothers, who get away with a lot. She starts singing about how the universe is against her but doesn’t get too far when Vanessa interrupts, trying to get her to see that Candace’s problem may not be her brothers after all. Candace almost has a breakthrough that it may be about her own feelings of inadequacy next to her brothers but she drops it when she spots something on the lawn. There’s some sort of device there and Candace assumes her brothers made it. She asks what it does and wonders if it’s a giant waffle maker. The device then beams her and Vanessa aboard before taking off just as Phineas and Ferb exit the house, wondering where she is going.

Ferb takes a picture and they figure out that Candace was abducted by aliens. They search the galactic internet and discover the ship’s license plate tracks back to the planet Feebla-Oot in the Verblok cluster. There’s a moment where they say it several times fast and honestly, American Dad did the gag better with Roger and “Maybe Baby.”

Major Monogram (Jeff “Swampy” Marsh) contacts Perry and tells him that Candace has been abducted. He sends Perry to go get her without revealing to her that he is an agent. Perry heads out to rescue her.

On board the ship, Candace accepts that Phineas and Ferb didn’t make it but still blames them. Vanessa asks how that was possible and she says that if she wasn’t busy ranting about them, she would’ve realized it came from space. Vanessa can’t really argue about that. They then freak out when they see a bunch of ships like theirs heading to a bigger ship and worry about what’s going to happen to them.

Back on Earth, Phineas and Ferb go to visit Baljeet (Maulik Pancholy). He invites them in to watch Space Adventures (a Star Trek knockoff) and we get to see the cheesy opening credits. Space Adventures was referenced in the main show. Phineas dressed up as a character from the show for a convention and got drawn into the war between sci-fi fans and fantasy fans (with Ferb dressed as a Legolas espy being drawn into this camp). They explain to Baljeet that Candace has been abducted by aliens and Baljeet figures they want him to make another portal, like the one he made to Mars in the series. He says they need to gather their friends and it’ll probably take a montage.

Instead, it only takes a swipe. Isabella (Alyson Stoner) and Buford (Bobby Gaylor) help put together the portal and they prepare to go through it. Baljeet even presents several scenarios they can encounter, most of them ending with them fleeing for their lives. Or offering Buford as a sacrifice. They step into the portal but instead of landing on an alien planet, they arrive at Doofenschmirtz’s penthouse. Norm greets them and Baljeet promptly tries to sacrifice Buford to him. The gang thinks they are on an alien planet until Isabella checks outside and reveals they are still in Danville, though Buford isn’t convinced that Doof isn’t an alien. Doof explains that his daughter Vanessa was abducted by aliens so he built the portal to go rescue her.

Baljeet then realizes that there is an ion barrier around Feebla-Oot which prevented their portals from working. They’ll need to get to Feebla-Oot the old fashioned way. And it just so happens that Doof has a “Go-Into-Space-Inator” AKA a rocket ship, which Isabella points out. He replies that it’s branding but agrees they can all use it to rescue Candace and Vanessa. Perry reveals to Major Monogram that Phineas and Ferb are going into space and Monogram says that Perry probably is the worst agent to send on the mission but it’s too late now. Perry sneaks onto Doof’s spaceship and blasts off with everyone to Feebla-Oot.

On board of the spaceship, Candace and Vanessa try to figure out a way to escape. They find a map and when it detects that Candace speaks English, it changes the markings to English. She finds the escape pods after using voice recognition to make a request doesn’t go well. They figure out they need to climb down a ladder in the inner bowels of the ship and do just that.

As they make their way down, the ship passes through the ion barrier. It jolts them off the stairs and they fall to the nearest floor, which ends up having the escape pods and a smoothie maker. Candace gets distracted by the smoothie maker but Vanessa gets her to pull it together long enough to activate the escape pods. It’s one person per pod so she puts Vanessa in one. Candace orders the ship to release the escape pod but it releases all of them before she can climb into one. So she enjoys her smoothie as the alien guards find her, taking it as confirmation that the entire universe is against her.

Vanessa crash lands on Feebla-Oot and tries to wait for Candace but is chased by the planet’s dragon-like creatures.

