Team America: World Police (2004)

Trey Parker and Matt Stone have already achieved enormous success with their brand of crude humor with the animated Comedy Central hit, “South Park.” They know they have what it takes to make a full-length animated movie after the success of South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut (as opposed to live-action films: did anyone see Baseketball?).

From the previews, Team America: World Police looked pretty funny, so Heather and I decided to rent it when it hit DVD. But, when Trey Parker and Matt Stone subsitute puppets for their usual aniimation, would the full-length movie be worth watching?

The voices are done, as usual with this duo, mostly by just the two of them. They don’t have a huge range of character voices, so the viewer will most likely recognize some of the same voices from the “South Park” show. Since their range is so limited, most of the voices will sound alike in the film as well, sometimes making it hard to find out who’s talking, which detracts from the fun of the film.

The plot is a blatant poke at the comments that America shouldn’t police the world. Sure, it’s done in an incredibly crude way, but they seem to have a message. What that message is, the viewer probably won’t figure out, as they just seem to poke fun at both sides of the issue. It just comes to serve as a backdrop for Trey and Matt’s own unique kind of humor. Sure, their is a plot thrown in somewhere, but it quickly gets lost in the film, turning it into one crude situation after the next as the film progresses.

The viewer may think they know what to expect of this film humor-wise if they’ve seen “South Park” before, but they’d be wrong. “South Park” was the tame version of Trey and Matt. Now that “South Park” has done so well, they apparently feel more able to show the world what they are truly made of – and sometimes it’s downright disgusting.

Sure, some of the scenes are pretty funny, but then there’s a few scenes (Gary throws up at one point – not just once, but over and over and over…) that may just turn your stomach – even if it is just puppets. Pretty gross, and really takes away from most people’s enjoyment of the film.

Team America: World Police fits right into the South Park category: it’s seemingly aimed at kids, but no kid should ever be allowed to watch it. Team America takes the “South Park” humor to another level: funnier, but also more disgusting and more blatantly sexual.

Despite the puppets involved, keep the kids far far away from this one. If you’re of age and you think “South Park” is the funniest thing you’ve ever seen, then this movie is for you. If not, stay away from Team America – despite the title, this one isn’t for every American.