South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut Blu-Ray Review
Posted by Porfirio Diaz on 10.17.2009
Warping your fragile little mind since 1999
Directed by: Trey Parker Produced by: Trey Parker and Matt Stone Written by: Trey Parker, Matt Stone, and Pam Brady Music by: Trey Parker and Marc Shaiman Original release date: June 30, 1999 Running time: 81 minutes
It’s no secret that South Park is unlike any other animated show on television. Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s initial paper cut-out creation displays a satirical representation of the news world while gleefully running rampant with a herd of crudeness, political inappropriateness, and vulgarity. When South Park got out to the viewing public, overbearing mothers and people in fancy suits were shocked and appalled. The amount of attention the show received seemed to correspond to how controversial an episode became. However, the more mature audience loved the show’s unique extravagance.
So when the announcement came that South Park would step out of the restricted bonds of television to the more free flowing world of film, some fans were excited in anticipation of an uncensored South Park exhibit. Some fans, including Trey and Matt, figured that the move to the big screen would spell death for the popular show or at least be near the end of it. Knowing that, Trey and Matt made sure to go all out on their beloved project and the result was something that definitely corresponded to the title of the movie. Now that it’s out for Blu-ray, does South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut still hold up 10 years later?
Film
The four mischievous boys (Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny) go out to see Asses of Fire, an R-rated film starring Canadian comedy duo Terrence and Phillips. The boys are denied admission due to the film having an enormous amount of naughty language. They manage their way into the theater and witness the greatest three hours of non-stop profanity they have ever heard. The film left the boys swearing more than ever and ended up sharing their new expanded vocabulary to the rest of their friends. Parents and teachers, led by Mrs. Brokflovski, became outraged at the boy’s newly established obscenities and immediately put the blame on Canada for warping their children’s fragile little minds. From there both the United States and Canada escalate into a war over purity and censorship, all while Satan and Saddam Hussein prepare for their own destructive emergence to Earth.
This film threw away any doubt that South Park was ready for an early cancellation. Trey and Matt knew that the only way to surpass the quality of their television show was to go all out with the movie. Mission accomplished. This is one of the smartest and cleverest animated films to ever grace the big screen, with an added incentive of being hilarious to boot. As with the television show, the movie has its own ass full with messages. South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut weaves through a variety of taboo social matter including questionable parental standards, the hypocrisies of the MPAA, and how one form of entertainment is more acceptable over the other ("Horrific, deplorable violence is okay, as long as people don't say any naughty words!"). The film may seem like its beating you over the head with its messages, but at least every context within the film is relevant to the point of the message while a spew of swear words hits your ears.
Ah yes, the swearing. As you can imagine, there is a tiny bit of swearing found here. By that, I mean the vulgarity reaches “Quentin Tarantino cinema” levels here. With no language barrier, of course the creators of South Park would have their characters cuss up a storm. It’s no surprise to fans that the film managed to reach record levels with its prolific use of profanity. But even the swearing helps prove its point about the censorship of speech. This point is never as evident as Cartman’s Matrix-inspired swan song near the end of the film. Even if you take away the message, the imaginative use of profanity is oh so hilarious.
The one thing that many did not see coming happened seconds into the film. When Stan led the whole town into a catchy musical number, it became apparent that the creators took a page from Disney and transformed their creation into a musical. If that wasn’t clear enough, then Terrence and Phillip’s legendary Uncle Fucka surely hit the point home. The trailers never hinted on the fact that South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut would become a musical and I have no idea why. Nearly all the songs are passionately incredible, with Blame Canada and Satan’s Up There topping my playlist. The songs even flow coherently together, never losing track on the main part of the story. Each song has a purpose, even if that purpose is absolutely unsuitable for children.
I’ve heard complains that the film slows down a bit towards the end but then many people are used to watching animated shows within a standard 22-minute run time. It’s an arguable debate, but one I won’t heavily deduct. I’ve also heard that many are turned off towards the bombardment of profanities. One may become numb to the heavy use of profanity, but I think that was the plan anyway. Plus, wasn’t that in itself an entire episode of South Park?
There are plenty of laughs found within this mixture of satire and the usual potty humor. There is no doubt that South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut is one of the greatest animated television to film translation of all time.
