Team America: Policing the World
Team America: World Police - out on DVD - isn’t just another run-of-the-mill Hollywood flick, it’s a breath of fresh air and hilarious to boot…
Firstly, the cast consists completely of puppets. Secondly, it’s funny and thirdly, it’s actually rather good.
And it’s certainly not one of the mass-produced blockbusters we’ve been bullied into surrendering our lunch money to see.
It’s more like a blind beggar walking a tight-rope; we’re not giving up our time and money out of pity, we’re actually rather surprised such a thing is possible, and, more to the point, we're bloody impressed.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone have left the town of South Park to head where the grass is apparently greener, and swapped badly-drawn boys for small, stringed toys.
The marionette is the new black, and I can guarantee those behind the tragic Thunderbirds movie are crying themselves to sleep over their choice of sacking the original puppets in favour of wooden acting of the human kind.
Parker and Stone have created a film which is actually as funny as it looks, and they revel in its shocking political incorrectness.
Taking pride of place as the menacing mini mastermind, Kim Jong II is as amusing as he is short, but the Pinocchio clan as a wooden whole will leave you laughing in spite of yourself.
Managing to insult almost every American, especially Hollywood actors (which would normally lay the pathway to career suicide), and every Arab, Parker and Stone's comedic ambush stops short of hurling abuse at George Bush Jnr, perhaps out of fear of exile?
Of course, with Parker and Stone, as with the South Park series, there is a deeper meaning embedded beneath the puppets' varnish coating.
Their political portrayal of how the US deals with the ‘outside world’ may prove unpopular with many, but for those foreign to the US, it will provide a damn good laugh at their expense.
And, it’s great to see someone other than the rather biased Michael Moore having a pop at the self-styled super country.
Paramount has assembled a decent selection of additional bonus material for the DVD release that will keep you amused for hours.
Team America: World Police is one of the funniest movies of 2005, so, unless you are easily offended, watching the DVD is a great way to while away a couple of hours.
