It was only a matter of time before someone with enough money and power decided to make this happen. The question was, would they be willing to risk staying true to the original or would they ditch it and go for the cash-grab? This is my childhood they’re fucking with.
The good news is that Mike Judge has money and has also stayed true to his roots while finding a way to bring the boys to a modern audience. They’re the idiots that put him on the map and brought with them Daria Morgendorffer and an early version of Hank Hill and I think he still loves them as much as the fans.
It’s been a rough week and I still have to go cook tonight but, I also felt that, if there was ever a time to unplug and watch a mindless stupid cartoon, this was the morning. The good news is that, unlike when I was a kid, I didn’t have to wake up at 4 am to watch clips of them on MTV’s Liquid Television prior to them gaining a cult following and their own series.
As stupid as these characters are, they still have heart and an endearing sense of brutal honesty and in a sense, we have them to be thankful to for a lot of great music reaching a much wider audience. Prior to them, only a handful of people had heard of bands like White Zombie, The Butthole Surfers or my hometown heroes GWAR.
The problem with reviewing a movie like this is the fact that by intention, it’s designed to be stupid and childish. You have to be in a certain state of mind to really enough it and be able to embrace the humor for being lewd and really, that’s what we love about the boys. If you’re taking it seriously, you’re missing the point altogether.
That said, the writing team did one hell of a job with the jokes going in multiple directions thanks to the character’s stupidity yet they still found a way to bring it together and make it land. It’s clear that they put actual effort into doing something that stayed true to the original without beating a dead horse and still pulling in fresh situations for them to create havoc in.
What struck me as odd was that this time around, the characters seemed to have developed some kind of empathy. They’re still dumb as fuck but they’re still kids that really love the things that they love and that’s the driving force behind everything they do. Who doesn’t want to eat nachos and score with hot chicks? (or hot whomever, you get the idea)
Yes, there were a few stale moments but there were also more than enough reminders of why I loved the show growing up. While I don’t think it will be the classic the “Do America” was, it was still a welcome addition to the franchise and yeah, I’ll watch it again given the fact that there were probably a few things I missed the first time around. My only wish would be to watch it with my 13 year old self and see what he has to say about it.