"Now Now,You can still see fart jokes on Nickelodeon"

Rating: 9/10 (26 April 2009)

South Park is both morbidly sick and full of toilet humor but this is to the film's credit and not to its fault, the film is actually very intelligent and hilarious. You can call South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone sick but you can't say they are stupid. South Park is a commentary piece beneath everything about censorship and freedom of speech. It's no secret that Parker and Stone have had trouble with the M.P.A.A passing their projects for R ratings. In a lot of ways the characters of Terrence and Philip represent themselves, two comedians who love fart humor being persecuted for their product. The funny thing is that Terrence and Philip is so outlandishly stupid on purpose, the entire movie, Asses of Fire, consists of the characters in front of a couch cracking fart jokes at the other's expense. The parents in South Park would rather rally around a cause with media attention than have a one to one with their boys. In the end that is what our protagonist Kyle really wants. The argument here is well done. What Parker and Stone are doing is putting a mirror on the hypocrisies of America's conception of the media. The Canadian Ambassador of the Arts loudly exclaims. "The United States has graphic violence on television all the time. We can't believe that a movie with some foul language would pi$$ you off so much." Parker and Stone make a point of this by staging a horribly grim cartoon battle between the Canadians and the United States. It's funny to see these poorly animated construction paper characters engaged in so much carnage. If Parker and Stone attempted to do their battle in a live action film there would be enough blood and gore to make your stomach churn. The film's satire can be summed up with Shelia's address to the US troops. "Just remember what the MPAA says: "Horrific, deplorable violence is okay, as long as people don't say any naughty words." That is what this war is all about!"
South Park has another very high strength, its music. The picture is a musical-comedy in every sense of the world. South Park creator Trey Parker majored in music and is an experienced musician and he knows how to stage a musical utilizing these cartoon characters. The film was even recognized with an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. Parker doesn't have to stage his musicals like the traditional one but he does so to both pay tribute to them and butcher them in a parody. My particular favorite number of the picture is "Up There" affectionately sung by Satan who reminisces about finding acceptance on the Earth above. This number could easily be placed in any Walt Disney film both in its lyrics and its animation. The brilliance of the number though is that we have Satan, who is by all means a villain, singing a blatant rip off of a number from "The Little Mermaid". Parker stages his numbers brilliantly each time and each of them displays the eccentricities of the overly loud musical productions. We have the montage, animated over the top set pieces, dance numbers in the background with dozens of characters. The climax of their musical parody is when the uplifting grand finale ends with an Orca whale jumping over a rainbow. Yeah it's silly but it parodies the fact that so many musicals ask us to suspend our disbelief. The parody is a loving one though. None of these numbers are parodied or showcased just to make them look silly or stupid or the sake of doing so. The songs are clever and have a bite to them as well as make you laugh. I also appreciated the fact that each song represents the character singing it. A problem I have noticed with the musicals is that the songs are more articulate than the character singing them. South Park doesn't make this mistake. The foul mouthed little spoiled brat Cartman has a grand number summing up the kid's frustration, "Kyle's Mom is a B***h".
In the end I liked the film, maybe even loved it, but it isn't without its flaws. Trey Parker and Matt Stone expose their audience to a lot of filth. They are walking on a thin wire making a picture centered on such obscene jokes. I was able to appreciate them because I have followed their work and consider myself to be a huge fan but South Park isn't for every audience. Trey and Matt acknowledge that in the film and ask their critiques to rate them on content and not toilet humor. Well sometimes the toilet humor and content are so intertwined this becomes impossible. The character of Saddam Hussein is a prime example of this. I understand what they were going for but instead of being edgy in a good way it just becomes way over the top. The character does have a few laughs but I imagine anyone who wasn't a South Park fan cringed at some of his jokes, I'm a huge South Park fan and even I did.
Overall though, I would recommend South Park to those who can appreciate the humor. It requires an acquired taste but it provides a lot of laughs if you sit through it. If you can understand South Park for what it is, you will see a very funny film ripe with intelligent satire.