Team America: World Police Review

Film fans i've been a fan of South Park since I was a kid i've seen alot of the episodes and the movie heck I even played the original game. I bring South Park up because the movie i'm about to review is by the same creative team behind that show but unlike South Park which pretty much changed the way some animation is viewed this movie didn't change anything which is a shame because it's a good movie and that movie is Team America: World Police.

The plot of the movie is popular Broadway actor Gary Johnston is recruited by the elite counter terrorism organisation Team America. As the world begins to crumble around him he must battle with terrorists, celebrities and falling in love. I just love how bad the plot is and in this case having a plot that's bad works in the films favour because it's meant to be over the top and just plain balls to the wall insane.

Starring in the film was it's director / co-writer / producer Trey Parker , co-writer / co-producer Matt Stone , Kristen Miller , Masasa Moyo , Daran Norris , Phil Hendrie and Maurice LaMarche. I'd normally list of who the actors are playing in the film but honestly alot of the actors are playing so many roles that it would take me a while to write down every single role they were playing. As for what I thought on the acting it was really good I admit I wasn't expecting much from the acting in this film but I was surprised at how good it actually was.

I actually first saw this film when it first came out in 2004 and I used to watch it alot on DVD but for some reason I got rid of the DVD. So now going back to it was a really odd feeling since I did used to watch it alot but I havn't seen the film for a long time and I don't mean months either I mean years but i'm glad that I re-watched it because it's such a funny film.

It is said that it took Matt , Trey and Pam Brady two years to write the script that is a really long time even for a live action film two years writing a script is a long time. I think that's because at the same time they were all working on South Park which Trey also directs every episodes and he and Matt write every episode so the fact that they managed to work of a TV show full time and somehow find the time to work on a movie is incredible this guys really do work hard.

Like South Park this film mocks alot of celebrities and all of them aren't voiced by there real life counterparts. That for me is a missed opportunity since it would have made a lot of the jokes made about them seem even more funnier like how funny would it be if the Matt Damon puppet was played by Matt Damon himself that to me would have made that joke seem even more funny but I can see why they didn't get the real life personalities to play themselves. 

The makers of the movie have said that the main inspiration for the film was the classic 1960's TV series Thunderbirds and as a fan of that show i'm so glad to see a feature length puppet movie done by the team behind South Park. When I say they were inspired by the show I really mean it because it's all over this film from the fact that everyone in this movie is a puppet to the fact that the puppets walk funny and even the fact that you can see the string which was something you could do on Thunderbirds. 

It seems like the makers of the film were huge thunderbirds fans because those things are things that wouldn't be present be present in the film if it was made today. Heck if the film was made today firstly it would be toned down alot because of all the snow flakes getting upset over everything and secondly it would be computer generated because like it or not it's kind of cheaper to make a CGI animated film then it is to make a film featuring puppets.

Again like South Park this show does have alot of political humour and alot of adult jokes and unlike in Drawn Together where the jokes are just there for simple reason of being shocking and nothing more. Here the jokes i'd say are used to make a statement since the whole film i'd say is making fun of people who love violence and alot of the adult jokes to me are really funny and yes i'm including the puppet sex scene in there as well because lets face it that's an iconic scene from the film.

What also makes the film more freaking funny is the fact that they have the puppets take part in these over the top action scenes. I really can't think of a movie that features puppets and that's also an action film but here the action you could also argue is a joke as well since it's funny seeing the puppets trying to do a fight scene and yet all there doing is just missing each other.

There's one song in the film that I have to mention and no it's not the Pearl Harbour song you all know what song I mean it's "America F**k Yeah" that song is just pure gold. What I didn't notice growing up was how during the course of the film they build that song up you only hear it for a few seconds and then they stop playing it it's only when you get to the end of the film that they play nearly all of the song that to me was a wise choice since it's pretty much the Team America theme song.

Overall this is a really freaking funny film and I know i've done nothing but praise the film but the fact is it's still got alot of flaws like the film not being as funny as I remember it being and there's a really long vomit joke which isn't that funny but still the film gets a 7.5 out of 10 from me.