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There are two entirely distinct, can't-even-compare-them movies in this big-screen version of the controversial and highly popular animated television program South Park, a movie that uses intentionally rudimentary animation to step on every toe it possibly can. Aimed at an adult audience, its crude humour and tendency to skewer the high and mighty also appeals to kids, who view the television program in large numbers, despite its relatively late timeslot.

Movie number one is what you get on television times ten. It's a rude, crude, disrespectful joke-fest that takes aim at everyone and spares nobody's feelings. Name-calling and bathroom humour are the order of the day.

Movie number two is a powerful satire of American values, drawing a contrast between communities' outrage at children being subjected to swearing in the media while they accept the same media displaying almost constant brutal violence for the same youthful audience.

Cartman, Stan, Kyle and Kenny are our heroes. They're a bunch of little kids growing up in South Park, a white, 'redneck' community in the mountains somewhere in the USA. They're thrilled when their favourite comedians star in a new movie that's playing in town. The kids get into the R-rated film, and are inspired by its crude language to talk the same way in school. Before long, their parents are up in arms, the two comedians are taken prisoner, and the U.S. declares war on their home country: Canada. As the war rages, the kids set out to rescue their heroes and stop the madness.

There's no doubt that South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut has plenty to offer filmgoers who enjoy lots and lots of crude jokes. From start to finish, they permeate the film. It's a mini-course in swearing that taught me a new term or two.

Moviegoers who are looking for something a bit more thought provoking also will find that South Park mines a rich lode of satire. In addition to taking a pot shot or two hundred at those concerned more about coarse language than violence in the media, South Park also touches on broader issues of responsibility. Who's responsible for kids' behaviour? Their parents? Schools? Movies? Music? Television? Computer games? How about kids themselves?

Sadly, far too many viewers will be so engrossed (or grossed out) by the film's tasteless humour that they will miss the real important issues raised in this smart, if excessive, satire.

The national debate about violence and obscenity in the movies has arrived in South Park. The ``little redneck mountain town,'' where adult cynicism is found in the mouths of babes, is the setting for vicious social satire in ``South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut.'' The year's most slashing political commentary is not in the new films by Oliver Stone, David Lynch or John Sayles, but in an animated comedy about obscenity. Wait until you see the bedroom scenes between Satan and Saddam Hussein.

Waves of four-letter words roll out over the audience, which laughs with incredulity: People can't believe what they're hearing. The film is rated R instead of NC-17 only because it's a cartoon, I suspect; even so, the MPAA has a lot of 'splaining to do. Not since Andrew Dice Clay passed into obscurity have sentences been constructed so completely out of the unspeakable.

I laughed. I did not always feel proud of myself while I was laughing, however. The movie is like a depraved extension of ``Kids Say the Darnedest Things,'' in which little children repeat what they've heard and we cringe because we know what the words really mean. No target is too low, no attitude too mean or hurtful, no image too unthinkable. After making ``South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut,'' its creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, had better move on. They've taken ``South Park'' as far as it can go, and beyond.

If you've never seen the original Comedy Central show and somehow find yourself in the theater, you'll be jolted by the distance between the images and the content.

The animation is deliberately crude, like elements cut out of construction paper. Characters consist of simple arrangements of basic geometrical shapes in bright colors. The effect is of sophisticated kids slamming stuff around on the project table in first grade.

The story: A new R-rated movie has come to town, starring the Canadian cutups Terrence and Phillip. It's titled ``Asses of Fire.'' (That's the mildest vulgarism in the movie.) The South Park kids, who bribe a homeless man to be their ``adult guardian,'' attend the movie, drink in its nonstop, wall-to-wall profanity, and startle their class at school with streams of four-letter words.

One of their moms, deeply offended, forms Mothers Against Canada. The neighbor to the north is blamed for all of U.S. society's ills, Terrence and Phillip are condemned to death, and in retaliation, the Canadian Air Force bombs the Baldwin brothers' Hollywood home. War is declared, leading to scenes your eyes will register but your mind will not believe, such as a USO show involving Winona Ryder doing unspeakable things with Ping-Pong balls.

The other plot strand begins after little Kenny is killed. (Little Kenny is killed in every episode of the TV series, always with the line, ``Oh, my God! They've killed Kenny!'') He goes to hell and finds that Hussein, recently deceased, is having an affair with Satan. Hussein wants sex, Satan wants a meaningful relationship, and they inspire a book titled Saddam Is From Mars, Satan Is From Venus.

Key plot point: The deaths of Terrence and Phillip would be the seventh sign of the Apocalypse, triggering Armageddon. It's up to the South Park kids to save the world. All of this unfolds against an unending stream of satirical abuse, ethnic stereotyping, sexual vulgarity and pointed political commentary that alternates common sense with the truly and hurtfully offensive.

