Ridiculous Animated Farce, Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters Is Too Self-Referential.

The Good: Moments of humor
The Bad: Repetitive, Self-referential, DVD bonus features are not as good as I'd hoped
The Basics: With the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters's penchant for repetition-both within the film and from the series-this movie is easy to pass by on DVD.


There are only so many hours in the day and there are only so many hours of life one has to watch movies and experience all that they can in this life. As a result, sometimes I end up considering something I encounter and force myself to ask the question "If I knew I was going to die tomorrow, would this be something I'd still want to have seen?" As little use as there may appear to be in answering such a question, sometimes it does make my job as a reviewer a little easier and in the case of Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters (now on DVD), the answer is a surprisingly simple "no."

This was not a consideration I came to lightly, as I generally enjoyed the movie when my partner and I sat down to watch the film on DVD recently. Before this, I had only had experience with the first season of Aqua Teen Hunger Force and while I had generally enjoyed it, it was a type of humor I generally found I enjoyed more in small doses. Still, as it was my wife's turn to choose the movie we watched, I gladly opened myself to the experience of watching Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters and while I laughed, my laughs diminished as the movie went on and many of them were for reminiscences to the first season episodes I had seen that were mirrored in this film.

After a pretty filthy song wherein movie theater snacks warn viewers to not talk, ask questions about the movie or let cell phones ring, with dire consequences threatened, Master Shake, Frylock and Meatwad escape the Sphinx in the distant past or now (depending on which title placard one chooses to believe). After fighting a massive poodle, this is revealed to be Master Shake telling a story to Meatwad that Frylock insists never actually happened. Master Shake begins to gloat about his physique because of a new exercise machine he has, an Insanoflex he stole from their neighbor, Carl. The Insanoflex is improperly assembled, though, and soon the trio embarks on a mission to find the missing part, a motherboard which will activate the Insanoflex.

As it turns out, the Insanoflex is the product of an alien that will use the device to destroy the world, a fact which does not stop Master Shake from plugging the mother board into the Insanoflex. With Carl the workout device's prisoner, Frylock leads the gang to the laboratory of Doctor Weird to find a way to stop the multiplying Insanoflex!

The Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters is essentially a rambling collection of in-jokes and cameos from the television series. Fans will thrill to the appearance of the Moonenites and the green and orange aliens who come to try to collect the Insaneoflex as the rumored inventors of it. The problem is that the film is very short, with jokes like the opening song and story eating up five minutes and having nothing to do with the remainder of the plot. Even then, the plot meanders from road trips to the Insanoflex and its origins, ending up as a story that finally explains the origins of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

Yes, while there is little to no actual character development in the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters, questions are finally answered. Frylock's origins are explained and mixed up with a story that has nothing to do with him . Dr. Weird is given more time than in the series (usually episodes begin with him unleashing one of his creations on the world and the trio of Frylock, Master Shake and Meatwad cleaning up the mess) and his origins are explained as well . . . for the most part.

The problem here is that the film is not looking for coherency and as a result, stories get interrupted and go off on humorous tangents that never resolve the initial - sometimes interesting - actions or ideas. The result is a movie that works best for those with a short attention span. Indeed, this might be the ideal Stoner Theatre volume (perhaps a double feature with Dude, Where's My Car?) as when one is high, reason, sensibility and order are less required, than, say, happy moving objects. This movie has happy movie objects aplenty.

But largely, the movie is calling back to the series. The Moonenites arrive - pointlessly as far as the plot is concerned - and steal a coffee table and ash tray. They are jerks just like they are in the television series, but for those who might not have seen the television series, the jokes are likely to fall flat. The Moonenites are a random element in a film that only loosely collects such random elements.

The animation mixes with things like live-action explosions, but there is nothing remarkable about the animation. The Voice-overs are not made to even precisely match the lips of the characters, which makes sense considering that they are a french fry container, a paper cup and a meatball with arms. Yes, for those who have not ever seen anything Aqua Teen related, the main characters are sentient food products and that, at least, is something that is partially explained by the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters. Dana Snyder, Carey Means and Dave Willis provide most of the voices and they do a good job with emoting the various characters.

