South Park was an influential show for it's time, and even in some respects today. It was smart, witty and funny with it's commentary. It's been a while since I personally seen the show, but I remember watching some episodes when I was younger. It's a show that caused controversy just as much as it mocked it, so it should not be any shock that this show was big, and like all big things, it had its own movie.
South Park: Bigger Longer and Uncut is an R rated movie that earns the R rating, using endless swears, a subplot that involves finding a clitoris, and the raunchy and smutty humour one would expect from an R rating.
The plot focuses on Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny who, after seeing an R rated movie, get into trouble by swearing in school. After an incident that ends up killing Kenny, the kids' parents end up imprisoning the stars of the movie and end up simultaneously causing a war, and the apocalyptic rise of Satan. The synopsis is hilarious on it's own and yes, makes little sense out of context, but the plot is pretty easy to follow. Each plot point flows well into the next and there is little question about how, by the end of the movie, the harmless act of sneaking into an R rated movie, ends with apocalypse.
The movie does have two subplots that interconnect with the main plot. There is a subplot about Stan trying to win the affection of a girl he likes, and a subplot about Satan dealing with an abusive boyfriend. I didn't really care for the former subplot, but I don't usually care for those subplots anyway. The secondary subplot is interesting as it's one of the few portrayals of Satan that isn't evil incarnate. The plots do mesh well together as they feed into the main plot, but the plot isn't really the main focus of this movie, as this movie is both a comedy and a musical.
Yep, this is a musical and it's not bad. Many of the songs are pretty good as well as humorous. They are both well written and well made, which is kinda funny considering that the characters don't have the best singing voices, but they never come off as annoying. Songs like "Blame Canada" and "Kyle's Mom" are also very funny and super catchy, as a Canadian myself, I hum "Blame Canada" a lot when I'm walking or doing something quiet. That said, not every song is great, but there wasn't a song in the movie that I felt was awful, just forgettable at worst.
As a comedy, good lord this movie had me howling with laughter. Scenes like the classroom scene where they all get in trouble for swearing, the boys watching German pornography and the ending scene where Kenny gave this heart-filled speech while being muffled by his hood had me almost rolling on the floor, while the social commentary not only had me laughing, but also got me thinking. The commentary made by this movie about how America treats it's children and sees violence and swearing are all interesting points and are usually made by a funny joke. Jokes like the kids trying to speak with their mothers while they are ignoring them and starting a rally are funny, but then you start to think about what this joke is saying. It's also kind of funny how the movie ends with apocalypse, and it all began by some kids swearing. The humour of this movie had me in stitches and never stopped.
The animation is also pretty good, I love how ambitious the movie gets with the camera and character movement. When you think of cut-out animation you would think of limited character movement and stilted limb movements, but the movie has characters spinning around and dramatic camera motions, and it's actually really well done. The way they animate the depths of Hell makes the location much more memorable in the movie and it's pretty well done. The CG may not have aged well by the standards of today, but even still it looks good and very rarely clashes with the cut-out style characters.
The characters are what we'd expect, the kids are as they were in the show with Cartman being the bratty jerk that he normally is and so on. Satan is also a great character, being a different portrayal of the lord of darkness than many would be used to. Some would say that this incarnation is much like a Disney princess and honestly, I agree, but what better way to make fun of such a cliche than by making the very character type Satan? The characters all have believable motivations and entertaining antics that make this movie an entertaining watch.
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. It's raunchy, clever with it's commentary and very entertaining to watch. While this style of humour might not be for everyone, if you are a fan of the show or this kind of comedy I can not recommend this movie enough. Even then, the movie has a good soundtrack, good animation and some great commentary. Even if you're not a fan of this type of humour, I'd recommend this movie just for those aspects alone. It's a comedy classic nobody would want to miss.
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