Spitting Image wasn’t marionettes, it was puppets.

Next time, it’s your ass.

Team America is inherently funny for about a half an hour. The puppets are awkward and funny, its fast paced, quirky, colorful and you hear the Team America theme (the movies biggest laugh) for the first time.

…but it wears thin quickly. Eventually Team America becomes a rehash of themes and even direct items stolen from Parker and Stones’ own show, South Park. Whether its the Kim Jong-Il crossbreed of Cartman and the City Wok guy, the Montage song, the mock of country music exploiting 9/11, the ‘d*cks/p*ssies’ paraphrase from the end of South Parks “I’m a little bit country”, its rehash.

There are many things Parker and Stone could have done to make this movie better. for one, hiring actual VOICE ACTORS and differentiating this much much more from South Park. Think of their tv show “thats my bush”. The show wasnt so great but imagine if all the actors had been voiced by Parker/Stone instead. It was the sitcom setup with real actors and NEW voices that made it better than it might have been otherwise.

Second, make the political satire way more sharp. Parker/Stone dont know much about politics. The actor characters arent given any individula personality to make the barbs poked at them funny at all. Eg, the only joke about Michael Moore is that he’s fat. come on, theres way more to go with. The whole actor satire is a complete failure. And since it wasnt funny, it gave me time to think past the movie into what hypcrites Parker/Stone are for saying what they’re saying about Hollywood. As much as Hollywood actors can annoy me as well, face it, Parker/Stone wade into politics just as much if not more than many other actors. I’ve never even heard Ethan Hawke or Sam Jackson (two targets in TA:WP) get political, but Parker/Stone put their views into their work, and in their interviews as well, all the fricking time. Many newspaper articles have been written about their views. As much as Parker/Stone hate Hollywood, they are celebrities, and are as guilty as the targets they hit in TA:WP. Maybe they should have inserted themselves somewhere in there as a cameo. I’d have made them a Beavis/Butthead type figures, laughing at everyoen from the sidelines, eventually getting killed by TA or the actors… or both.

The movie is also way too long. And repetitive. A few of the best jokes in the movie get worn WAYYYYY into the ground. Theres a marionette fight scene at the beginning of the film where it doesnt look right. Its a funny scene, but its a metaphor for the entire movie. The puppets eventually become boring, they dnot have much character to them and Parker/Stone havent put much life into their personalities themselves. It gets REALLY boring. and since as an action movie satire its so close, without the humor or character its just as boring as any Michael Bay movie they parody.

And thats the biggest crime. For this, despite a great first 1/2 hour, I cant recommend this movie. Its a 4/10, and the biggest disappointment in years.

this movie doesnt piss off both sides so much as it makes it watchable for both sides, so people of opposing views (both of which watch South Park) can watch it, see their side get poked and say “well at least they got the other side just as much”

To me, this makes Parker/Stone PUSSIES. They do this all the time on South Park. If its a majorly divisive issue like abortion, immigration, the 2000 election, racism, etc. they write about it, but completely straddle the line and play both sides even. I HATE it, and those episodes always turn out lame. And they did this here in the movie, the ‘lesson i’ve learned’ speech at the end is the same South Park format thing to do as well. Every other time Parker/Stone waded into movies (except for the South Park movie) they did NOT copy the typical South Park storyline format. They did here, from beginning to end.

South Park is at its best when either the show is being absurd like the You Got Served episode, OR if they get political, when they actually take one side and make their case through the story: about hate crimes, psychics, anti-smoking groups, corporations, frivolous lawsuits, etc.

everyone talks about this movie about being a middle finger to everyone. As someone who knows Parker/Stones work very well, I can honestly say: no. its not. they were lazy and uncreative.

I hear what you’re saying about the voice actor thing… I assume they were trying to keep it as low budget and DIY as possible. Still, Spottswoode was not done by Parker and Stone and he is one of the best voices. Plus all the female main characters are not Parker or Stone either.

As for the politics, I didn’t think they were on the fence or failing to take a stance… I just thought they were showing how overblown the whole terrorism issue has become.

you are criticising the south park guys as political satirists when they parodied the stereotypical american so well (ie, giving every location’s position relative to america, and the line ‘2207 miles south of the real america’ to describe central america)

although, i do admit that they did fail in their satire of Michael Moore – assuming they were trying to satire him. its possible that they let him off with just a fat joke because they agree with him, and can not find anything to criticise about him

sean, nice review

seen the last few episodes of South Park? Half of them are amazing, the other half are, like Team America, ripping off their old material, half assed and repetitive…