Review of Team America: World Police (2004) by Phil C — 27 Jan 2011

Trey Parker and Matt Stone's first (and, they vowed afterwards, last) puppet film is best described as an adult version of "Thunderbirds" with lashings of bad language, bodily fluids, redneck non-PC opinions and heavy weaponry thrown in - plus some never before seen or imagined scenes of puppet debauchery!

The same technical problems which bedevilled Gerry Anderson, those of working with unresponsive miniature people who often developed faults and didn't always stay in contact with the floor, are used here to brilliant comic effect - check out the hand-to-hand fighting scenes!

Some of the catchphrases have become part of pop culture: It's impossible to see a news feature on North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il without thinking of his puppet singing "I'm So Lonely/ Ronery", while the unsympathetic light many famous actors are portrayed in tends to encroach whenever their names are mentioned. For example, you have to remind yourself that Matt Damon is capable of more acting-wise than just saying his own name in a mindless way!

This kind of film is always going to divide opinion, but that's the "South Park" team's game, to get an extreme positive or negative reaction to their work and not allow anyone to sit on the fence: My reaction to it is "AMERICA - FUCK YEAH!".