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South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut # 6 Best of Film of 1999 When the South Park gang starts using foul language and imitating the crude antics from a Canadian film, their mothers set out on a mission to censor it, and it leads to war with Canada. Kenny and friends have to stop the war before it fulfills prophecy and starts Armageddon. It is a paradox, or a godsend, that this film arrived during the same year as the Columbine tragedy and its aftereffects--the finger-pointing by the House and Senate toward Hollywood and the media--because South Park correctly depicts this era of the quick-fix, in which we like to cover our problems without fixing them first, and place the blame on everyone or everything else besides us. South Park reminds us that we are all to blame, whether it is due to our glorification of getting vengence, our fixation of violence in film and TV, and/or our bizarre expectations to have the right to bear arms and automatic weapons. We are in a time when there is a lack of respect toward one another, irresponsibility, neglect, or apathy. An example of this is near the end of the film when Big Gay Al performs for the troops before they go off to battle to kill the Canadians. He sings: "Bombs are flying, people are dying, children are crying, politicians are lying too. Cancer is killing; Texaco's spilling; the whole world's gone to Hell; but how are you? I'm super, thanks for asking; all things considered, I couldn't be better; I must say, I'm feeling super. No, nothing bugs me. Everything is super when you are." In other words, we tend to ignore problems that don't concern us and say the world is fine because I am fine. Other than the political aspects and relevant depiction of the film, South Park is an absolutely enjoyable musical. This is likely due to successfully mimicking the Disney-style. Songs such as "Mountain Town," "Blame Canada," "It's Easy MMMkay," Up There," and "What Would Brian Boitano Do?" rank up there with some of the great Disney tunes such as "Belle" (Beauty and the Beast), "Be Our Guest" (Beauty and the Beast), "Part of Your World" (The Little Mermaid), "Topsy-Turvy" (The Hunchback of Notre Dame), and "Friend Like Me" (Aladdin). Anyway, the musical style works so well that Trey Parker and company should quickly put it on Broadway. Seriously. South Park is crudely animated and crude, filled with some of the worst language I've ever heard in film. But South Park's ingenuity, wit, and depiction of society far outweigh its crudeness. The best laugh of the decade. |
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