I laughed, as I have reported. Sometimes the laughter was liberating, as good laughter can be, and sometimes it was simply disbelieving: How could they get away with this? This is a season when the movies are hurtling themselves over the precipice of good taste. Every week brings its new surprises. I watch as Austin Powers drinks coffee that contains excrement, and two weeks later I go to ``American Pie'' and watch a character drink beer that contains the most famous bodily fluid from ``There's Something About Mary.'' In ``Big Daddy,'' I see an adult instruct a 5-year-old on how to trip Roller-bladers and urinate in public.

Now this--a cartoon, but it goes far beyond anything in any of those live-action movies. All it lacks is a point to its message. What is it saying? That movies have gone too far, or that protests against movies have gone too far? It is a sign of our times that I cannot tell. Perhaps it's simply anarchistic, and feels that if it throws enough shocking material at the wall, some of it will stick. A lot of the movie offended me. Some of it amazed me. It is too long and runs out of steam, but it serves as a signpost for our troubled times. Just for the information it contains about the way we live now, thoughtful and concerned people should see it. After all, everyone else will.

Summary: A hell of a funny film, but with a message.

When you have the reputation that Parker and Stone do, it is hard to get rid of the sterotypes that have been drawn around you. You are forever stuck in the mold that has been bestowed upon you. But perhaps sometimes when stigmas of that nature are forever embedded with your name and reputation, it actually gives them more leeway to make a statement that is political in nature. As long as they disguise that statement(s) with all that made them popular in the first place, they can get away with it. So now, if I said that beyond the non-stop vulgarity and infinite humour that this film contains, is a film that has an important message camouflaged in animation, would you believe me? Would you care?

First off, this is the most profanity laced film I have ever seen in my life, and that includes early Eddie Murphy efforts. But the profanity in this film had me in stitches. Honestly, that was almost not just a figure of speech either. I laughed so hard that I almost banged my head on the on the person in front of me. Remember how absorbed you were at the horror of war at the beginning of Private Ryan? Well if you had to parallel the two and replace horror with humour, that is a safe comparison. This film is so ******* funny and I really enjoyed it on that level. I can honestly say that I haven't laughed so hard since Office Space. The profanity goes a bit overboard at times but I think that was on purpose. Some of the humour is a bit gross ( seeing Sadam's rubber propalactic was funny but a little sick at the same time ) but I think these guys wanted to see how far they could go. And they went very far and they dared the MPAA to censor them even more, and hey, I was very entertained.

But on the political side, there are a lot of dicey issues that are covered here. Censorship for one. It's funny because we as Canadians and Americans have some of the same ideologies and one of them is free speech. But if that is what we want, then we have to be willing to go all the way. You can't pick and choose what is more free and more appropriate than something else just because it is not politically correct. Free speech means free speech. Free to express your thoughts in an open forum. This film tells us that free speech is free as long as you don't offend the masses. It also says that in MPAA's world it is okay to see blood and guts and intestines and brain tissue ( many of those films get an AA rating ) but profanity dictates that an R or an X is required to see the film. That really is silly.

The film also touches on racism in the armed forces and it shows how brain washed Americans get when there is a conflict with an opposing nation. It doesn't matter that perhaps some of the issues at hand are clouded and misunderstood, many people stand behind their government to the very end. Kill em' all in the name of the Constitution. There are also some stabs at religion and being gay and a plethora of other issues. A particular scene with Bill Gates is funny.

Parker and Stone have given the finger to the ratings system in America and I think people will like it. They have also given much more credit to the Canadian armed forces in this movie. If the U.S. ever went to war with us, it would probably be over in a day or so. So thanks for making us look at least competetive. That was cool.

It may be weird to read a review of this film and have comments about politics in here, because it really is a funny movie and I was in a good mood when I left the theater, but there is more to this movie than just humour. To accomplish that and still be known as the guys who made fart jokes and the F word popular is quite a feat. This film is there to enjoy but it is also there to ask some tough and interesting questions. Enjoy the film, but listen to what it has to say. That is, besides the F and S word, listen to what it wants to say.

One last observation and that is, when I was in line for the film, a lady and her five year old daughter were in front of me. When they asked for South Park, the cashier asked if she was sure because there is a lot of profanity in the film. The lady reassured her that it was fine. Her daughter can listen and watch but knows not to repeat. That is responsible parenting. Teach your kids right from wrong and hope they turn out well. That's all you can do. And I applaud that parent for doing so. She may never know who I am but I will remember her for quite some time. Maybe if more people were like that, there wouldn't be such a fuss about profanity. After all, they are just words.

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