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Cannibal the Musical Review by Retro
Posted by:If you are not convinced by South Park that Trey Parker(and Matt Stone) is a comedic genius, then further evidence lies within his first feature film effort, Cannibal! The Musical.
A small group of digruntled gold miners, having exhausted the mines in Utah, decide to trek to Breckinridge, Colarado Territory, in hopes of becoming the first to stake claims there. Winter is nearing, and they must hurry before the snow sets in and makes the journey impossible. Along the way, the group of six, led by Alferd Packer(Trey Parker, credited as Juan Schwartz) and his horse, Liane, have a run in with a trio of trappers, lose the horse, encounter some Japanese "Indians" and get lost in the Rocky Mountains, eventually resorting to cannibalism to stay alive. Alferd Packer is the only one to survive, and the story is told in flashback as Packer relates his tale to reporter Polly Pry, while awaiting judgement for the charges of murdering his companions.
From opening to end, Cannibal! The Musical is what it says it is, "All Singing! All Dancing! All Flesh Eating!" The jokes and humour are consistently funny, even after multiple viewings, and much like South Park, some are subtle and others not so subtle. There are also a miriad of references to other films and literature, some of the more obvious being "Oklahoma!", West Side Story, as evidenced by the conflict between the trappers and miners over Packers horse(the trappers even have "Trapper" emblazoned across the backs of their jackets, like the gangs in West Side Story), and even Homer's Odyssey. All the songs are extremely well written by Trey Parker, both lyrically funny and well composed(co-composed with Rich Sanders). But don't go thinking it is all song and dance, there are actually some "gore" scenes, the opening scene of a manic Packer gnawing his friends, and beating them with a dismembered arm, and later, a scene in which Packer tries to kill the only other remaining member of the party, who just won't die despite a cleaver to the face and a stick through the eye, are done with hilarious effect, hitting that perfect mark between not enough and over-done.
Surprisingly, it is actually based on the true story of the only person convicted of cannibalism in America - Alferd Packer. I did not know this until researching for this review, thinking Al Packer surely had to be a made up name. Alferd Packer was also the basis for the film "Ravenous". There is a lot more going on in this film than meets the eye, and I recommend taking a look at cannibalthemusical.net to find out more.
A small group of digruntled gold miners, having exhausted the mines in Utah, decide to trek to Breckinridge, Colarado Territory, in hopes of becoming the first to stake claims there. Winter is nearing, and they must hurry before the snow sets in and makes the journey impossible. Along the way, the group of six, led by Alferd Packer(Trey Parker, credited as Juan Schwartz) and his horse, Liane, have a run in with a trio of trappers, lose the horse, encounter some Japanese "Indians" and get lost in the Rocky Mountains, eventually resorting to cannibalism to stay alive. Alferd Packer is the only one to survive, and the story is told in flashback as Packer relates his tale to reporter Polly Pry, while awaiting judgement for the charges of murdering his companions.
From opening to end, Cannibal! The Musical is what it says it is, "All Singing! All Dancing! All Flesh Eating!" The jokes and humour are consistently funny, even after multiple viewings, and much like South Park, some are subtle and others not so subtle. There are also a miriad of references to other films and literature, some of the more obvious being "Oklahoma!", West Side Story, as evidenced by the conflict between the trappers and miners over Packers horse(the trappers even have "Trapper" emblazoned across the backs of their jackets, like the gangs in West Side Story), and even Homer's Odyssey. All the songs are extremely well written by Trey Parker, both lyrically funny and well composed(co-composed with Rich Sanders). But don't go thinking it is all song and dance, there are actually some "gore" scenes, the opening scene of a manic Packer gnawing his friends, and beating them with a dismembered arm, and later, a scene in which Packer tries to kill the only other remaining member of the party, who just won't die despite a cleaver to the face and a stick through the eye, are done with hilarious effect, hitting that perfect mark between not enough and over-done.
Surprisingly, it is actually based on the true story of the only person convicted of cannibalism in America - Alferd Packer. I did not know this until researching for this review, thinking Al Packer surely had to be a made up name. Alferd Packer was also the basis for the film "Ravenous". There is a lot more going on in this film than meets the eye, and I recommend taking a look at cannibalthemusical.net to find out more.
Editors note: Thanks retro for a great review. You can discuss it with him on his original post here
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