On DVD, Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters is surprisingly blase with the bonus features. One is a simple featurette featuring the men who wrote the script sitting around reading it to one another laughing at their own jokes. There were three trailers for the film which were only marginally different from one another. But there is no commentary track or deleted scenes. In other words, this is a short movie with little additional on DVD.

In the end, this is the death knell of the film and what drags the film - which I admit I did laugh at several times - into the below average territory. It has low rewatchability and it offers little more entertainment value than it initially did in the theaters. And for those who are into Aqua Teen Hunger Force, they are likely to find this to be more of the same, as opposed to truly building on the franchise. And for those not into the series, Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters is unlikely to get anyone clamoring for it.

For other animated films, please be sure to check out my reviews of:
Shark Tale
Bolt
The Clone Wars

4.5/10

For other movie reviews, please be sure to check out my Film Review Index Page for an organize listing of all those reviews!

© 2012, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
| | |

Fun In The West In The Prematurely Killed The Adventures Of Brisco County Jr.

The Good: Fun, Clever concept, Interesting characters, Well acted
The Bad: Plots become repetitive, DVD extras are very repetitive
The Basics: An interesting and fun series for those willing to accept and enjoy the combination of science fiction and Western.


I was amused recently to read an article about the thirteen (or was it sixteen?) best shows that were prematurely canceled. I was amused because I was a fan of (and owned on DVD) over a simple majority of them. Show that made the list that I have long crowed about included Sports Night (click here for that review!), Wonderfalls (click here for that review!) and The Lone Gunmen. When I had the opportunity recently to pick up and take in The Adventures Of Brisco County Jr. - The Complete Series, the fact that it had made the prestigious list of television shows that had never quite found an audience before being canned was more of an endorsement than a detraction for me. Despite the terrible initial timeslot (it was paired with The X-Files for a season on Fox's Friday night line-up) which one might usually blame for the show's failure, after watching the extraordinary eight-discs it's actually easy to see why. This is very much a niche show and it the niche audience simply never found it, it's easy to see why it would not succeed.

Which is too bad, because this is one of those shows that deserved a fair shake of it. At the very worst, The Adventures Of Brisco County Jr. is an entertaining series and it looks good on DVD.

Set in the Wild West shortly before the turn of the century, the series follows the adventures of Brisco County Jr. a bounty hunter who fights for good and justice while searching for the men in the gang who gunned down his father. Brisco is thwarted at almost every turn by John Bly, the criminal mastermind who was captured by Brisco County, Sr., engineered a jailbreak and freed his lackeys to kill Sr. Brisco hunts him with justice, not vengeance, in mind.

Brisco is employed by the robber barons, personified by his liaison to them, Socrates Poole. Brisco soon makes peace with rival bounty hunter Lord Bowler and the pair heads out into a Wild West that is far more eccentric than history records. Brisco soon finds himself on a quest to discover the origin and powers of a mysterious set of Orbs that may be alien and that contain immense power.

The series soon becomes a race between Brisco and Bly to find the orbs and extract their powers with Brisco determined to prevent Bly from using the orb for world domination and Bly bent on finding the orb for just that purpose!

The series is entertaining and fun to watch, though it's pretty easy to figure that a science fiction-Western is going to fill a need for a very small niche audience. The only thing more surprising than the niche audience not finding The Adventures Of Brisco County Jr. is that the executives at Fox were stupid enough to put another science fiction-Western in the exact same timeslot years later with Firefly. That's pretty moronic of Fox, yet it fits their pattern. My point here is that this is a series that was smart, innovative, fun to watch and well-positioned for the geek audience most likely to enjoy it. How it failed in its first run is something of a mystery. . . . unless the network didn't know how to promote it.

I actually remember when The Adventures Of Brisco County Jr. was on the air and all of the promos for the series made it seem like a pretty pedestrian Western show. In reality, it is not. The show utilizes a great deal of humor - usually in the form of technological anachronisms or pop culture references for events decades after the timeframe of the series - and the science fiction aspects of the series consume much of the plots. The origin of the orbs and what they end up being is very much a science fiction device.

But in The Adventures Of Brisco County Jr. the melding of science fiction and Western works extraordinarily well and the result is clever and amusing. So, too, is the humor. The recurring characters like Sheriff Aaron Viva (think Elvis in the Old West), Pete Hutter (an eccentric villain who seems to get killed each episode he's in), and Professor Albert Wickwire are complex, clever and downright funny, which allows Brisco to often play the straightman and keep the show just under over-the-top (as actor Bruce Campbell says in the commentaries).

