Fridge pages are Spoilers Off. You Have Been Warned.
Fridge Brilliance
- Buster's theatre collapsing in a flood is a case of him being Hoist by His Own Petard, seeing as how he stole the water for the performance.
- Judith's attempt to break up the final concert seems like a Kick the Dog moment, but she actually has a point. Imagine the liability that would be constituted by a group of people on the bank's property for an event overseen by an extremely accident prone koala.
- Not just that, but when she decides to personally intervene, doing so by unplugging Ash's guitar, she does so after Ash's first power chord literally shakes the improvised stage and causes clouds of dust to drop from the patched-up archway. If Ash had gone too far, the Gale-Force Sound that resulted could've actually caused it to collapse right on top of her.
- On the surface, Ash being too heartbroken to sing "Call me Maybe" is painfully obvious, given she had just broken up with her cheating boyfriend. But in context, it's more like one big cruelly Ironic Echo of the song she sang with Lance in the beginning. Think about it: one of Ash's lines was "Outta my way", as though representing her rowdy, rebellious attitude, ready to push aside anybody standing in the way of her dreams. But the line "Now you're in my way" poignantly stands for Ash sadly coming to terms with how not only was Lance the one "in [her] way" (by holding her back), but he's the source of Ash's emotional weight.
- A minor one: Norman, who is the man of the house, asking his wife to fix the bathroom's sink foreshadows her skills in caring for the house and her building a contraption to do so without her being at home so she can be at the rehearsal instead, which is why she's also the leading architect on the improvised reconstruction of the theater.
- Why does Norman seem to be working long hours? He has to support twenty-five piglets and a wife (who is a stay-at-home-mom).
- By that note, why is Rosita staying home rather than working? Well, given how she couldn't find a babysitter willing to care for twenty-five piglets even for a week, then it could be so much more difficult to find a nanny or day care center that would willingly take them all.
- On that note, the dialogue implies that Rosita was on the cusp of a musical career in her youth, but gave it up when she had the piglets.
- The songs chosen for the final show all fall in this.
- "Shake It Off" is about someone who faces opinions of herself that are at best wrong and at worst mean, but doesn't let that take her down and keeps doing what she loves. Which is similar to Rosita's story arc, as she wants to prove to her family what a talented singer she is.
- "I'm Still Standing" is about someone cutting ties with someone who was a negative influence on them, taking back control over their life, and discovering their own inner strength now that they're standing on their own. It's a perfect fit for Johnny's growth into a more independent person and his relationship with his father.
- It also makes sense that the scene briefly cuts to Ash getting ready for her performance, as the song is also applicable to her relationship with Lance.
- "Set It All Free" is obvious, since it's written by Ash herself In-Universe and is about her toxic relationship and eventual breakup with Lance.
- "My Way" is someone reflecting on his life, and deciding that he has no regrets about how he lived it and what he did. It fits Mike perfectly.
- The one part of the song that mentions regrets appropriately cuts to Johnny reconciling with his father, who regrets turning his back on his son earlier.
- Crossed over with Fridge Horror, the song opens up with "the end is near, and so I face the final curtain", which further implies that Mike was Killed Off for Real and foreshadows his absence in the sequel.
- Lyrics later on in the song go "But through it all, when there was doubt, I ate it up and spit it out," which is exactly what happens to him when the bears catch up to him - He gets eaten up and spat out.
- Meena, in her performance, finally triumphs over her stage fright, over her worries, making "Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing" the perfect song for her.
- Ordinary window glass actually is capable of withstanding a surprising amount of pressure, though nothing near the depth of water depicted in the film.
- For the majority of the film, Ash wears a feminine equivalent to Lance's outfit. In the final stage show, Ash not only changes her look to declare her independence from Lance, but also incorporates the "pop princess" dress as part of the costume to pay tribute to the one who encouraged and believed in the real Ash: Buster.
- Gunter has no story arc of his own and primarily serves to enable Rosita's story arc. Rosita and the others aren't really happy with their lot in life and join the contest hoping for a chance to improve it (even Mike, with his desire to get the money, counts, since it'd be an improvement over being a street musician). Gunter, on the other hand, feels really good about himself and joined the contest for fun (according to Kroll). Of course he doesn't have a "real" story arc: he doesn't need one!
- Sherry-Anne, the kangaroo, sings "Safety dance". A song about a dance that involves hopping up and down like a pogo stick. Or a kangaroo.
- According to everyone, including Buster himself, the shows put on at his theatre are never any good. Yet when he's working on the singing competition, he proves to have an eye for talent, works with the contestants the exact way a good manager should, and his guidance greatly benefits the acts in the show. He also has a couple of awards set up in his office, meaning that he has had success in the past. While this seems like an Informed Flaw on the surface, it's important to remember that one of Buster's flaws is a tendency to push forward in things, even when it's a really bad idea note . It's possible that he did popular musicals and plays to attract patrons at first, but then he decided to write original plays (or writers kept coming forward to him with original plays) that most likely weren't that good, and he kept doing it because he kept thinking he could strike gold the more he wrote them. So Buster actually is good at show business and managing; the actual problem is he bet too much on bad play premises before the events of the movie. And now that Nana owns the Moon theatre's property, it most likely won't happen again since she will most likely have the final say in what shows appear in the theatre.
- This also explains why some say "his shows" have never worked or are pathetic, or say he's never had a hit in his career; they're not talking about his abilities at show business in general, they're talking about the original stuff he wrote during his writing career.
