Looking at Movies (Classic Movie) - Team America: World Police (2004)

What?? Team America: World Police?? A classic movie? Why, this is an outrage! I am calling my congressional representative! I am calling the real police! Rabble rabble rabble rabble!!

Calm down, Trigger. Not every classic movie has to be all serious and have a serious message. Team America: World Police meets all of the criteria of a classic movie. It is groundbreaking (name the other funny movie with marionettes), it is well-written, it has the perfect cast, and it is timeless. For those of you that demand seriousness with your classic movies, this one even has a serious political message.

Matt Stone and Trey Parker hate working with actors. Just about every person who does voice work on South Park who is not Matt Stone or Trey Parker is a friend of theirs. They constantly complained about the process of casting their play The Book of Mormon, and they have done nothing but complain about casting for the movie. When the duo sat down to write their first movie, they didn't want to work with actors and the idea of using puppets was already worn thin by Jim Henson. The solution? Marionettes, and it was a stroke of genius.

If you need proof that Matt and Trey hate actors, all you have to do is watch Team America: World Police. All actors in the movie are represented by the Film Actors Guild. I will let you put the acronym together. Matt Damon has been reduced to a moron who simply repeats his own name over and over again, and every actor character in the movie is depicted as a complete idiot. Matt Stone and Trey Parker hate actors.

There is so much comedy gold in Team America: World Police that it is hard to choose a place to start. Should we talk about the hilarious marionette sex scene, or the scene where one of the marionettes disguises himself as an Arab by wearing a towel on his head and gluing facial hair to his face? You know what? I will let you watch the movie and choose your own comedy gold to reflect on. All of it is good, and all of it is funny.

Matt and Trey hide their political views really well under their comedy, but any fan of theirs knows exactly what the duo thinks about the United States and the rest of the world. In Team America, the leader of North Korea is a loon and the United States is the only country that feels it needs to stop him. Sound familiar? The political overtones in this movie are thick, and they are also timeless. At least they are timeless until the day the United States stops feeling like it has to police the entire world and the day that North Korea is no longer ruled by a maniac. Like I said, timeless.

Just because this movie is made with marionettes does not mean it is a kid's movie. This is a very adult film that the little ones should not see. But Matt and Trey have a way of making sure that the comedy using marionettes is very funny, very topical, and very adult.

Rating: 4 out of 5

George N Root III is a movie addict and a fan of Matt Stone and Trey Parker. You can follow him on Twitter @georgenroot3 or send him a message at georgenroot3@gmail.com.