On board Doof’s ship, things to be going well though Isabella is concerned by his apparent lack of planning. They approach an asteroid field and Perry dons a spacesuit, heading out to keep the asteroids from hitting the ship. As he does, a slow ballad plays, which is a sharp contract to the high action scene but works. Every so often we cut inside the ship and the song stops while everyone is amazed that they are just flying through the field without any issues. Once they are out of it, Perry returns inside.

Baljeet then notes that they are about to go through the ion barrier and asks if Doof has deployed the shields. But he doesn’t have anything of the sort, so they have to rig something up in order to survive the barrier. They do but they end up crash landing on the planet.

Candace is then taken off the ship and brought to the aliens’ leader. But first, there’s a song and dance routine to build up suspense…that hilariously falls flat when the door opens really slowly and then breaks down. But it’s open enough for Candace to be brought through, where she then meets Super Super Big Doctor (Ali Wong). Candace is surprised that Doctor is a name and the leader insists it’s a common enough name. Candace introduces herself and everyone freaks out. Apparently “candace” is the sound they make when they explode from the waist up due to being overly excited. Birthdays are apparently very messy.

Doctor tells Candace that she’s very important as she is the Chosen One. She emits a special element that they need to survive on their planet. Candace is delighted to know that she is special at last and that someone wants her, not Phineas and Ferb. She tells Doctor about them and Doctor commiserates, saying she had two brothers who kept showing her up. So she left and found her place in the universe. And now Candace has too. They bond and appear to be two peas in a pod.

Meanwhile, everyone is relatively fine after Doof’s ship crashes to the planet. There is an elephant-like creature that is stuck in orbit but he seems to be okay for now. They figure Candace and Vanessa must be at the palace, though Phineas realizes that he hears an ominous hum every time he looks directly at it. Everyone else but Buford realizes that and Buford freaks out. Especially when they all agree to head there. He’s not sure that’s a good idea but follows along.

Not long after they set off, they come across a dragon-like creature. They wonder what to do when Doof shoots it with one of the inators he brought – a machine that switches whatever it’s aimed at with the nearest chicken. We then find that the dragon is sent to Danville and lands in the middle of a newly opened fairy tale-themed park, operated by a recurring character who always benefitted from Phineas and Ferb’s plans while his wife doubted him.

(There’s a good line where he tells her that his support group says she’s keeping him down).

Doof insists on being in charge because he’s the adult, which makes sense except that Doof is probably the last person to put in charge. Isabella realizes this and insists she should be in charge since she leads the Fireside Girls and has a lot of leadership patches. She and Doof argue about it, mostly in song, and in the end, his argument that he’s an adult wins out. Isabella, though, will be the one really keeping them alive.

Super Super Big Doctor really pampers Candace, starting with foot massages. Candace compliments Stapler-Fist (Wayne Brady) and he gets so excited, he explodes. And the sound they make really does sound like “candace” (and is provided by Tiffany Haddish). Thankfully they can survive going boom and Staple-Fist is taken somewhere to start growing again. Doctor and Candace go on a shopping spree and then Candace is the guest star with Doctor on the planet’s late night talk show. They are about to perform a duet together when they get interrupted.

Phineas, Ferb, et al have arrived.

Candace is less than thrilled to see them. Doof asks about Vanessa and she says that Vanessa got out in an escape pod so should be back on Earth. Doof is relieved and wants to head out but Candace doesn’t want to leave. She says that she’s the Chosen One and needs to stay there. Super Super Big Doctor asks if Candace wants her to take care of them and Candace says she does. Doctor orders some guards to escort them to their rooms.

But once they get there, they fall through a trap door and end up in a truck. It drives off and the gang find themselves with members of the alien race that calls Feebla-Oot home. Unfortunately, they are cowering in fear but let the gang know that they are going to prison.

Uh oh.

Candace enjoys her night and has breakfast with Super Super Big Doctor. But then Doctor has to go do some ruling and tells Candace to keep producing that special element. Candace is a bit freaked out by the vent over her. She asks the alien in the room about it but he doesn’t respond. She walks off, never hearing the alien start to scream.

Well, that’s ominous.

