Review of South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999) by Calum B — 01 Aug 2012

For the ones who have never heard about the cult series "South Park" and if you don't know what you're going to watch, don't expect a product from the Disney firm! On the other hand, if you're familiar with this series which was extremely popular at the dusk of the nineties in the USA but also in France, then you're going to be rejoiced by its contents. I must admit that before watching this black diamond, I had watched some installments of "South Park" and was both deeply amused and shocked.

So, in the wake of the triumph of the series, its creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone could only produce its movie and one thing is sure: they must have had a tremendous time penning it and the amount is highly exhilarating. Just have a look at the wacky and a little join-the-dots story (the second epithet is not meant pejoratively). Cartman, Stan, Kyle and the ill-fated Kenny managed to go to the movies to watch a film rated "R" because it's filled with filthy language and coarse actions. This screening had a big influence on them and reproduce this language to their pals. As it was expected, their parents and especially their mothers are scandalized. An organization of meetings, discussions could lead to the death sentence of Terrence and Philip but also to a world war. It's all the more serious as the devil flanked by his egoistic lover Saddam Hussein contemplates to conquer and dominate the whole world.

This summary of the story is incomplete. It would take a few more paragraphs to assess its contents. But it's nearly a mainspring for the authors of the series to deliver a scathing critic of the puritan, right-thinking America ready to behave in a reactionary way when their values, customs are challenged. But Trey Parker and Matt Stone have more than one string to their bows. Why not letting the faults, sickening aspects of America show through? And the targets are numerous, either it is for instance the army or the American families, institutions. It's partly on these points that "South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut" draws a devastating strength. But it would be nearly a crime to pass over in silence what makes this animation film both so gross and so enjoyable: filthy language galore, black humor as one could wish ("Kenny we have replaced your heart with a potato!"), a story which becomes more and more extravagant and I wonder whether the sequence when a doctor announces he has found a treatment to stop children to tell swearwords and experiences it on poor Cartman isn't a spoof of "a Clockwork Orange" (1971)...

The authors' intentions were perfectly fulfilled with this film. Here willing intentions gave a highly rumbustious, exquisitely offending gem which won't cater for all tastes. The viewers who hate being shocked, you'd better turn away from it and I wouldn't recommend the film to children at all or otherwise as Parker and Stone said: "parents have to decide themselves whether their children are mature enough to watch the film".