PULLING STRINGS: "TEAM AMERICA" BLOWS UP BIG TIME!!

Thrills! Chills! Biting Social Commentary! Puerile Bathroom Humor! Naughty Puppets!

Trey Parker and Matt Stone, those South Park sluggers, have knocked it out of the park again! Their latest outing, Team America: World Police , is another fanciful, fearless, and slightly filthy trip into the minds of these two madmen, and their take on the American nightmare. This time out. They offer us their socio-political-potty humor wrapped up in a parody of Gerry Andersen's sci-fi/kiddie/cult classic Thunderbirds , but with a decidedly acerbic update. Self-righteous, soullessly aggressive, and blissfully myopic, this new group of corporate do-gooders blusters into anti-terrorist exchanges with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. Opening fire on public streets with gatling guns and mortar fire, oblivious of monumental collateral damage, they destroy innocent people and precious landmarks even as they assure all those around that all is well! We all know that in truth there is humor, and this is hilarious, but almost a little too true.

The film itself looks absolutely beautiful. The design team has created a miniature world that somehow seems to be full of life, despite its obvious lilliputian scale. Like its '60s-era inspirator, it juxtaposes high-tech modernistic spy-chic interiors with gritty realistic exteriors, often in foreign locales all with stunning dollhouse precision. This modern version, also injects subtle humor, including clever touches like croissant-shaped paving stones on a Paris street, and Kama-Sutra sculpture in the boudoir of a very gnomelike and demonic Kim Jong-il. The Team drives, flies, and sails in Tonka-like vehicles emblazoned with patriotic paint schemes that would make even Evel Knievel blush. The irony of a helicopter emblazoned with the slogan " We Protect. We Serve. We Care." crushing a street vendor's cart as it lands in a crowded street, guns blazing, is definitely not understated.

The puppet actors are the real wonders of this film. Although many laughs are garnered by playing up the wobbly walk and imprecise gestures of the maronettes, they are driven home by actor/puppeteer performances which are spot on. The care given to animating the features of these robot actors is admirable, and helps create moments that are suprisingly human amongst the barrage of ridiculously broad humor exploding all around. Of course, given the opportunity, Matt and Trey - the prepubescent pixies, can't resist pulling the clothes off the G.I Joes and making them screw the Barbies. This is one hilarious moment of a film that feels strangely like an afternoon playing in the sandbox with a couple of extremely precocious, and potty-mouthed little tykes, building and destroying miniature worlds that mirror the "real" world only too well.