F*cking tasty!

Rating: 7/10 (15 February 2007)

The Tenacious D movie is every bit as good as I could have wished for it to be. After the lukewarm reception it had gotten in the States and the not so promising trailer I had already prepared myself for a mediocre comedy experience. This movie was not mediocre. It's a fanboys dream come true. And maybe that's just what made it such a commercial failure. This movie is for fans who know the Tenacious universe. Any casual viewer will probably feel like they don't get the in-joke.
Screw it. I'm not a casual viewer. I'm a fan of the D and as such I enjoyed every minute of this great cinematic adventure of JB and KG. Somehow the guys managed to put in all the things that have been important to their history so far: Dio, Sasquatch, Lee, the Devil, their silly announcements in the local club they sometimes play in and, of course, cock push-ups. Speaking of cocks, "POD" is nowhere near as obscene as the little short movies they put on their "Complete Masterworks" DVD. There may be the occasional fart joke, but sperm-orgies and nudity have been omitted, thankfully.
The cameos are funny as hell, from Meat Loaf and Ronnie James Dio, to Ben Stiller, Tim Robbins, John C. Reilly and, of course, Dave Grohl. And Troy Gentile who played Jack Black as a little kid just absolutely nailed the part. He looks so uncanningly like JB that it's almost hard to believe there's no relation between the two. The songs rawk and work even better in the context of the movie than they do on CD. And the story itself is fast paced and full of precious little details. I loved the way JB and KG first met and how JB went from KG's apprentice to his huffy boss. The highlight of the movie, however, is the scene in which The D pay tribute to Pete Townshend's legendary power slide during "Won't Get Fooled Again" from the "The Kids Are Alright"-movie.
"Tenacious D: The Pick Of Destiny" shows how much fun it is to be a rock fan. In a lot of ways it's like the "Bill & Ted" movies. Silly, mindless fun with a huge cult factor. This is one of the very best movies with a real band playing the main roles. The only downside is, that it was such a bomb that we're probably never going to get a sequel. That's a sad thing, but then we do have this great movie and when the DVD is released we can watch it over and over and over again.
Tenacious D! They reign!