Why did Prickly call the villain insane? Maybe because creating another ice age to end summer vacation forever would bring forth The End of the World as We Know It? Or maybe because using a tractor beam to change the Moon's orbit is just, you know, insane?
On that note, the Big Bad's plan would have resulted in millions of plants, animals, and people quickly dying off en masse, and even those that survive the initial shock would still likely wind up dying off later due to the inability to grow crops and other supplies of food dwindling. Did he even think this all the way through?!
Benedict is clearly insane by the time the movie takes place, the cracks were already showing when he got fired as principal. The plan isn't supposed to make sense, he's just reached what he thinks is the logical conclusion of his anti-recess crusade. The real fridge horror is why on Earth his henchmen are helping him! The scientists are probably being coerced through force, but no idea what his goons and ninjas think destroying the world will do for them.
As the Fridge Brilliance entry below states, he probably hired the henchmen through a third party like HenchCo. As long as they got paid, they wouldn't care about what would happen.
Benedict's plan to get rid of summer vacation is bad enough from a kid's point of view, but then you look at it as an adult and realize that he was effectively trying to restart the Ice Age, which, even if it doesn't end up completely destroying civilization, would make life really hard for all but a very small select few. All of that for the sake of test scores.
Because of Adaptation Displacement, a lot of newer Recess fans get introduced to the series through this movie; and in any other situation, a lot of the character personalities and stories might be lost on them. However, the film's first playground scene works wonderfully as an introduction to T.J., his friends, and many of the other kids and faculty at 3rd Street School. Once Spinelli appears stealing some ice cream and the other members of the main six appear, you learn everything you need to know about them as their prank unfolds.
OK, I'm sure most people were confused about a LOT of the stuff Benedict had in this movie. Henchmen, trained ninjas, a group of scientists with odd sci-fi technology and a holographic doo-dad in a principal's office and even a dematerialization device. Now, this would seem odd... unless you consider that this show had a crossover with Lilo & Stitch: The Series. That show has a Shared Universe with American Dragon: Jake Long, Kim Possible and The Proud Family. So it actually makes sense where Benedict got all this stuff: He could have hired the thugs from HenchCo, the technology could be the same crazy sci-fi technology that scientists from Kim Possible usually make, and even the craziness fits just well with many of the other series. So in a way, this could be an indirect way to explain any Plot Holes that could arise from this.
Even ruling out the shared universe, this would still make sense considering this is the same universe where a president asks a kid for advice, once when the schoolyard fell into disarray there was a helicopter involved, not to mention the Board of Education has some kind of police force attached to it. The series has shades of Urban Fantasy to it.
Benedict and his henchmen never use guns at all. At first, this seems like the film trying to be family-friendly and not make the antagonists too powerful, but there would actually be a good In-Universe reason for this. While guns would be very effective against kids, they wouldn't be against the troops and the cops, who would not only be more well-armed than Benedict and his goons, but also capable of outnumbering them. It would be hard enough to maintain stealth with his tractor beam tests being conducted in a populated area, so the only way to keep the authorities from investigating is to rely on the absurdity of the notion of a tractor beam. Since guns are real and commonplace, using them would increase the chances of investigation should someone notice. Also, the loud noises from any discharges wouldn't help at all. In short, Benedict's most effective defense is stealth.
Even if we were to go by Benedict's own insane logic, it would be best to just lay low and take credit once the "positive" effects surface.
It also fits with the fact that, despite having no problem endangering billions of lives with his master plan, Benedict is shown to find direct use of violence distasteful except as a last resort. It would be entirely in-character of him to disapprove of guns in general.
The film ends with one of Dr. Benedict's lackeys offering to turn state's evidence for the trial; Randall, overhearing this, remarks "Geez, what a squealer!" This might look like a simple case of Hypocritical Humor, but the series reveals that for all of his love of snitching and tattling, Randall is completely devoted to Miss Finster, and would never think of betraying her. That's why he's so disgusted with the idea of Benedict's minion ratting him out—he can't even imagine doing the same to Muriel.
Gus gives Spinelli command of the "Special Forces" (aka The Kindergartners). This makes sense since not only is Spinelli considered the toughest kid in school, she was their leader briefly during "The Break-Up".
Considering the fact that in the film, it's shown that Prickly and Benedict were faculty at Third Street School in 1967 (Summer of Love), and that it's been thirty years since Benedict was fired from his position as principal for his extremist idea on banning recess, it can be inferred that the film is set either during summer vacation in 1998, fitting with the fact that the show originally debuted in late August / early September of 1997, right around when schools in the US and Canada begin their school years.
