War Over Words

Rating: Null/10 (20 March 2016)

True to its title, this big screen version of the popular animated TV series features more violence, profanity and obscenities than any prior episodes of the show. The film is not, however, offensive simply for the sake of it; the plot is full of satirical bite as the story focuses on four boys watching a controversial motion picture (not unlike the one that they are in!) and the over-the-top reactions of the local community when they start repeating obscene phrases that they heard. Intelligent debate is brought up in terms of whether offensive language or graphic violence is more dangerous and there is something pointed in how everything culminates in war simply over words. The relative innocence of the boys is notable too; as they say in song, "the movies teach us what our parents don't have time to say"; they are only curious about the adult world and are not interested in offending anyone. Cartman aside, the boys do not repeat any of the obscenities from the film-within in hate. Interesting as all this might sound, the movie runs out of steam well before the credits roll and the carnage towards the end comes across as a rather mindless. The series consists of half-hour episodes after all, and running at nearly three times that length, it is perhaps only inevitable that the material does not stretch out that well. There have also been several better satirical episodes released in the years since this feature length treatment came out, but full of bright songs and quirky characters, 'Bigger Longer & Uncut' does quite well for what it is.