Meanwhile, Perry finds the truck with everyone on it. He starts to fight the aliens to rescue them all while breaking every rule Major Monogram is trying to give him – rely on diplomacy, not force, don’t mess up the local ecosystem, etc. He finally brings the truck to a stop and everyone is able to escape underground, where refugees from Super Super Big Doctor live. They explain that Super Super Big Doctor showed up on their planet one day with a strange plant that emits spores that allow her to control the population, making them do her bidding – serve her, pamper her and make low-rate TV shows for her to watch.

Phineas worries about Candace and wants to go rescue her. The other aliens aren’t willing to rise up against Super Super Big Doctor because, well, they are cowards. They have a laundry list of things they are afraid of but Phineas encourages them to put their fears aside so they can free themselves.

In the palace, Candace stumbles into a room and finds a dying plant inside it. Doctor finds her there and explains that the plant, who she has dubbed Mama, is what helped her become who she was. That she found the plant and used its mind-controlling spores to take over the planet. She then got to be special at last. Candace is horrified and asks her if that’s what her brothers would want  for her. Doctor reveals she has her brothers in prison, which horrifies Candace even more. When she learns that Doctor had her brothers imprisoned, Candace is livid. Doctor says she thought she and Candace were sisters but it’s clear they aren’t and she has Candace chained up.

Doctor explains that Mama needs the special element that Candace gives off to thrive and keep producing spores. She’s too weak and Doctor is losing control. To prove her point, one guard regains control and runs off. She sends the other guards after him but he manages to escape. Anyway, it’s ultimately revealed that the special element is carbon dioxide. That surprises Candace, who then learns that the aliens breathe in oxygen but then also breathe it out. Candace then realizes that she isn’t special as everyone on earth breathes out carbon dioxide. That gives Super Super Big Doctor the idea to invade Earth and Candace is chained to a treadmill so she can keep producing carbon dioxide to sustain Mama on their trip back to Earth.

As they prepare to leave Feebla-Oot, they are surprised when they hear singing. Everyone watches as Phineas and Ferb lead a small army to attack Super Super Big Doctor’s palace. They sing about their plan and give super specific instructions that are clearly meant to be a diversion tactic but Doctor falls for it. She and her guards rush to one side only to find that the army has come the other way. A fight breaks out as she rushes to her ship. Phineas spots Candace being loaded on and they convince the cowards to be brave despite the painting of a spider dressed as a clown in their way. It gives them enough time to also get to the ship. At the last minute, Doof realizes Vanessa is still on Feebla-Oot so he stays behind to find her.

We get a peek of Earth. Apparently not much time has passed in Danville as Stacy finds Jeremy (Mitchel Musso) manning the Mr. Slurpee Dog truck at the baseball game mentioned earlier. She confirms that Candace should be there before heading into the stadium to wait for the big event that’s supposed to take place there.

Meanwhile, on Feebla-Oot, Perry reveals himself to Doof. Doof is glad to see his frenemy and the two of them go looking for Vanessa. They find her and she’s managed to tame a dragon, asking if she can keep it as a pet. He says okay but they first have to get back to Earth, but it doesn’t look like the rocket ship will be usable. All they have is the device that switches them with the nearest chicken and all it does is keep switching them with the chicken he beamed up earlier.

So pretty much, they are going nowhere fast.

Onboard Doctor’s ship, the kids realize they need to stop it from reaching Earth so she doesn’t take over them like she did Feebla-Oot. Baljeet recommends a few things from Space Adventures but they don’t really work. There’s a weird sequence where the universe temporarily shatters and we get a brief look at creators Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” March as they show the storyboards and describe the sequence. We then return to the animation and everyone agrees to never speak of that again.

Finally, they press a button and manage to eject themselves from the ship. Phineas and Ferb are able to quickly building something using Buford’s canoe and they glide to a safe landing. They then head to their workshop to work out a plan to stop Super Super Big Doctor.

Meanwhile, everyone is at the stadium for a dedication to the founder of the Tri-State Area, Daniel P. Tri-State. But Super Super Big Doctor lands her ship on top of it and slowly crushes it as the people of Danville cry. They then realize that an alien space ship has landed in their stadium and then properly freak out as Doctor’s minions spill out of the spaceship. Stacy races from the stadium and finds refuge with Jeremy in his food truck.

