The Cartoon Network original show, Steven Universe (which ran from 2013 – 2019) is about a young boy who is half human and half Gem, an alien race that exists in their universe. His mother, the alien, gave up her physical form to be part of Steven and left him in charge of her closest friends, The Crystal Gems. The show features very likeable complex characters, vibrant and expressive 80s-style animation, brilliantly crafted visual metaphors tying into a variety of mental issues, identity problems and such, and is home to a very elaborate, engaging, and adult narrative that helped form a very dedicated fan-base. Unlike most TV shows that would eventually get its own movie, this one take everything that people would expect and love about the show and compile into a beautifully animated musical wonderful picture. Set 2 years after the show’s final season, a 16-year-old Steven Universe (voiced by Zach Callison) has made peace with the warring Gem Homeworld and the Earth, looking forward to his happily ever after with his Gem guardians; Garnet (voiced by R&B singer Estelle), Amethyst (voiced by Michaela Dietz) and Pearl (voiced by DeeDee Magno) having also finally resolved their long-dormant issues and are ready for a period of peace. As quickly as expected, the happily ever after is crushed by a new threat in the form of a Gem named Spinel (voiced by Sarah Stiles) who brings a weapon capable of rotting the Earth to its core and even manages to use a weapon that seemingly reset herself and the crystal gems all back to their original states before they met Steven. With the villain now as his best friend and his family unable to recognize him, Steven has to save the earth one more time with the remaining Crystal gem B-team, Lapis (voiced by Jennifer Paz), Peridot (voiced by Shelby Rabara), Bismuth (voiced by Uzo Aduba) and his human girlfriend Connie (voiced by Grace Rolek), before the drill destroys Earth and Spinel recalls the vendetta she holds for Steven (mainly due to his mother’s past actions) and returns to her violent ways. The film has amazing visuals and music, very good voice acting, some neat story ideas, and a powerhouse villain, even if the product does suffer with a pretty weak narrative and not being very accessible to new audiences.

Since the film take places after the events of a five-season show and doesn’t hide that fact at all, it’s understandable that it would be slightly insane to come into this with fresh eyes. Since the show is packed with a lot of backstory and detail, many of the intricacies and plot devices will seem at best confusing, and at worst underwhelming, when displayed here. A majority of the film’s plot, written by fellow Carton Network show creator, Ian Jones-Quartey, as well as a ton of other writers like Chris Pianka, Matt Burnett, Jack Pendarvis, Hilary Florido, and Ben Levin,  is about reliving how far the characters have come and what made them who they are now; a cute idea for a veteran of the show seeing their favorite characters relapse in a well-thought out manner, but for someone new, it can’t establish everything about them in that short amount of time, even if the film cleverly has a pretty good recap in the opening numbers. The film doesn’t need to be beholden to new faces as you’d expect it to appeal to those that have stuck with them for so long, but not only is it important to be appealing to all in order to cast a larger net, but even the premise for this story does feel a little limited and more like an excuse to create a situation for this main threat (who is home to a lot of fantastic ideas that aren’t hindered by this nostalgic mentality). If the film was either shorter or had the layout of something like an Opera where the music and the emotions of the characters ran the film rather than a specific plot, maybe it could’ve been a bit stronger. With that said, the film’s pacing is very good; never feeling like it is dragging its feet for too long and never wasting time on something irrelevant. Thanks to being directed by the creator of the series, Rebecca Sugar (along with fellow Joseph D. Johnston and Kat Morris), it definitely matches the spirit, messages and tone of the show very well, as well as giving the character’s the correct portrayals and has a great introduction to a new threats. However, while the film feels massive enough in its animation, music and villain, the film doesn’t quite reach the level of feeling like its ‘movie quality’. Though the show doesn’t have a formula, there’s a familiar tone that shadows around each arc, and that is copied here so it doesn’t feel like the movie is bringing the show to the next level, rather redoing what its good at but with a bigger budget. While the message is strong and important for kids to understand, this narrative won’t be the easiest for newcomers to understand or even like.

Many of the characters share the same issue the story has; where they work much more for veterans than newcomers. Even though the characters personalities are shown off pretty well, the complexities around their character arcs, which this whole film is highlighting, won’t be as strong without previous knowledge. This is another element that is hard to find a work-around for, but as an actual movie, it’s just something that will come with the territory especially with a detailed show like this. With that said, all the characters are very well portrayed and used in very smart ways to demonstrated their pasts and how they have been altered with their time on earth. Steven’s a likeable main character, the main three gems have great designs and personalities, the B-team of gems are very funny and wholesome, all their voice acting is top-notch, and their musical talents are phenomenal. Its true that the side characters don’t get enough screen time or have that much of a relevance to the plot as they should, but their actual inclusion are well done and very likeable. Spinel as the villain is very good and is possibly the best thing in the whole movie; everything done to her tragic backstory, the complex writing around her, the great design hinting at her past connections, housing two really good songs, being a nice call-back to the traditional Rubber Hose animation style with how her limbs stretch and move beyond normal limitations, a really good performance by Sarah Stiles (capturing the erratic insanity of the character along with the goofy as well as the tragic stuff flawlessly) and being able to make the audience laugh at her, feel threatened by her, and feel sorry for her all in the small time she’s been shown off, it’s a great addition and a very stand out aspect to the film.

While the movie may have some issues with handling its story, the visuals and musical aspects of the film are the true crowning achievements for why this film was made. The animation is this movie is outstanding, almost every frame has something gorgeous to look at, be it the character designs, the expressive faces, the background work, the action scenes, the musical numbers, it took what was already a pretty good looking show and elevated it to an even higher quality. It has a unique visual style compared to other shows, with the colors calling back to older cartoons from something like the 60s and 70s in a great way (which would become a more common trope in cartoons thanks to this series) and the amount of effort that goes into the visuals that accompany some of the song numbers are simply breathtaking. The music is also phenomenally done, with songs written by Rebecca Sugar and credit to other musicians like Avi Tran, Steven Velema, Grant Henry (or Stemage) and Jeff Ball for helping score the film. Each one is relevant to the story, the instrumentals behind them are spectacular, the actors are gifted with great vocal cords and sell it in every lyric, and all of them are memorable, catchy and work both as a way to detail a narrative and just something fun to listen to. Those two elements alone make the worth a definite watch. The writing has that Steven Universe style to it, being able to make things very light, friendly and funny , but also matching it with the harsher realities and darker character moments without much effort, it blends seamlessly well together thanks to writers like Doug Thomas, Paul Villeco, Madeline Queripel, Jeff Liu, Miki Brewster, Lamar Abrams, Katie Mitroff, Danny Cragg and Amish Kumar (all of whom worked as either writers or artists on the original series). There’s a few action set-pieces in the movie that are also visually stunning, with one near the end featuring a great musical number and some of the best visuals Steven Universe has ever shown off before.

Steven Universe wasn’t a show that needed a movie; it was able to tell a compelling tale through its series alone as well as provide memorable characters, wonderful songs and colorful visuals and this movie is merely the next step in what else the show had to offer. It has flaws that would in no doubt harbor any film version of a television series, and it makes up for it with so much else to appreciate. The wonderful cast, the breathtaking visuals, the brilliant music, the great villain, and just how it was able to pull off a really good movie for a pretty good series. It isn’t perfect and certainly not for everyone (very much like the show) but for what it is, it’s a film for those full of heart and those that crave another musical in their lives. Check it out and see what their universe has to offer, it will surely give a truly special kind of loving feeling.

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