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Cheech & Chong's Animated Movie
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Anthony Arrigo (13th July 2013). |
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The Film
 I seem to recall some time back - right around when Tommy Chong and Cheech Marin buried whatever hatchet was in someone’s back and reunited as Cheech & Chong – that there was talk of a new movie featuring the dynamic duo. Sure, they hadn’t done a proper film together since 1984’s “Cheech & Chong’s The Corsican Brothers”, but that is not a high note to end on. There was a buzz of hope that maybe something worthwhile could be pulled off. I guess whatever plan they had failed to materialize funding because their latest offering is “Cheech & Chong’s Animated Movie” (2013), a sub-standard, cheap-looking attempt to bring together the past and the present, utterly failing in every respect. The idea behind this cheap production was to utilize Cheech & Chong’s old comedy bits – some of their greatest hits off their comedy records – and match them up with animation that looks like a Flash game you’d waste time playing at work. Ok, maybe they weren’t going for that, but that’s the target that was hit. It can’t be irony that the world’s most notoriously stoned duo was too lazy to put together an animated film worth watching, right? The problems here are twofold: the bits are, quite simply, not very funny anymore. And the animation is terrible. Newer fans (i.e. today’s youth who think people like Dane Cook are funny) will probably find the comedy stale, dated, and lacking in punch. Older fans are likely going to be turned off by the poor animation that looks more like a Saturday morning cartoon than something people put time into. Some things seem to work best in the medium for which they were intended. I’m sure it was a hoot to throw on a Cheech & Chong record back in 1978, rolled up a fat joint, and laugh your lungs out between healthy drags. Hell, it might still be fun to do that today. But those records usually work so well because you imagination has to create the scene being described. And there isn’t a screen with moving images in play when you’re listening to something. It becomes something intimate. You focus on the words being said with rapt attention, just waiting to be bowled over with every bon mot that emerges from the purple haze. When you take that sound and use it as a score to animation that looks like a stoned 14-year-old computer whiz out of Russia slapped together between DDoS attacks, then you lose all of that magic the records have held for years. Although the film says it’s an adventure, the only trip viewers take is from one animated skit to the next. Man, this really could’ve been worthwhile if they’d tried doing some vintage-y, old-school animation; show us something we haven’t seen in years. People go for that stuff, especially right now since everything old is hot again. In addition to the animation work lacking, the content seen on screen is also just terrible. The film opens with a pubic lice talk show segment before embarking on a mission to make every sketch as gross and offensive as possible. I guess the filmmakers didn’t realize that nothing shocks in this day and age, and if it does they definitely weren’t trying to do it here. It all felt like a bad riff on the old “Ren & Stimpy” (1991-1996) cartoons, only where those were superior both in scripting and design, this just tried to pile gross gag on top of gross gag. That’s the laziest form of comedy in my eyes - throw everything including the kitchen sink and hope something sticks. If you want the real deal Cheech & Chong experience, pop in a copy of “Up In Smoke” (1978). It never got any better than that.
Video
This is an animated movie, and it’s recent, so the 1.85:1 1080p 24/fps AVC MPEG-4 encoded image is expectedly flawless in just about every regard. Colors look fantastic, black levels are incredibly deep and dark. All of the animation lines look clean and sharp, with very little edge issues. Not much more to say here; it’s very eye-pleasing.
Audio
The English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound track mixed at 48kHz/24-bit has a good presence to it when music is coursing through your system. Bass in particular delivers a nice low end. Once the comedy bits get going, things get a little quiet on all fronts. Activity is confined almost exclusively to the front speakers, with virtually no response from the rears. It doesn’t sound like Cheech or Chong re-recorded any of their comedy bits; this isn’t them going back over old material line for line. Rather, they likely sourced all of the audio from existing comedy tapes, so the results aren’t as polished as a newer recording would have been. By no means is this a bad thing. I’d much rather have a vintage recording over something new, it just lacks some fidelity in spots. French and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 surround tracks are also included, as are English for the hearing impaired, French and Spanish subtitles.
Extras
While this disc might not be packed like a fat bowl, there’s enough stashed away here to keep most fans of their work satisfied. We get multiple audio commentary tracks, an interactive feature, a music video of sorts, and a still gallery. The first audio commentary is with Cheech Marin & Tommy Chong is the highlight of the disc, by far. Just as you might expect, it sounds like two old, been-through-it-all friends who have a blast reliving the halcyon days of their younger selves. It’s fun and lively, with lots of recollections from both that are worth hearing. The second audio commentary track features the Chambers brothers directing duo – Branden and Eric – along with Lou Adler, who is a producer here but is best known for directing the apex of Cheech & Chong’s cinematic career, “Up In Smoke” (1978). This track is a bit more on the technical side, since both brothers are usually recalling information related to the shoot. Adler is there to provide some great stories about his time working with the famously blunted duo. Finally, there’s an audio commentary track with Tommy Chong and his son, Paris Chong. This one seems most like an interview, with Tommy answering a lot of his son’s questions about their routines. Lots of candid reflections here. The “4.20 Listening Mode” interactive feature is for the ultimate stoner. He who is so lazy that pressing buttons is too laborious a task to be bothered with. Activate it and the film will play one through, followed by subsequent plays with each commentary track. Making it through this once was hard enough, so I feel eternal pity for whoever can do it four times. “Medical Marijuana Blues Session with Blind Melon Chitlin” (1080p) is a music video of sorts that runs for 5 minutes and 7 seconds. Chong, in character as Blind Melon, arrives via a car driven by Cheech, to a “recording studio” (one that looks like someone’s spare guest room) where he cuts a new track. “Cheech & Chong Slideshow” (1080p) still gallery clip runs for 3 minutes and 25 seconds. This reel shows off some old vintage shots of the two alongside animation cells from the film. The disc also has a few bonus trailers (1080p) included: - “The Heat” runs for 2 minutes and 6 seconds. - “Blu-ray” promo (2013 and they still put these on Blu-ray discs?!) runs for 1 minute and 17 seconds. - “Movie 43” runs for 2 minutes and 23 seconds.
Packaging
The single disc comes housed in a Blu-ray eco-case.
Overall
Someone was clearly too high when this was given a greenlight. It would’ve worked better as an online web series, not a feature film. Hell, it’s barely even a film.
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