BANANA FOX AND THE GUMMY MONSTER MESS

Spoiler alert! A red herring actually turns out to be the bad guy in the canary-colored crime stopper’s third caper.

Hardly do Banana Fox and his brown-skinned human sidekick, Sharyanna, reopen their detective agency and smoothie stand than Sour Grapes Jr., foxy scion of the lime-tinted villain of previous episodes, hires them to prove that his imprisoned dad is “secretly innocent.” Despite clues galore, this turns out to be tougher than expected because the jail has just been destroyed and the senior Sour Grapes is nowhere to be seen. Obviously (obviously!), the stage is set for battles with the crime daddy’s archrival Red Herring and the gooey pink gummy monster he has created. A failed escape attempt by the carmine carp beneath a giant balloon that pops like the color in Kochalka’s overcaffeinated cartoon scenes at last leads to a double collar that lands both rapscallions in the rebuilt hoosegow. “Wowie Pow!” as Banana Fox is wont to exclaim. Even Junior wants to join the detective agency now…but does he have an ulterior motive? Is this (as the author puts it) “The End?” Not likely.

Fishy hijinks at high verbal and visual volume.