Ani-MAY-tion Month: South Park: Bigger, Longer And Uncut (1999)

South Park. Everyone knows about it by now, don't they? The lo-fi animated show created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone that became a huge success. Anyone who has seen 6 Days To Air: The Making Of South Park already knows the energy and creativity it takes to make each episode of the show, but adapting it into a decent feature movie should bring all new challenges and problems. Or, at least, that would be the general consensus. But nobody ever told Parker and Stone the rules, which is why they consistently manage to break them, and do so with no small amount of success.

The plot of the South Park movie sees Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny all sneaking their way in to see the new Terrance and Phillip movie, Asses Of Fire. The movie is a non-stop parade of flatulence and profanity, with one or two great musical numbers in the mix. The boys are, understandably, very impressed. They're also very impressionable, and it's not long until all of the kids are using language that upsets all of the adults. Keen to find a way to solve the problem, the parents, led by the militant Sheila Broflovski, settle on a course of action that should please everyone with a sense of decency. They blame Canada. Unfortunately, that could lead to World War III, and an opportunity for Satan to come up from Hell and rule over an apocalyptic landscape. Maybe the naughty language wasn't so bad after all.

The great thing about Parker and Stone is the way they can take pot shots at everyone and everything while still keeping their eye very much on a main target. On this occasion, the target is reactionary measures taken by people desperate for something to be angry with.
As the adults all sing at the end of the "Blame Canada" song: "We must blame them and cause a fuss, before somebody thinks of blaming us!"

There are some fun celebrity vocal cameos, but otherwise this is business as usual for the two South Park guys as they provide their usual crowd of voices. I don't know much that worked against them during the big musical numbers, but it doesn't seem to have done any harm. In fact, the musical numbers are SO good that this movie allowed Parker and Stone to pop along to the Oscars, in a memorable night that provided some great images easily available with a little searching (seriously, look them up).

Profane, hilarious, full of great musical numbers (including the main hit from Terrance and Phillip), smart, and brilliantly developing South Park for the big screen without ever losing its essence. I highly recommend South Park: Bigger, Longer And Uncut. But not for the kids.

9/10

http://www.amazon.com/South-Park-Bigger-Longer-Blu-ray/dp/B00AEBB8TM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1398209785&sr=8-2&keywords=south+park+bigger+longer+and+uncut

And if any ONE person ever clicks on this link and buys this stash of South Park madness then I will be very grateful - http://www.amazon.com/South-Park-Complete-Seasons-1-15/dp/B008DI03T4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398209840&sr=8-1&keywords=south+park+box+set

Don't forget, every copy of my book sold gets a few pounds in my pocket, and gets you a good read (if I say so myself).

The UK version can be bought here - http://www.amazon.co.uk/TJs-Ramshackle-Movie-Guide-Reviews-ebook/dp/B00J9PLT6Q/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1395945647&sr=1-3&keywords=movie+guide

And American folks can buy it here - http://www.amazon.com/TJs-Ramshackle-Movie-Guide-Reviews-ebook/dp/B00J9PLT6Q/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395945752&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=TJs+ramshackle+mov

As much as I love the rest of the world, I can't keep up with all of the different links in different territories, but trust me when I say that it should be there on your local Amazon.

April Fools: Superhero Movie (2008)

Written and directed by Craig Mazin, it's worth noting right away that Superhero Movie is one of the few spoofs with "Movie" in the title that is actually relatively painless and enjoyable. It's nowhere near the daffy greatness of Not Another Teen Movie, but it's miles better than the likes of Date Movie.

Drake Bell stars as Rick Riker, a young man who develops superpowers after he's bitten by a radioactive dragonfly. From start to finish, this is a riff on Spider-Man, with plenty of nods to other superhero hits of the past few years. And that's about all you need to know. Christopher McDonald is great as Lou Landers, the villain of the piece, Sara Paxton is very sweet as Jill Johnson, and Leslie Nielsen and Marion Ross are Uncle Albert and Aunt Lucille, respectively.

Okay, this is still an easy movie to hate if you automatically hate these kinds of movies. It's not often aiming for the cleverest comedy, but it is always aiming for laughs (unlike the horrible approach of just copying scenes with little to no changes, an unfunny approach used by some people, who shall remain nameless).

The great cast help to make up for the weaker, groan-inducing, gags. Bell and Paxton are a sweet central pair, McDonald is a great baddie (as anyone who has seen him in Happy Gilmore or Dirty Work can attest), Nielsen and Ross are good fun, and the rest of the cast includes Brent Spiner, Kevin Hart, Tracy Morgan, Robert Joy (equally amusing and tasteless as Stephen Hawking), Regina Hall, Robert Hays, Nicole Sullivan, Jeffrey Tambor, Craig Bierko and Simon Rex, among others. A bunch of big names does not a good movie make, but this lot certainly help to keep everything lively and entertaining enough.

There are still a few too many toilet humour gags, but there are a lot of jokes that target specific superheroes or superhero movie moments, and they work surprisingly well. They may be easy gags, but they work. And if enough laughs are created, then that means that a comedy movie has done its job. Even if it's far from the best out there.

6/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Superhero-Movie-DVD-Drake-Bell/dp/B001A47G8O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1391377035&sr=8-1&keywords=superhero+movie

So I put together a book, yes I did.

The UK version can be bought here - http://www.amazon.co.uk/TJs-Ramshackle-Movie-Guide-Reviews-ebook/dp/B00J9PLT6Q/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1395945647&sr=1-3&keywords=movie+guide

And American folks can buy it here - http://www.amazon.com/TJs-Ramshackle-Movie-Guide-Reviews-ebook/dp/B00J9PLT6Q/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395945752&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=TJs+ramshackle+mov

As much as I love the rest of the world, I can't keep up with all of the different links in different territories, but trust me when I say that it should be there on your local Amazon.