Super Super Big Doctor rolls out Mama and finds so much carbon dioxide, especially with people yelling from terror. Mama starts to emit spores and take over people for Super Super Big Doctor. Candace manages to escape and goes to hide as Doctor revels in her apparent victory.

Phineas and Ferb lead their friends into an attack, all wearing masks to avoid breathing in the spores. They start fighting but the boys get worried about their sister. Stacy and Jeremy also join the fight – it seems Jeremy is into live action role playing and his costumes given them protection against the spores as well.

The boys find their sister hiding. She’s upset that she allowed herself to be duped into helping Super Super Big Doctor all because she was feeling sorry for herself. Candace is just hard on herself and so Phineas and Ferb give her the present they made for her. It looks like a “World’s Best Sister” mug but it also plays different scenes of all the good things Candace has done over the summer. Phineas gives her a loving pep talk and she thanks them, hugging them. Candace is now ready to join the fight – and she knows a way to stop the aliens.

Candace grabs the t-shirt cannon and starts firing it at the aliens. They are so excited to get free things, they explode all over the place. For several seconds, all that’s heard is Tiffany Haddish saying “Candace” over and over. She runs out just as she reaches Doctor but is then able to talk with Doctor, getting her to see that she just did all of this to get back at her brothers and because she just wanted to feel special in the vast universe. She’s about to have a breakthrough when Mama goes Audrey II on us and eats her.

Well, then.

Mama then tries to take on Danville, forcing the kids to continue fighting it. Eventually Doof and Vanessa show up with her dragon creature and reveal that the chicken device has a setting to switch places with the farthest chicken. Candace then gets an idea and uses the device to send Mama back to Feebla-Oot and bring the chickens back to earth.

Danville is saved!

As everyone celebrates, Stacy notes that Linda is nearby. She tells Candace that it’s her chance to bust her brothers – there’s no way to hide the mess they made. Candace races out to her mother’s car and asks her to get pizza from Phineas and Ferb’s favorite place, which is conveniently across town. She just couldn’t bust her brothers after everything they went to and note there’s still plenty of summer left to bust them.

It then wraps up with a big musical number entitled “Us Against the Universe” that features many Phineas and Ferb characters, including ones that weren’t really in this special (Irving, Coltrane, Jenny, Mishti). And then it ends with Perry turning up and Candace giving that classic line: “Oh, there you are Perry.”

We do get a mid-credits scene where their dad, Lawrence (Richard O’Brien), finds the portal the kids built. He steps through it but ends up in Doof’s penthouse, which is on fire due to the final fight. He runs back through, singed and trying to put out some flames on his shirt as the flames then consume the portal. Linda returns home with the pizza and asks what happened to him. He says he doesn’t know and heads inside with her.

And so that was Phineas and Ferb: Candace Against the Universe. So how was it?

I loved it! I enjoyed that they centered on Candace and let her have a moment to shine. There were a few other times they did that in the series but I think it’s always nice to get a story centered on her. And I always love when they focus on the relationship between Candace and her brothers. They may annoy her but she does love them – and they love her too. I do wish we had seen her fighting against the forces of the universe a bit more like the summaries released beforehand seemed to indicate but we got enough of Candace being totally awesome at the end.

Super Super Big Doctor was a fun villain and a nice foil for Candace. They were two sides of the same coin – both felt inferior to their innovative brothers. But while Doctor decides to imprison them and enslave a planet to feed her ego, Candace decides to embrace her brothers and find her own confidence.

The writers managed to balance letting all the characters have their moments. Of course some were more prominent than others – it maybe would’ve been nice to see a bit more of Monogram and Carl – but it all worked out in the end.

And the songs were amazing. The songs on Phineas and Ferb quickly became one of the best parts of the show and it was nice to see that tradition continue.

It almost felt like Phineas and Ferb hadn’t had a new episode in years. During this year of hell 2020, it was a comforting hour and a half full of hope and fun music. And the final song gave us an uplifting message: If it’s us against the universe, we win.

We will win together.

It seems this may be the first of new Phineas and Ferb content for Disney+. And I look forward to the rest!

Did you enjoy the Phineas and Ferb movie? If so, sound off in the comments below!