What do a giant milkshake, a floating box of fries and a shape-shifting ball of meat have in common? Other than a high amount of trans fat, not so much. But together, Master Shake, Frylock and Meatwad make up the Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Adult Swim’s crime-fighting group of talking food from the cult-like television show of the same name. While the show may have dropped the crime-fighting angle early on, the gang and its supporting characters mark the first Adult Swim show to hit the big screen with Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters, an animated feature that sticks to the show’s laurels and succeeds.
ATHF made headlines Jan. 31 when Boston police officers mistakenly identified ATHF promotional materials as bombs. The “bombs” were actually a series of LED signs – think a thinner version of the Lite-Brite toy from your childhood – featuring a Mooninite, one of the show’s subordinate characters, giving the middle finger. The signs were part of a guerilla marketing campaign in 10 cities in promotion of the show.
Then, on April 1, Adult Swim pranked its viewers by promising to premiere the film on television before its theatrical release. And the channel did premiere the film, but only in a tiny box on the bottom of the screen, super-imposed over regular programming and lacking audio. Punk’d.
But now, Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters is finally ready for theaters – no pranks allowed.
When the show’s creators, Matt Maiellaro and Dave Willis (the co-creators of Space Ghost Coast to Coast), announced an ATHF feature-length film was in production, one glaring question arose: How do you make a 12-minute cartoon work for 86 minutes?
The answer is to stick to the show’s proven outrageous formula, add new wrinkles and let the characters shine. In fact, one of the film’s funniest scenes isn’t even part of the linear plot, as the ATHF creators put their own spin on the classic pre-movie refreshment song in a way only they can.
Without revealing too much to ATHF’s devoted fan base, the film’s basic plot lies in our heroes trying to find where they came from and, along the way, saving the world from the Insanoflex, a giant workout machine that plays an instantly addicting song (seriously, once you hear the Insanoflex’s song, you will not be able to stop humming it for days).
But really the plot is merely an outline for the characters to spit lines and create outlandish situations. It’s the characters who make the series and the movie, not the plot. And each character’s personality is better understood during the film, as the trifecta try to find out more about where they are from.
Master Shake (Dana Snyder, Dante’s Inferno) is in prime asshole form in the film. It’s clear Shake is the film’s star; you’re meant to love and hate him and laugh at his complete disregard for anyone but himself.
Frylock (Carey Means, The Brak Show), however, is the central character of ATHF, giving advice to the other characters through his skills as a scientist and his abundance of common sense – characteristics both Shake and Meatwad (Willis) lack. In contrast, Meatwad serves as the child of the group; he’s a bit off mentally when compared to the other two, causing him to appear immature.
Apart from the Hunger Force, the film also features most of the show’s recurring characters, including their porn-loving and wife-beater-wearing neighbor Carl Brutananadilewski (Willis) and fan-favorites the Mooninites, the pixilated Ignignokt (Willis) and Err (Maiellaro).
While the Mooninites aren’t featured as heavily as an obsessed ATHF fan may want, they still manage to steal every scene they’re in with a constant disregard for “silly Earth laws” and a pompous superiority complex.
But it’s hard to evaluate a movie like Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters because the series is one of those irreverent shows you either get or don’t. Die-hard and casual fans alike will enjoy the film’s similarities to the series, for example.
The film’s only obstacle to success seems to be its niche audience: It’s not yet apparent if anyone over 30 will understand – or care about – what the hell is going on in the Aqua Teen world. For those unfamiliar with the series, watching a few episodes of the show before heading out to the theater can’t hurt.
Nevertheless, the film is entertaining throughout, and its fast pace will keep you laughing out loud during nearly every scene. Only near the somewhat anticlimactic and complicatedly overblown ending does the film let up a bit, but if only because of the absurd nature of the final 15 minutes.
Ultimately, the film is a rare success in television-to-film adaptation: a crude, slightly incoherent and infinitely entertaining cartoon tailor-made for college audiences. And while Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters may not be No. 1 at the box office this weekend, it’s still “number one in the hood, G.” After all, isn’t that what matters?
Contact reporter Rudi Greenberg at greenbergdbk@gmail.com.
