Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters

August 16, 2007

Rated: R Runtime: 86 min Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

I’ve been a fan of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force series for a long time and so I really wanted to like this one. I mean, how could the minds that came up with Dusty Gozongas go wrong with a movie version of their show? They had sense enough to get Bruce Campbell for a cameo voice appearance so it must be awesome, right? Well, no, not so much.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters Matt Maiellaro and Dave Willis, the brains behind ATHF as well as some of the voices, did a rather good job of extending a 10-12 minute TV show into a (barely) full length feature. It definitely is the ATHF that we’ve all come to know and love (with the addition of the ‘F’ word and other kinds of profanity), but I think that’s actually the core of the problem. That’s what it is but that’s *all* that it is.

Let’s take a moment to look at other TV series which made (or tried to make) the jump to the big screen. Star Trek is a great example. Were the Trek movies just 2 hour versions of their TV episodes? No way! The action, the suspense, the special effects were ALL jacked way up…and they were awesome! Well, we’ll forget about #5 for the sake of this argument. ATHF:MFFT did not ratchet things up.

Apples and oranges, you say? Ok, let’s look at comedy vs. comedy: The Brady Bunch Movie. “Ah-ha!” you might say, “The Brady Bunch characters were all just like they were on TV!” Well, yes, Timmy, they were. But they were picked up right out of the ’70s and plopped right down into the middle of the ’90s and were quickly shown as the naive, out of touch goody-two-shoes people they were. This was definitely NOT your Brady Bunch TV episode.

With countless examples of both failures and successes regarding TV franchises that attempted the jump to the big screen, Matt and Dave should have taken some notes.

There is a plot…but just barely. It involves the trio of Frylock, Master Shake and Meatwad venturing out to discover their origins. Sort of. It’s quite complicated to explain but it’s too boring to be worth the attempt so I’ll leave it at that. Hardcore ATHF fans will likely enjoy the movie but I suspect that even they, too, will be left with a feeling that an opportunity was missed.

All this negativity aside, there were some genuinely funny moments in the movie (just as there are in the TV episodes). Things get started off with a bang with Matt and Dave’s take on the whole dancing candy and popcorn characters singing to you about getting food from the lobby. I really wish theaters would play this bit at the beginning of all their movies!

Longtime fans will also be happy to know that all the old favorite characters make appearances including Carl, Ignignokt, Err, Emory, Oglethorpe, Cybernetic Ghost, Satan, Dr. Weird & Steve, and even MC Pee Pants. Plus there’s a cameo from another favorite Cartoon Network personality, Space Ghost!

But the funny moments, such as they are, and the character lineup cannot compensate for the rest of this ho-hum fare. The bottom line is that ATHF:MFFT doesn’t go above or beyond its TV show origins…and that makes for a less than thrilling movie experience.

Posted by Alex | Filed Under 2 Stars, Bruce Campbell, Carey Means, Chris Kattan, Comedy, DVD, Dana Snyder, Dave Willis, R