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Jason Maloney reviews
Bigger, Longer and Uncut 
- Cat.no: D 017926
- Cert: 15
- Running time: 78 minutes
- Year: 1999
- Pressing: 2000
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 30 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English, Arabic, Romanian, Bulgarian
- Widescreen: 1.85:1; Fullscreen: 4:3
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 10
- Price: £19.99
- Extras : Music Video, Theatrical Trailer, 3 “teasers”, Animated menus
Director:
- Trey Parker
Voice Cameos:
- George Clooney
Brent Spiner
Dave Foley
Minnie Driver
South Park: Bigger Longer and Uncut was my inauguration into the surreal world of South Park, the monstrously successful cult animation series….with the obligatory (and inevitable) full-length feature film.
In a blissfully picturesque town at the heart of redneck all-American suburbia, the youth of the community become corrupted when “Asses Of Fire” – the latest film starring the *legendary* animated duo Terrence & Phillip – arrives at the local fleapit. Replicating what they see on the big screen, the children emerge from the cinema spouting tirades of foul language that would make Quentin Tarantino blush.
As the influence of the film spreads like wildfire, infesting the classrooms of South Park Elementary school, this shocking transformation forces the parents to take decisive action. The consequences of this, however, could mean all hell breaks loose….literally.
Combining almost ludicrously unremitting puerile toilet humour with wickedly potent satire, the experience is most definitely not for the easily offended. Creator Trey Parker uses Cartman, Kyle, Stan and the hapless Kenny to lift the lid on a whole truckload of social and moral worms, brilliantly skewering the knife deep into just about every conceiveable target of American life and ideology. The remorseless lampooning of Canada (“we have apologised for Bryan Adams many times”) and hilariously camp portrayal of Saddam Hussain as a hell-dwelling gay lover of Satan are indicative of the no-holds-barred approach.
The one-dimensional animation style only adds further to the weirdness of it all – one of the early jokes sees Cartman and co., having initially been refused entry to see the Terrence & Phillip masterpiece, dismissing “Asses Of Fire” (“the animation is crap anyhow…..”).
Warners have marked up Bigger, Longer & Uncut (excuse me sir, is that a double entendre?) at their higher price point of a penny under 20 quid, as they did with The Matrix and Wild Wild West. Unlike those two titles, however, this disc has comparitively few extras of note.
A theatrical trailer, music video (“What Would Brian Boitango Do?”) and three enigmatically-named “Teasers” is about your lot. Even the 78-minute running time is slightly less than the average for this kind of cartoon (which is basically all it is), so the question of Value-for-money rests largely on the desirability of the film alone.
The 30 chapters, on the other hand, are pleasingly more than the norm for such a short feature, and provide excellent and easy access to your favourite sections.
The disc is double sided, with the anamorphically-enhanced 1.85:1 widescreen print on one side, and the pan & scan 1.33:1 version on the other. The picture is sharp while the sound is clear and not too overblown, though such matters are of slightly less importance in this genre than for most types of films.
An acquired taste this most definitely is, but miss it at your peril.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL Check out Jason’s homepage: The Slipstream.
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.