Team America: World Police - (Unrated Widescreen Special Collector's Edition)
by Trey Parker
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Elle Russ, Kristen Miller, Masasa Moyo, Matt Stone, Trey ParkerDirector: Trey Parker
Brand: PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO
Writer: Trey Parker
Producer: Matt Stone
Writer: Matt Stone
Producer: Anne Garefino
Producer: Frank C. Agnone II
Producer: Michael Polaire
Writer: Pam Brady
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); Arabic (Original Language); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Korean (Original Language)
Format: Animated, Collector's Edition, Color, DVD, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 98 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-05-17
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Paramount
Movie Reviews of Team America: World Police - (Unrated Widescreen Special Collector's Edition)
Movie Review: war on terror, puppetstyle
Summary: 5 Stars
You are in for a wild ride with this bullet ridden, gory, riotously funny and politically absolutely uncorrect puppetshow, where a gung-ho team of tough-as-nails cops seriously kicks the butts of terrorists and their celebrity supporters. Trey PARKER and Matt STONE, the men behind the infamous SOUTH PARK animated TV series, have created a true masterpiece, which can be enjoyed on a variety of levels.
Yes, there is lots of very rude humour - all stories you have heard or read about are true. There is indeed an XXX rated sex scene in it (surprisingly graphic, and while watching it was easy for me to see why this particular scene had to be recut several times in order to avoid a NC-17 rating for the movie's theatrical release; this DVD however is the uncut version and so a warning is possibly in order: some brief parts of that scene are of a nasty nature, yes, even though it is with puppets). And the dialogue is so over the top explicitly offensive, there is an almost poetic quality to it.
What struck me most however was how much effort went into TEAM AMERICA. Clearly a work of love of all involved, the movie and its "characters" never look cheap. There are lots of very large and incredibly detailed miniature sets (my favorite being KIM Jong-Il's palace). In fact the film has the look and feel of a multi-million dollar action extravaganza. And granted, you will love the puppet characters. Not only are they exceptionally well characterized (you will even find yourself rooting for KIM Jong-Il, when he croons his "I'm so ronery" song), their acting (so to speak) is very convincing. These puppets have facial expressions (the filmmakers used animatronic devices to move lips, eyes and eyebrows) and lip movements match the dialogue. In fact, there are not so few real life actors, whose acting is more wooden than that of those puppets.
Dialogue is also great. Granted, there are some weak jokes (e.g. KIM Jong-Il having difficulties pronouncing "inevitable" and a returning gag to the effect of "It will be 9/11 hundredfold." - "That's 9100."), but the movie is full of memorable lines, my favorites being "I've got five terrorists going southeast on Bakalakadaka-Street!" and "Hey terrorist! Terrorize this!", followed by a lethal bullet. The excellent soundtrack adds immensly to the fun - the aggressive "America! F**k yeah!" team hymn, a nice country ballad appropriately titled "Freedom isn't free", the aforementioned "I'm so ronery" and a self-referential one called "Montage" (acccompanying a ...well, montage of puppet character Gary during shooting and martial arts practice), to name but the best.
I mentioned earlier that TEAM AMERICA can be enjoyed on a variety of levels. First of all it is a fine action comedy in itself. You will also have fun guessing all the various movie references, which range from James BOND flicks, the 1960ies THUNDERBIRDS TV series, big budget actioners of the Jerry BRUCKHEIMER variety to KILL BILL VOL 1.
Unsurprisingly, in a movie concerning the war on terror, there is a political subtext. Sure, one could argue that is nonsense in the given puppet context, but I think otherwise. There are a few scenes which are definitely not funny, but rather frightening and moving (e.g. the floating "corpses" after the attack on the Panama Canal). We also see the leader of a rogue state harbouring and arming terrorists and - like in real life -the UN is a powerless papertiger (cf. the dialogue before UN weapons inspector Hans BLIX is fed to the sharks). Contrary to what many critics wrote about TEAM AMERICA the film does not ridicule the war on terror - on the contrary. Amidst all the puppet violence and sex, the fun and the jokes (and despite the abundant collateral damage TEAM AMERICA creates) the movie clearly shows that the war on terror is worth fighting.
TEAM AMERICA is presented in an outstanding DVD edition, excellent in all technical aspects and loaded with great extra features. The making-of featurettes are among the best I have ever seen. It is hugely interesting how they built the large sets, designed the puppets, made the costumes, operated the marionettes and did the impressive stunts (one featurette is about the miniature pyrotechnics). It took lots of research for many aspects, particularly for the interior of KIM Jong-Il's palace. Trey PARKER and Matt STONE comment on their movie. In my view they both seem even now a bit surprised how their project evolved and became bigger and more elaborated as they went along with the film. And again, it is amazing how much effort went into the movie. For instance, the prop man had to create four different designs of the glasses the KIM Jong-Il puppet wears!
There are also some deleted scenes (I really wonder why they did not enclude the martial arts fight between Gary and the North Korean soldiers in the final cut of the movie, as it looks very cool) and animated storyboards. Two trailers of the film are present as well, as are three for other releases (the LONGEST YARD remake, COACH CARTER and the fifth SOUTH PARK season).
Do yourself a favour and buy this DVD! You will want to watch it over and over again!
More Team America: World Police - (Unrated Widescreen Special Collector's Edition) reviews:
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Summary of Team America: World Police - (Unrated Widescreen Special Collector's Edition)
In TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE, a group of marionette puppets form Team America, an international police force dedicated to maintaining global stability. Discovering that a power hungry dictator, Kim Jong II, plans to destroy the world and is brokering weapons of mass destruction to terrorists, the team enlists the undercover help of Broadway star Gary Johnston and embarks on a harrowing mission to save the world. Opposed to this, is the Film Actors' Guild, or F.A.G., whose members include puppets representing actors Alec Baldwin, Tim Robbins, Matt Damon, Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn. In spite of the lack of support they receive, the team sticks to their plan of saving the world and putting an end to terrorism.An elite U.S. counter-terrorism squad loses a member while decimating half of Paris in the reckless pursuit of Middle Eastern maniacs; a Broadway actor with a traumatic childhood secret is naturally hired to replace him. Oh--and they're all marionettes. South Park maestros Trey Parker and Matt Stone (along with co-writer Pam Brady) came up with this shameless satire of pea-brained Hollywood action flicks and even smaller-minded global politics, so don't expect subtlety or even a hint of good taste. Team America is soon on the trail of North Korea's evil Kim Jong Il, who treats us to a tender song about his loneliness before ensnaring Alec Baldwin and the rest of the oblivious Film Actors Guild (F.A.G. for short) in a plot to blow up every major city on the planet. Just as the mindless squad cheerfully demolishes everything in sight, so do director Parker and company. Throwing punches Left, Right, and in-between, the movie's politics leave no turn un-stoned; there's even time to bludgeon the musical Rent. It's offensive, irresponsible comic anarchy seemingly made by sniggering little boys. Painfully funny sniggering little boys.--Steve Wiecking
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