However, while Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made has its share of heart, it’s ultimately only surface level emotion. While the formula for the film works, it fumbles a bit at the end. There’s a moment at the beginning, when Timmy gives us the backstory to how the polar bear Total entered his life, that reveals more about Timmy than anything else we see. It’s the sort of moment that the kids in the audience may not really understand, but adults will almost certainly see the connection. In fact, the same scene is replayed later in the movie, seemingly to make sure that the audience is all on the same page and understands the truth about the bear. And yet, the movie never deals with this piece of information, even after reinforcing it to the audience. As a result, it prevents Timmy Failure from having a successful character arc. He’s maybe not exactly the same kid at the end of the movie as he was at the beginning, but he’s close. The audience has certainly come to understand a lot more about him, but Timmy himself is missing that same understanding.
