Review: Star vs The Forces of Evil – “Diaz Family Vacation” & “Brittney’s Party”

It is always nice when Disney XD releases episodes on a weekly basis instead of having to wait weeks or months for something new. I hope this is a trend and not an anomaly.

The first part of the fifth episode is “Diaz Family Vacation.” It is Marco’s parents’ anniversary. Star is horrified that she has not gotten them a present but Marco said his present can be from both of them. His present is a set of fanny packs. Star blurts out that she will take them all to Muni for a vacation. However, Star isn’t supposed to leave Earth. Her parents already suspect that she has a pair of dimensional scissors. She just has to make sure she doesn’t run into them. So, instead of taking the Diaz family to the castle, she takes them on the less scenic tour of her planet. That means the family gets to see all of the abundant poverty that lies in the village beneath Star’s castle.

As the gang walks around town, Star sees her father, who is supposed to be giving a speech somewhere about throne posture. In an attempt to hide from him, Star takes the family into the Forest of Certain Death. While Mr. and Mrs. Diaz manage to walk through the forest unscathed, Marco uses everything in his fanny pack to keep the forest from killing him. When Marco’s parents wander off, Star and Marco come upon a seven-headed dragon. Thinking the dragon ate Marco’s parents, Star and Marco fight the dragon to his death.

And this is when the King catches up to them. It turns out that he wasn’t planning on giving a speech. He occasionally takes monster hunting trips to keep himself sane. As Star and her father bond over the secrets they keep from the Queen, Marco finds his parents relaxing nakedly in a hot spring. Everyone has a great time and Star doesn’t get in trouble for leaving Earth.

While I thought this episode was better than some of the previous episodes, it still missed some of the wonder that usually follows Star around. It was cool to see Marco using the crap he carries around in his fanny pack but it just wasn’t magical enough. I’m getting tired of Star only using her wand for zapping enemies. She can do better!

Next up is “Brittney’s Party.” Brittney is the super popular cheerleader we saw in the “School Spirit” episode. Her father is extremely rich, making her the obviously spoiled daughter. (Isn’t there always one of those in every cartoon nowadays?) It is Brittney’s birthday and she is only inviting the popular kids. Neither Star nor Marco fall into that category. Even though everyone else in the school adores Star, Brittney, for some reason, does not. When Brittney tells Star that she will only be invited when pigs fly, Star zaps up a flying pig and assumes she is invited.

Star drags Marco into stowing away on Brittney’s party bus. Marco gets motion sickness and quickly falls to the wayside inside the bus. He does make a few attempts to impress Jackie Lynn but his stomach refuses to cooperate and he ends up spending most of his time in the front of the bus, staring out the window.

On the other hand, Star is determined to make the party fun. She conjures up a puppy with laser eyes, a bouncy house inside the bus, and a hot tub on top of the bus. While this impresses all of the other party guests, Brittney is having none of it. As soon as the bus reaches the next bus stop, Brittney kicks both Star and Marco off the bus.

But Ludo is waiting at the bus stop and ushers everyone back onto the bus. It seems like his plan is to take the entire bus back to his dimension. He ends up sulking alongside Brittney as his minions fight Star on top of the bus. He also makes a terrible decision to eat some oysters that have gone bad.

Meanwhile, Star tells Marco to grab the steering wheel of the bus. One of Ludo’s minions had taken control and Marco needs to make sure the bus doesn’t go through the dimensional portal. Star defeats all the minions, Marco saves the bus, and both Marco and Ludo start puking their guts out into a trash can. Brittney is annoyed that her party is ruined but absolutely everyone had an awesome time. It just goes to show how out of touch Brittney is.

This was probably my favorite of the recent episodes. It had Star fighting monsters, conjured magical creatures, and Marco trying to help even when he’s incapacitated. All in all, a pretty awesome episode. We need more of this and less of the filler stuff.