Review of "Team America"

I have to say right off the top that I am not a huge fan of "South Park". It has grown on me a little in the past couple of years, but for the most part I've found it overrated and crass. Parker and Stone do take chances and they tend to be equal opportunity satirists (if that's a term that can really be applied to what they do). They offend all political, racial and cultural stripes and that's probably a good thing. There's lots of satire to go around. But sometimes I think the crudity of their drawings and scripts undercuts their points a little TOO much and the vulgarity BECOMES the point, which I'm pretty sure is not what they intend.

So I went into "Team America" with an open mind but limited expectations. These guys are smart, no doubt. But I worried that their more juvenile impulses would dominate and drown out whatever point they were trying to make in a river of grossness. What I found was something very unexpected; their grossness helped DEFINE the point they were trying to make, and it worked, on all levels.

"Team America" is of course, made with puppets, more specifically, marionettes. It is done in the style of what used to be known as "Supermarionation" a term and technique perfected by Gerry Anderson, who was responsible for kids' shows like "Thunderbirds", "Stingray", "Fireball X-L5" and others. It was popular in the 60's but seems hopelessly hokey now, with it's visible wires and awkward puppet movements, not to mention their oversized heads. Stone and Parker have chosen this method, probably just because they thought it would be cool to do so, but partly because it fed into their theme of a "team" of American anti-terrorists who would be dispatched to deal with threats around the globe. "Thunderbirds" and the other shows also featured teams of young adventurers. Stone and Parker have paid perfect tribute to this form, and left all the hokiness in rather than polish it up for modern audiences. You laugh at the ridiculous dancing and hand and facial gestures, but you also know that these guys love the form and are just having some good fun with it. Of course, being the creators of "South Park" they do have to include some tasteless scenes of puppet sex and incredible violence, but even those come across as so ridiculous they can't really offend. In material like this, tone is everything and this time they set it just right.

The plot concerns Gary Johnson, an actor who is recruited by Team America to infiltrate a terrorist squadron and stop it's plans. Along the way he tangles with such "real life" figures as Kim Jong Il, Hans Blix, Michael Moore, Alec Baldwin and Tim Robbins. The whole "Team America" concept is played to the hilt, complete with secret headquarters located behind Mount Rushmore, an enormous amount of vehicles, weapons and firepower, and a computer named "Intelligence". Political mindsets of all stripes are thoroughly ripped here, from the gung-ho American cowboy attitude (the team always seems to destroy as many cultural artifacts as they do terrorists, and routinely just bulldoze their way into every situation employing a huge amount of overkill) to the pacifist attitude of the Hollywood elite (Michael Moore becomes a suicide bomber to destroy Team America headquarters, and the other celebs eventually are taken in by Kim Jong Il). Perhaps the most effective (and unexpected) satirical point comes wrapped in a scatalogical metaphor for the whole "war on terror" that Gary hears in the bar from a drunk. While admittedly gross and offputting, it is nonetheless (don't faint on me, now) the most accurate description of the need for BOTH action and thought in the battle against terror. I have never heard it said quite so grossly, or succinctly.

I always hate it when reviewers reveal a film's laugh out loud moments, so I won't do it here. Suffice it to say that there were several points in the film where I was doing so, and that is rare for me. There are a lot of musical numbers in the film and they are all gut busting, particularly Kim Jong Il's solo (!). Again, I won't go into detail, but I dare you to remain straight faced throughout this one.

There are, of course, excesses. I thought the gay jokes were a little overdone. I didn't find them offensive particularly, just unecessary. And there is one scene outside a bar that went on WAY too long, just kind of wallowing in its own grossness. Did I mention that I didn't really need to see graphic sex between puppets?

I have to highly recommend this film, though. It's obviously a labor of love, it makes you laugh and there's a thoughtful subtext to it if you let yourself be open to it. I guess the best compliment I can give it is to say that while I was watching it, I was thinking of other forms of animation that Parker and Stone might be able to mine for good effect; perhaps the Sid and Marty Krofft style puppets, or maybe the old "dynamation" technique of Ray Harryhausen...

May God forgive me!