Review of The Haunted World of El Superbeasto (2009) by Mark G — 03 Jan 2014

There are things I enjoyed in this movie; I liked its vaudeville cabaret variety feeling crushed together with a 60's/70's cult comics style. I thought the music was light and clever. The sexuality is kept goodhearted and bubbly, it never becomes dark, tasteless, or creepy like a lot of 70's animation was. And the voice acting is energetic and appropriate.

The one thing that can't be gotten over here is how completely derivative so many elements of this film are. The animation style is clearly watered down John Kricfalusi, and while it might be argued that the film is a tribute to Kricfalusi, shouldn't he be mentioned, or thanked, or present? The guy is alive, give him a call or, better yet, cut him a check for using his art and animation style to make your own film. Kricfalusi built his style on Crumb and Avery, but with them he created something unique, there's nothing genuinely unique about El Beasto.

The movie also falls into the contemporary trap of having far too many pop culture references. Mass entertainment has become our shared history, and now it seems to be feeding on itself, cannibalizing ideas at a frantic pace. We're making uninspired entertainment that moves forward by regurgitating and showcasing previous, genuinely inspired, entertainment; like a clip-show that's constantly nudging you and repeating, hey remember this? Hey remember this?

And finally the dialogue is pretty worn and flat. For example, Suzi X telling a character staring at her ass to "take a picture, it'll last longer"; Is that really the most interesting thing Suzi X could have said? The cliche, A bad coinage is better than the best cliche, holds very true here; especially in a crazy, madhouse production like this. Where's the spontaneity?

In the end what we have is some fairly banal dialogue being spoken in a sanitized corporate-Bakishi film that's ripping off John Kricfalusi that's ripping off Tex Avery.

The best I can say for this movie is that it rips off all the right people and it's packed with titties; not the worst endorsement in the world.