Review by Ian Keogh

They’ve just graduated high school, so the ideal summer job for Ben and Leo is lifeguards on Port Dorian’s beach, where every day is party time. Ben’s been there before, and remembers unfettered hedonism, so can’t get that application in quick enough. Unfortunately, in the years between Ben’s childhood visit and the present day there’s been a toxic spill and the beach is closed. Instead of being lifeguards overseeing wild parties, Ben and Leo are employed to help with the clear-up.

Derek Charm has an easy naturalistic visual way with the cast beyond Ben and Leo’s disappointment that they’re not going to be hanging out with truckloads of cute boys, and the best of the supporting cast is Leo’s grandmother. She loved the party atmosphere so much on the family holiday that she moved to Port Dorian and single-handedly perpetuates the traditions while the beach is closed. Everyone else, though, is pretty well interchangeable. Charm’s aiming at that Scooby-Doo plateau of comedy antics and supernatural hijinks, although in this case it’s not the local property developer disguised as an undersea monster, but a genuine threat.

It’s the cartooning that really sells Toxic Summer, lively, brightly coloured with gooey green a priority, and expressive in selling the zany mood, but it’s in service of one-dimensional characters who never progress in any way despite how events unfold. There’s a clever reveal near the end, but that’s the only point at which Toxic Summer outgrows its influences, and considering how good the cartooning is, that’s a disappointment.