South Park: Imaginationland
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Imaginationland. It’s the home of those things humans have made up over the years. You know, those characters from TV, cartoons, movies, video games, and comic books. In South Park: Imaginationland, the boys are swept away to Imaginationland—which is then attacked by terrorists. The terrorists release the bad imaginary characters, who reside behind a wall, and a war between good and evil ensues. Kyle, Stan, Jimmy, and Kenny escape on the back of a flying dragon (voiced by a Sean Connery imitator), but Butters gets left behind.

Meanwhile, back at the Pentagon, the government is doing its best to get the situation under control. The emergency: our imaginations have run wild, and something has to be done. The government sends in a platoon of soldiers, led by Kurt Russell (since he did so well in Soldier); unfortunately, Russell and his men end up getting sexually assaulted by the Satan-worshipping Woodland Critters. The government, dismayed at Kurt Russell’s failure to conquer, decides that the solution is to nuke Imaginationland. The Imaginationland Council of Nine (comprised of Morpheus, Jesus, Luke Skywalker, the lion Aslan from Narnia, Gandalf, Glinda the Good Witch, Popeye, Wonder Woman, and Zeus) determines that it’s up to Butters to save Imaginationland, since he’s the only human there.

South Park: Imaginationland is a trilogy of episodes from Season 11, the first two of which end in cliffhangers, à la 24. If you’re familiar with the work of Matt Stone and Trey Parker (who are hailed as “brilliant” by some), you’re sure to find some funny stuff on this DVD. Al Gore is running around the Pentagon with a red sheet tied around his neck, arms extended in front, making whooshing noises like Superman flying; the South Park kids are able to breach the Pentagon’s security by crashing through a window to get in. You’ll probably notice several parodies encompassed in the story—like Saving Private Ryan, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Willy Wonka.

While I’m a big fan of the South Park series, I found Imaginationland to be darker than most of the other South Park episodes I’ve seen, with the blood and gore of the terrorist attack akin to Braveheart. While South Park is usually light-hearted, Imaginationland, in addition to the usual paper-doll type of animation, employs high-level graphics, and some may find the vivid images in the terrorist attacks to be gruesome and scary. For example, the terrorists take Butters hostage, cut off a Care Bear’s head, and dangle it in front of the camera, screaming in a foreign language. They also dig Strawberry Shortcake’s eye out of its socket as she screams at the terrorists to kill her and get it over with.

Despite the often crude humor that only true South Park fans understand, the story does have a point, and it’s three-fold: imaginary things have a bigger impact on the world than real things; we all have the power to make things a reality; and whatever you imagine to be real is real.

This DVD is unrated, but I’d definitely give it an R rating for language, violence, and adult themes, including Eric Cartman’s bet with Kyle, itself a subplot to the movie and one I don’t think my editor would want me to get into here.

The DVD also contains two bonus episodes: “Woodland Critters Christmas” and “Manbearpig,” which provide background on some of the villainous characters, along with a commentary from creators Stone and Parker. I found the commentary to be somewhat rambling, but it may help viewers understand what they were trying to accomplish in the making of these episodes.

Some will find South Park: Imaginationland funny. Others will find it offensive, especially in a post-9/11 world. Whatever the interpretation, I believe that if you look closely, you’ll find that South Park is about the innocence of children and what happens when they’re confronted with things they really don’t understand.



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