While there are only three credited cast members (four if you count Brisco's horse Comet), the show relies on the idea that the West was not all that big and villains and heroes recur and grow throughout the brief series. Here is who the essentials are:

Brisco County Jr. - Following the murder of his lawman father, Brisco becomes employed by the robber barons who want to see an end to John Bly's gang. Brisco sets out throughout California, Arizona and New Mexico to track down Bly with his trusty horse Comet, his companion Lord Bowler, and his sidearm. Along the way he allies himself with an eccentric professor, a dancer, and others who help him hunt for justice while aiding others along the way. An intellectual and a visionary, he is also looking for the next big thing that will bring America into the new century,

Lord Bowler - More than just a sidekick, he is an expert tracker and easily the equal of Brisco. Arguably in the chase for the bounties, Bowler soon amasses a small fortune which puts him living in the lap of luxury,

Socrates Poole - A lawyer and man of the office, he finds life negotiating the desires of the robber barons and the style of Brisco to be an adventure in and of itself. Socrates finds himself defending Brisco when he breaks the rules and learning some of the more subtle rules of the West when he strikes out on his own,

Dixie - Brisco's recurring love interest who wants him to settle down, though understands that his quest for justice will not allow him to,

Professor Wickwire - A highly educated scientist who shares Brisco's appreciation for what the future may hold and also desires to create the coming "thing" for the new century. He rescues Brisco and Bowler on many occasions,

John Bly - The quarry Brisco County Jr. is hunting, he has an agenda of his own and it involves the orbs and world domination,

and Comet - Brisco's horse. He's not a talking horse, but he does appear to comprehend a lot and offer useful advice, in his own way. He also has feelings that are easily hurt.

The characters are well presented by a pretty extraordinary cast and great recurring cast. The show utilizes talents of many fine, well-established actors like John Astin (Wickwire) and newer talents like Kelly Rutherford (Dixie Cousins) to create something that has a very unique feel to it. The dialogue is often loaded with one-liners and none of the cast seems to have any difficulty getting around the long phrases. Fans of Boston Legal may enjoy seeing Christian Clemenson (Jerry Espenson on Boston Legal) as Socrates Poole, though if anything seeing him in this predecessor series makes the case that Clemenson is becoming typecast. More straightlaced than his Boston Legal role, Clemenson still makes an indelible mark on the viewer episode after episode as a real gem of the screen.

Julius Carry, who plays Lord Bowler is an exceptional choice for the role. He lends an instant bearing and screen presence to the role that is impressive. To see him in the DVD bonus features smiling and relaxing is a real treat and a testament to how good an actor he is; his jocularity appears to come so natural to the actor, something alien to the character.

But the heavy lifting of making the show work and setting its tone is set firmly on the shoulders of Bruce Campbell. Campbell has an extraordinary ability to navigate the treacherous territory between tongue-in-cheek and campy. He keeps the series serious and realistic, which heightens the humor of one-liners that could otherwise be hokey (Rutherford delivers some of those, unfortunately). In The Adventures Of Brisco County Jr., he is an action hero with a quick wit that works and he makes watching episode after episode worthwhile.

Unfortunately, as the series progresses, it begins to feel remarkably repetitive. Sadly, in discussing plans for the second season on the DVD bonus features, the producers reveal a satisfying solution to the problem of the familiar plot structures. It seems like the writers and producers understood they had to shift the show from being a constant chase and were working on that when the series was canceled.

Bummer.

The other real bummer comes in the form of the bonus features. There are decent commentary tracks on episodes like the pilot, but the final disc in the set includes interviews and clips and even a reading from Bruce Campbell's memoirs which essentially recount all of the same information. There is little that varies from what is already said so even the bonus features are repetitive. Perhaps the most interesting bonus feature is the booklet that describes each episode as it was written by Bruce Campbell.

All in all, this is a decent series, great for entertainment and I can see it standing up well over time as something different.

For other one-season series' I've reviewed, please check out:
Invasion
Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip
VR.5

7/10

For other television reviews, please visit my index page!

© 2010, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
| | |