Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters

Right off the bat, I must say that I have been a really big fan of the Aqua Teens for years. I love their fifteen minute episodes of limited animation and pure randomness. Despite, or maybe because of this, I was very skeptical of the movie. I wasn't sure how they were going to make an hour and a half feature, so I went in with very low expectations. In the end it slightly exceeded my expectations, but only slightly.

If you're not familiar with the show, it focuses on three main characters- Frylock (a flying box of french fries played by Carey Means), Master Shake (a milkshake played by Dana Snyder), and Meatwad (a...um....wad of meat played by one of the directors and writers Dave Willis). They are somewhat a dysfunctional crime fighting team with Frylock being their intelligent leader, Shake being dumb, loud, offensive, egotistical, obnoxious, etc (the list goes on), and Meatwad being equally dumb, but adorably innocent. There is also a slew of other characters that make appearances in the show and in the movie.

The plot of the movie (if you can call it that) involves their neighbor, Carl. He gets trapped in an exercise machine that is going around the city destroying everything. The Aqua Teens have to rescue him, and it quickly turns into a story about their origin. The plot dissolves at every turn and is simply a showcase for terribly bizarre characters and gross out humor. This was not surprising at all, because that's how the show is created. Essentially the creators Dave Willis and Matt Maiellaro say "This would be funny", then a completely unrelated "Oh, this would be funny", and so on. There is generally little to no coherent plot, which is a big part of what makes the show so funny.

Movies, unfortunately don't work that way. The show is great, because it's a barrage of really funny situations, then it's over. In the movie, they had about fifteen minutes of material, and stretched it out for an hour and a half. The usually write themselves into a corner and end the episode, whereas here, they wrote themselves into a corner, and kept going for another hour. Don't get me wrong, there were some genuinely funny moments. But in complete honesty, I was actually getting really bored towards the end.

The best part of the movie, the part that kept the audience laughing long after, was actually the opening sequence. It was a dark, twisted, heavy metal version take on the "Please no talking, no phones, etc" sequences that proceed movies. It was hysterically funny. I just wish the rest of the movie could have lived up to it. I think it would have been much better if they had created three or so half hour episodes. I think they could keep up a strong episode for that long, then have a different one. That I would have been happy to pay for.

There were certainly funny moments, and I found myself laughing through most of it. In the end it suffered the fate as most Saturday Night Life sketches turned movies. There just wasn't enough material for an entire feature. Aqua Teens is great for fifteen minutes, then end it. If you like Aqua Teens, you'll laugh at this movie, but it won't impress you. If you don't know the show, the movie will make no sense.

2/5