Rating: 9 out of 10
Video
South Park is considered as the crudest animated show in television history. That’s what happens when a show uses construction paper for its main source of animation. But thanks to the power of technology, artists rendered something that resembles the classic 2D cut-out construction paper stop-motion style used during the early years of South Park. The film preserves that natural look but also added in some cool special effects. Just check out those rich red-colored flames in Hell. They really complete the look.
Video is presented in 1080p resolution with an aspect ratio of 1.78: 1. This film is just splashed with color and the 1080p resolution really helps expand the color saturation be more prominent and sharp. Look how nice Kyle’s green hat or Kenny's orange parka looks. The video is not perfect. The pieces of dirt still remain visible from the original DVD release, but that’s not as obvious on the Blu-ray release. By no means does this release look as great as the other South Park season set Blu-ray releases. However, for a film that’s been more than 10 years old, it still looks great.
Rating: 9 out of 10
Audio
Dolby TrueHD 5.1 needed to be here in order to truly experience the musical greatness of South Park. Lucky for you, it is! Sound efforts are just as prominent and sound top notch but it’s the musical numbers that really shine. The sound can be front-heavy most of the time and can also express a heavy amount of bass. I say that’s just the sound matching the intense action that is displaying on the screen (example: Kenny’s journey to Hell).
Rating: 9 out of 10
Extras
The only disappointment found in this Blu-ray release. Unfortunately, I consider it a major disappointment. But first the good:
- Commentary by Matt Stone and Trey Parker: The selling point for this release is a full length commentary track with Trey and Matt. If you’re not familiar with their other commentary tracks on the season set DVDs, both guys like to record mini-commentary tracks instead of doing full length episode tracks. They do it to get all the interesting information out of the way within the first five or so minutes, then lets the viewers continue on without them for the rest of the episode as normal.
For this release, both guys last for the whole movie. I even bet this commentary track is longer than their entire individual episode tracks put together. Sounds great, right? Well for one, they have not seen the movie since its premise. Mix that with them working on 150+ episodes since then and it’s more than obvious that they don’t remember anything about their own project. For the first 30 minutes, both give out some neat information and stories: their issues with Paramount, their antipathy to the animation, their not-quite-as-wild Oscar appearance, and their unscheduled plan to see Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. However, both start running out of things to say after that and their contribution level drops like a stone. Luckily, they cut out often to bring in people who worked on the film to add in little tidbits and share their own experience. Often times, they don’t really add in to the whole scheme of things thus bringing the middle part of the track to a halt. At least the ending picked up quite nicely. A minor disappointment to be sure, but I still enjoyed their insight. It’s about damn time both guys delivered on a full length track and they indeed deliver.
That’s where the good ends.
- Music Video - What Would Brian Boitano Do: The song that plays at the end of the film receives the music video treatment. I like the sight of all those chicken wings but other than that, it’s mkay. Watch it once and be done with it.
- Film Teaser: Pretty much what it is.
- Two Theatrical Trailers: Again, you would have never guessed that this film would be a musical based from these trailers. The trailers are also misleading into thinking that this film is suitable for kids. Bahaha, silly Paramount. Trey and Parker go into this during their commentary in much greater detail.
- BD Live Drawn Together Movie: The Movie! Trailer: Really?
South Park fan or not, that’s really disappointing. It’s the 10th anniversary of one of your most celebrated films ever. You couldn’t have put ins some behind the screen footage or sketches for your Blu-ray release, Paramount?
So does the good outweigh the bad? Depends on how much you’ve always wanted to hear Trey and Matt talk for the full monty. For me, no. I really would have liked to see more extras. The commentary track is great, but that’s it. Quality over quantity, I guess.
Rating: 3 out of 10
The 411: South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut is one of funniest politically incorrect films ever made. They pull no punches on a bundle of taboo topics while sprinkling in a few unpleasant words in there. This Blu-ray release features near-perfect 1080p video transfer quality while the sound really benefits from the Dolby TrueHD 5.1. You too will be singing to the tune of those awesome songs. The score takes a dip from the lack of extras but don’t let that discourage you. This is a must buy for any South Park fan.