- That could also explain why he decided to use the singing competition to save the theater; he had a wake-up call that he can no longer do original stuff when the money ran out and the bank began to threaten repossession of the theater. Singing competitions are an idea that have been used countless times but always attract an audience.
- While it's never outright stated, it's heavily implied several times throughout the movie that Buster isn't good at keeping track of finances and bills note , and the secretary Ms. Crawley is the only long-term employee. If there is nobody around with actual accounting skill and good money management to balance the books, that could be another reason why the theatre isn't in the best condition during the movie.
- Caspar seems to get a bit more attention from his mother than his twenty-four siblings. Well, look at how he's always the last out the door, and how fast he has to run to catch up to the others. He's the runt of the litter.
- That also explains why he's the only one with a fever (briefly).
- The bunnies in the auditions seem rather promiscuous. Like they're a different kind of bunny.
- Well, bunnies are known for being good at reproducing....
- There's a selfish, big-spending, bullying mouse called Mike, which comes from the name Michael. There's another nickname they could have used.
- While Mike is generally an unpleasant Jerkass, he seems to view Meena as the easiest and most frequent target for his bullying, and Meena herself never attempts to stand up to him. Elephants Are Scared of Mice.
- While the others are initially exasperated by Buster lying about the prize money, they seem to forgive him pretty quickly. Logic is given to this, not just from the devastation of him losing the whole theatre as a result, but the fact many of the performers had struggled with being deceitful throughout the contest as well. Johnny intended to steal the prize money to bail out his dad, only to relent when he realized Buster genuinely believed in him, while Meena had let her family believe she had successfully auditioned, despite recurrently botching attempts and only initially managing to get a job as a stagehand. Ash to a lesser degree, mocked the talent show behind everyone's back, seeing it as a shallow stepping stone in her and Lance's own career, only genuinely warming to everyone later on.
Fridge Horror
- Buster has been stealing electricity/water for his theatre. How long would he be able to escape the charges?
- How the Russian bear mafia try to finish off Mike after his final performance at the theater.
- Imagine how difficult it would be to investigate a murder where the body was swallowed bones and all. Imagine the number of people in that world who would just go missing one day.
- Rosita seems to have had twenty-five kids in a span of about a year or two. That would have had to be grueling.
- Not for a hog. In real life, a sow can have roughly twelve piglets in a litter. And they normally do it twice a year. So to have twenty-five in a couple of years is actually quite likely. The writers seem to have done their homework in this case.
- During the final performance, Judith could've easily yanked the amp cord from Ash's guitar from across the stage, then walked off with it, as the ruins of the theater - and everything within it - are the bank's property, and she represents the bank, so doing so wouldn't be considered theft. However, there are three crimes that could happen if she did:
- Battery: Possible injuries to Ash (having her guitar yanked on), Eddie (getting struck or strangled by the cord), and the crowd (struck by cord, or, if Ash's amp port was ripped off, it coming off the cord and flying into the crowd).
- Property Damage: Ash's guitar is her own, and if pulling the cord damaged the port in any way, it's on Judith for damaging it.
- Reckless Endangerment: A hard enough yank to unplug the cord could also cause it to swing back and hit or strangle Eddie, not to mention that if it ripped out the amp port on Ash's guitar, that either adds weight and potentially spikes to her makeshift whip or flings the port into the crowd. Not to mention that yanking on the cord in such a manner is reckless to begin with.
- Unofficially, Ash could also personally sue Judith for "emotional damages" that stem from the former's loss of not just her guitar but the chance to break free from Lance, since Set It All Free is basically her giving the proverbial middle finger to an abusive boyfriend, and without her guitar or that chance, she may have to go back to him.
- Ash only throws her boyfriend out because she finds him cheating on her after she gets picked for the contest and he doesn't. That implies that if she had never gotten picked, she either would have been a Love Martyr indefinitely or caught him cheating, kicked him out and then hit rock bottom without anyone to pick her up. Given what some youths in her position have done, this thought is...unsettling to say the least. It's heartwarming that she was chosen because the competition didn't just give her a broken heart, it gave her friends.
- Buster is established to be a horrible producer; every show that he's run has been a flop, which is why the theater is falling apart and on the verge of repossession. Even though he gets lucky with one good idea, there's no reason to think that he can maintain that success in the long run. Especially since he doesn't even own the theater anymore.
- Yeah, but he's a decent manager so just give him some time to organize things under the guidance of someone who knows better and things will probably go okay.
- Also, Nana Noodleman, who now owns the theatre, does care about it and despite initially being cold towards Buster, is on his side.
- In the second film and the franchise's various short films, Moon Theater seems to be doing very well for itself on a consistent basis, so it's safe to say that Nana and the rest of Buster's friends have helped him keep his flaws as a manager in check.
- Ash's quills. While it's always Played for Laughs whenever they go flying everywhere, it wouldn't be so funny if one of them got into someone's eye...
- Meena is established to live with her mother, grandfather, and grandmother. In "Love at First Sight", Meena's grandfather shows up as a match for Miss Crawley on the dating site Wrinkled Romance, username "GoldenOldie78". Though this can easily be explained away, the simplest conclusion is that he's trying to cheat on his wife.
- Or, y'know, they could have an open relationship...
- Or Grandpa and Grandma, while amicable, are divorced and thus are free to see other people.
- Or Grandma is the parent of Mina's absentee father....
- Or it's just a random person, reusing Grandpa's design palette.
