New on Blu-ray: South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut (1999) – 4/5 Stars

There’s one problem with television: You can’t say &#*%, or $@&%, or #^&@%$. So what did Trey Parker and Matt Stone — the creators of the hit mature animated series “South Park” — turn? The movies, where anything goes (just about). Although the idea for a “South Park” movie probably came about before the idea to exploit the MPAA’s more flexible ratings system for the TV show’s impeccable satire, it’s no less the perfect choice to bring the little Colorado mountain town and its foul-mouthed children to the big screen in “South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.”

Using the movies, Parker and Stone immediately come out singing (yes, this is a movie musical) that the movies are responsible for society’s cultural education. The third graders Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny all go to see the new Terrence & Philip movie, based on the show’s fictional hit Canadian TV show about two farting roommates, mirroring the experience of the likely underaged crowd going to see the “South Park” movie, and there you have the brilliance of “South Park” and this film.

The Terrence & Philip movie introduces the kids to a whole world of swears and insults they never knew before (because they couldn’t use them on TV) and they start using it in talking back to teachers and their parents. As usual, the parents of South Park take things too seriously and point the finger for their children’s bad behavior at well, Canada, who else? Single-handedly, Parker and Stone introduce the Canada joke to Americans.

The film doesn’t crusade for allowing bad language, but rather shows how silly it is to take language so seriously, particularly when Mothers Against Canada invokes a war with our neighbors to the north.

Parker and Stone should take their act to Broadway with the quality of the music in this movie, from the Oscar-nominated “Blame Canada” to “What Would Brian Boitano Do?” They do enlist the help of the talented Tony winner Marc Shaiman, but the show has always been known for its musical prowess. The songs are memorable, fun and break up the film well considering its structured like a long television special.

Fans of the show get exactly what they’d expect from “South Park” including some extra goodies and appearances from all the most liked characters. The language of course is off the charts, but the childish ignorance of adult content (Stan seeks the clitoris after Chef tells him that’s how you keep a girl around) is there too. By film’s end it’s not the sharpest satire that the show has ever delivered, but it was obviously the perfect plot choice for making “South Park” into a movie, not just picking some random story line, but maximizing the satire potential of the new medium.