2008 Woodie Awards
America, F*** Yeah!
Mike Rohrssen
Issue date: 11/3/04 Section: Arts & Entertainment
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When I heard that the creators of South Park (Matt Stone and Trey Parker) were coming out with a new movie, my interest peaked after months of not seeing a movie. It seems anything that Parker and Stone touch becomes instant comedic gold, especially with the immense popularity of South Park, which single-handedly revived the fledgling network known as Comedy Central.
Their new endeavor is not South Park, though, nor is it live action like BASEketball and Orgazmo. So you may be asking yourself if it is not a cartoon and it is not live action, then what kind of movie is it? Team America: World Police is done in a format that has not been seen since the old school days of Thunderbirds. The movie is done entirely with puppets. An intricate world is created that contains parts of the US, North Korea, Egypt, France, and several other well-known places around the world, on a planet that is only a fraction of our size.
The story focuses on a young up-and-coming actor on Broadway named Gary Johnston (voiced by Parker) and a group of heroes known as Team America. Team America has dedicated their lives to stopping terrorism around the world and they are hot on the trail of Arab terrorists. They need help in finding out the secret plans of the terrorists, however, and this is where Johnston comes into play. The leader of Team America, Spottswoode believes that Gary's acting ability can help him to blend in with the terrorists and find out their covert operations. From there the team must overcome many obstacles from both the side of good and the side of evil led by North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il (voiced by Parker also).
The social commentary in this movie is terrific, for any of you who have seen any form of South Park that has to do with politics or anything even remotely controversial, Team America approaches these topics in the same fashion. The very title of the film Team America: World Police is a brilliant metaphor that runs throughout the movie of which consists of a small group of Americans looking to make the entire world safe with people from our own country protesting against it. What is very refreshing to see about this movie is that unlike other political films being released recently, Team America does not really take a particular side. While they may mock America's pension for being a worldly police force they also portray Michael Moore and other actors as people helping terrorists indirectly.
Their new endeavor is not South Park, though, nor is it live action like BASEketball and Orgazmo. So you may be asking yourself if it is not a cartoon and it is not live action, then what kind of movie is it? Team America: World Police is done in a format that has not been seen since the old school days of Thunderbirds. The movie is done entirely with puppets. An intricate world is created that contains parts of the US, North Korea, Egypt, France, and several other well-known places around the world, on a planet that is only a fraction of our size.
The story focuses on a young up-and-coming actor on Broadway named Gary Johnston (voiced by Parker) and a group of heroes known as Team America. Team America has dedicated their lives to stopping terrorism around the world and they are hot on the trail of Arab terrorists. They need help in finding out the secret plans of the terrorists, however, and this is where Johnston comes into play. The leader of Team America, Spottswoode believes that Gary's acting ability can help him to blend in with the terrorists and find out their covert operations. From there the team must overcome many obstacles from both the side of good and the side of evil led by North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il (voiced by Parker also).
The social commentary in this movie is terrific, for any of you who have seen any form of South Park that has to do with politics or anything even remotely controversial, Team America approaches these topics in the same fashion. The very title of the film Team America: World Police is a brilliant metaphor that runs throughout the movie of which consists of a small group of Americans looking to make the entire world safe with people from our own country protesting against it. What is very refreshing to see about this movie is that unlike other political films being released recently, Team America does not really take a particular side. While they may mock America's pension for being a worldly police force they also portray Michael Moore and other actors as people helping terrorists indirectly.