Monster High: Escape From Skull Shores

Monster High: Escape From Skull Shores 

Mattel Entertainment, Nerd Corps Entertainment, USA, 2012. 

It is Spring Break! First the students celebrate and go to a fun fair where they participate in carnival games. After that Lagoona Blue invites them to her home at Great Barrier Reef (renamed Great Scarrier Reef in later adventures). She wants to introduce her boyfriend Gil Webber to her family. 

Lagoona and Gil go American Gothic

The cruising and chilling gets a watery end when Kraken sinks their boat. Actually Kraken is very sorry about that. Greedy merchant Farnum and his sack headed helper Kipling save the students. Farnum plans to use them in his freak show and takes them to Skull Shores. Wooden Tiki-people live there and begin to worship Frankie Stein while Cleo gets no royal treatment. Those plebeians! 

Partying and cruising

Bartleby Farnum

Rescued at last

Farnum has a plan. A giant beast lives on the island so Farnum uses Frankie as a bait to catch him. The giant appears and kidnaps Frankie, King Kong style. However the monster's alter ego is a lonely hermit boy Andy, who escaped to the jungle because people feared him. The girls decide to take him to Monster High, but first they have to escape Farnum and the Tikis. 

Kipling

The Tikis

Giant kidnaps Frankie

It is the first Monster High special that takes the characters outside the school to a jungle adventure. Whereas the previous part was syrupy, this feel more balanced with right amount of humour, adventure and some romance. Some of the funniest moments happen when Abbey and Ghoulia team up. And Tikis are comical too with their rotating mouths.

Andy & Frankie in the cave

Andy gathers some admiring looks

Consistent with the theme of the series, the plot handles how people shun different people and consider them as freaks. But in Monster High everyone is accepted as they are. Andy as a beast is inspired by King Kong, and perhaps also Beauty and the Beast. I wonder if Kipling's character is a tribute to Elephant Man.

It is a fun little adventure that expands the monster universe a bit.

Some trivia: Bartleby Farnum's character is based on showman, politician and scam artist P. T. Barnum (1810 – 1891) who founded the Barnum & Bailey Circus that was later merged with Ringling Bros. World's Greatest Shows that was briefly owned by Mattel Company in 1971.

Rating: Good

Starring: Laura Bailey, Ogie Banks III, Cam Clarke, Malcolm Danare, Debi Derryberry, Erin Fitzgerald, Kate Higgins, Jonathan Lipow, George Newbern, Audu Paden, Cindy Robinson, Salli Saffioti, Keith Silverstein, Evan Smith, America Young
Directors: Steve Ball, Andrew Duncan