The plot sees our four favorite potty mouthed eight year olds from from South Park, Colorado, Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormack excited about the big Terrance and Phillip movie "Asses of Fire". When they go see the film, they quickly begin to emulate the duo's potty mouthed mentality, and soon they infect all the kids in town with the sour language. This causes the parents in town to go through measures like putting V-chips in the brains of kids, to blaming Canada, and putting Terrence and Phillip to death. So, much like modern society, parental groups blame the content, and not themselves for keeping their kids away.
The capture of the farting duo causes a war between Canada and the US. Which is perfectly timed with Satan wanting to get out of hell and take over Earth, despite being manipulated by his gay lover Saddam Hussein. Also, a side plot with Stan wanting to win Wendy's affection, but that's not as important. And all this leads to plenty of craziness and crassness as only early South Park could provide.
When you look at how North Korea has reacted to something as stupid as the Interview with hacking and terrorist threats, it makes you realize, damn, Saddam Hussein had a sense of humor. Oh yeah, he was a tyrant and a monster, but media at this time made him into a punch line, and he never insisted a major terrorist attack. Hell, this movie makes him Satan's lover, and then kills him. If that was to be done to Kim Jong-un, the US would be nuked by now.
But that's almost South Park's magic. They thrive on controversy. This was several years before Trey and Matt almost incited war themselves with both Muhammad controversies. However, in this case, they make it work. Saddam is a hilarious villain, both in design and character. And that has to do with smart writing, which this movie has in spades.
In fact, I've covered a lot of adaptations this month, and this one may be the strongest. It feels like a longer episode of the show, but it never feels boring or slow in the process. It keeps moving with one hilarious moment to another. On an animation standpoint, it looks great, though with the show's better look over the years, it does feel a bit dated in design. Though to be honest, I do miss the more construction paper look of the series in its early days.
There's classic music abound. Blame Canada, which was nominated for an Academy Award, is a classic that really proves how easy people will blame others for things that they should hold themselves responsible for. It would have won that Oscar too if not for Phil Collins, and they made certain to mock him later on. The extended version of Kyle's Mom's a Bitch is also a classic, as they take this one silly song from the first Mr. Hankey episode and go full force with it.
The South Park movie is a classic. Controversial, smart, and easily remains one of the most true to the series adaptations of all time. Hell, it mocked Canada, and we didn't threaten a real war. Maybe because we're Canada and a bunch of wusses, i dunno. Either way, it's a classic, and still worth a watch.