Why Marco 4 Is The Absolute Best

Hands down, Anaya Animation's fourth entry to the most beloved and popular animated franchise of all time is indeed, in my own personal opinion, the absolute BEST film in the franchise. As you have already seen, *Marco 4* chases down unorthodox ideas such as having Marco play Sherlock this time and introducing some teen rapper who rose to world power, while taking plenty of risks in the animation world as the best CG romantic espionage comedy of its kind. No other *Marco* film except for the threequel could tell such a shockingly mature if somewhat dark story with engaging storylines that appeals to everyone of all ages, especially its target audience: teens Marco's age. Here are several reasons why this underrated *Marco* flick deserves your woohoo and love.

#### 1. Trey Parker makes this film amazing, seriously.

If Joe can be described as the funniest bad guy in the whole *Marco* saga, then Trey Parker's energetic madman would be considered every *Marco* fan's favorite baddie, and he is very good at being bad aside from his rapping skills. He goes by the name of Edgar, he's perfectly voiced by the creator of *South Park* and his rappy movements are as cool as Marco's are. Aside from finding success with energy drink commercials and having his own army of evil sentiment robot clones of himself, Edgar's motivations for getting revenge on "The Pop Music Capital Of The World" with a giant laser-fueled robot are solid enough like said robot. He also owns flesh hungry alligators below his black pillar with a shiny reddish Rubik's Cube on top, several gang henchmen, and a raptar that can tune anything 80s he likes from Michael Jackson to A-ha to Elton John, and Eminem of course. Although we might criticize his sheer contempt towards Marco, he even went as far as landing him on state prison and kidnapping both of his proposed girlfriends under some rocket bomb. However, that does not mean that Edgar is someone with no soul as he too landed himself in prison many times and we could tell he was born to be some gangster, much in part thanks to his snarky homies. I'm very sure no other *Marco* bad guy can ever top "Edgar The Teenage Rapper" on any Billboard 200 list to come, not even Joe himself.

#### 2. David Spade also made this film great, much in thanks to Ian's charismatic manner.

You know who David Spade is. He's the guy who voiced Emperor Kuzco from *The Emperor's New Groove* (my absolute favorite Disney film of all time) and the voice behind Griffin aka The Invisible Man from Sony's *Hotel Transylvania*, and here he seems to be overly hyped up with Marco's new director Ian. Just like how Edgar carries rappy vibes to amuse his hypnotized fans, Ian brings plenty of charm and wit to his upbeat town Iandonia, which of course got founded himself as the epicenter of pop culture and music in general. Besides being the richest kid in town, the highly exuberant Ian also serves as the Houston Spy Association's chairman, Marco's eloquent mentor, and also the one who joins Marco aboard that cool speedy Superyacht shouting "WOOHOO YEAH!!!" as they head to Edgar's dark fortress in order to save Princess Mikayla. You make deals with him and he accepts them immediately, you order him Cane's chicken and he would bring it for you, and if you tell him one bad joke or pun about him... he would laugh out loud no matter how stupid it is. Thanks to David Spade's eccentric performance, Ian provides most of the film's funniest jokes and memorable quotes even if he had mistaken some fridge for Edgar's vault area, and of course he would always be my favorite espionage guru of all time.

#### 3. This film is about overcoming the bad things in life with the good things, in the most literal sense.

As you might know, the inspirational motivator Ian (voiced by David Spade) quotes what is perhaps the film's core message: "*You can overcome the bad things in life with the good things"* as he conveys Marco to take down Edgar despite their failed attempts at doing so. I know this theme of good versus evil is universal in terms of how much it's been stayed for years in cinema, but the film makes a true statement in which the world we've always lived in is indeed hostile. It even reaches the conclusion that our evil nature was inherited through Adam & Eve, and acquired when we make matters worse like in Edgar's case. Marco had always seen the bright side of life before, but upon the arrival of this film in the franchise, he had to admit the awful truth and be the light in today's changing world for the better. On the other side of the coin, Edgar was raised in a harsh environment that led him to commit various misdemeanors and felonies throughout his rapping career. You see, the truth is, we can't really make the world a better place, but rather ourselves with the right dose of constant motivation and kindness towards others. This repeating cycle of doom would always be existent, and perhaps the only way we could demolish this evil is, well... what Ian tells Marco as advice (and for all my Christian readers, obeying the Lord's commands and doing his will). If it wasn't for his buddy Ian, then Marco would've given up by now as usual.