The Animated Musical Grows Up

Rating: 10/10 (7 May 2005)

The South Park movie has always been one of my favorites. A major question would be why. One reason is the successful translation of a TV show into a film, with the film being far superior. Another is this is an animated musical where you actually like the songs. Another is this is a very mature animated feature whose mature elements don't seem there just for shock.
But this is also an insightful view of society in the late Clinton years, people wrapped up in battles to maintain "family values," and in doing so promoting hatred and prejudice. But this displaced perspective on right and wrong seems to stretch all the way up to Heaven (where Kenny is rejected) and Hell (where George Burns and Gandhi are accepted).
Satan also is sympathetic, something that drives evangelicals crazy. But the fact is this movie is strongly about Christian ideas in the compassion and self-sacrifice of Kenny. In what seems a not too hidden analogy, Kenny goes to Hell to redeem the world. He also is so compassionate, he can even care about the pain and suffering of Satan, himself.
Indeed, amidst all the profanity uttered, one might miss that this film ends quite sentimentally, with allusions to the "summer of love" end of Yellow Submarine and with Kenny reprieved from Hell and getting his wings as he flies into Heaven. And perhaps that is the point. As Cartman notes "it doesn't hurt anybody." Along with this view, there are other favorite targets of Parker's, such as the American love of seeing people executed. How far is "Tomorrow night we'll be entertained/An execution, what a sight!" from "Cannibal! the Musical"'s "It's as nice as a day can be/won't you come to the hanging with me?" There are, however, two sad things about the film. One is in many ways the United States has become very much like it is in this movie, acting, as Gregory says, "as policeman for the world." It almost feels chillingly prophetic to see Saddam Hussein's country attacked by the US (Note: in the South Park Universe, Saddam is Canadian, as evidenced by his flapping head).
The other thing is that thing film is a testament to the genius of a cartoon voice artist who belongs up there with Mel Blanc, June Foray, Paul Frees, Mae Questyl, and Jack Mercer: Mary Kay Bergman. Not only does she do the speaking voices of all the mothers, but the singing voices, too. In the great "Blame Canada" number, she does 16 different voice parts. In the final reprise of "Mountain Town," she can be heard at the end hitting a High C.
Sadly, only four months after the debut of what had been her greatest achievement, she took her own life, having suffered with crushing, but unrevealed fears. It is tragic to see this film as her swan song, but on the other hand, she managed to give ample proof of her greatness before she left us, and in a movie I think will become (if it hasn't already become) a classic of animated cinema, and cinema in general.