" remember what the mpaa says : horrific and deplorable violence is ok as long as you do n't say any naughty words .
" featuring the voice talents of matt stone , trey parker , mary kay bergman .
rated r .
filmmakers jump on real - life controversies faster than austin powers on felicity shagwell .
the debate on whether cinema is to blame for teenagers turning into hoodlums has only begun to heat up , and already someone 's made a movie about it , and it 's not , thank god , a tragic account of a family ripped apart by the effect violence in films had on a teenage boy .
instead we get a sharp , biting satire that takes no prisoners and leaves no conservative point of view unscathed .
based on a popular ( and controversial ) cable tv show , south park : bigger longer and uncut can finally break loose of the shackles placed on the show by television restrictions and take bad taste to brand new heights .
the movie is about a group of kids who sneak into a canadian r - rated movie and learn some naughty words .
when they exhibit their new knowledge to their moms , they decide to " blame canada , " wage war against the neighbor country and execute " terrence and phillip , " the flatulent actors in the obscene film .
the kids form an alliance they name " la resistance " ( with the accent on the third syllable of " resistance " ) to save their favorite thespians , in a hilarious spoof of ( tribute to ? )
les mis ?
rables .
in a subplot , one of the characters ( kenny , who else ? ) dies and goes to hell where he meets satan .
satan and saddam hussein are lovers , you see .
satan is a benevolent soul , while our favorite eastern ruler can only think about sex .
apparently , too , if terrence and phillip are executed it will be the final sign of the apocalypse and satan can emerge from the deepest bowels of the underground kingdom to rule the earth . aside from being a brilliant satire , south park is also an all - stops - out musical , with unforgettable numbers like " shut your f
*
* * ing face uncle
f * * * er " and " cartman 's mom is a big fat bitch " .
almost invariably it 's funny stuff : often juvenile but always funny .
the same can be said for the rest of the movie :
it 's intelligent but delivered in a sophomoric manner
( i .
e . toilet humor , endless profanity , etc . ) .
not that there 's anything wrong with that : vulgarity , when done right , is my bag , baby .
trey parker and matt stone , the twenty - somethings behind the film and the show , paint a bulls - eye on the motion picture association of america and proceed to be the first to start trying to hit it .
cruelly mocking the fact that the mpaa 's rating system will allegedly tolerate grotesque violence as long as obscenities are n't uttered , the auteurs throw some nasty one - liner insults their way .
the ratings - a - plenty association is n't the only target of this unsparing banter : people who favor censoring movies over gun control are equally fair game , with the " blame canada " plot being a not - so - cheap shot at them .
the distinctively low - tech " cardboard " animation is oddly effective , even more so than the state of the art " deep canvas " technique aptly demonstrated in the recent tarzan .
it 's more pleasant to look at , less intimidating up on the screen , and most importantly it does n't detract from the film 's concept as much as disney 's admirably awe - inspiring work does .
the show 's popularity has been waning as of late , and perhaps this movie is just the thing to boost its ratings .
perhaps not .
having seen the show on numerous occasions , i can say that it 's not nearly as smart or as funny as this movie .
the series may be better off simply continuing on the big screen every couple years .
parker and stone have outdone themselves to the point where i am forced to ask : must the show go on ? ?
1999 eugene novikov&#137 ;
Output: P