Cheech & Chong's Animated Movie

Now this is funny, man. It's great to finally watch a comedy that actually made me laugh and smile to the credits. Why the insanely low score? There must be a lot of narcs without a sense of humor, man.

I'm a big Cheech and Chong fan. No, I wasn't high when I watched this. In fact, I was totally sober. The super raunchy humor was enough to get me slant eyed. Even my wife, who had never seen a C&C flick, cracked up. But, really, this one is mainly for the hardcore fans.

The only thing that bummed out this movie was the stiff animation. It made everyone seem like robot stoners. The colors were bright and pleasing to the (bloodshot) eyes. They really should have opted for an animation team that could have matched the physical comedy to the voices. Regardless, I had a blast watching this. Grab your best buds and have a groovy time, man.

You have to be high to actually enjoy this one. Just saying.

'CHEECH & CHONG'S ANIMATED MOVIE': Four Stars (Out of Five)

Just in time for 4/20 the popular stoner comedy duo Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong are back with their first movie together in 29 years (since 1984's 'THE CORSICAN BROTHERS') and their first animated flick ever. It's really just a bunch of their old comedy skits (from their comedy albums) done to animation. For fans of the duo it's nothing new really but I'm not that familiar with their work. It's embarrassing to admit, being a film nut, but I've never seen one of their film's all the way through (I've been meaning to go back and watch them for years now) and have only seen pieces of them years ago. I've also never heard one of their albums so for me the material was all fresh and funny. People that know the classic stoner duo's material well might be disappointed that it's all old stuff but I liked it and liked the film as well.

Cheech and Chong do all of the voices in the movie playing out bits from their grammy winning comedy albums like "Dave's not here, man", "Let's Make a Dope Deal" and "Sister Mary Elephant". It's all written by the duo and directed by Branden Chamers and Eric D. Chambers. The skits are portrayed in a really 'old school' cartoon fashion (which is pretty cool in my opinion). The soundtrack also features nine new songs by Cheech & Chong.

The duo is legendary, so to some, this film lacking anything new (other than the music) might disappoint but it seems like it could still be good nostalgic fun. I loved the classic old fashioned animation and the comedy was refreshingly different than other stoner flicks out there right now. The comedy team is most famous for spoofing the stoner stereotype perfectly and has been criticized by some for perpetuating it. Anyone nowadays should be educated enough to know that marijuana users don't generally act like this in reality. It's an exaggerated joke, which happens to be really funny. I really enjoyed this movie even if it has nothing new to offer; it was new to me.

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The idea is interesting, but there are drawbacks! The beginning of paintings are very fun and interesting, but towards the middle the film starts to bore you. Interesting course of the plot Chapter by Chapter, but very much interferes with the music! It's thundering!

Cheech and Chong's Animated Movie gave me a potentially new way to detect a bad movie. When the film opens with a close-up on a woman's crotch and the insects that reside within the pubic hair, I was met with immediate disgust and sickness. I expected low-brow humor; I didn't expect loathsome humor, devoid of all forms of wit. This is my introduction to the work of popular stoner comedians Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong, and I'm sure many fans will say this project greatly misrepresents their work. All I can say that is it left me with lower expectations of their body of work, along with lower expectations for Jay and Silent Bob's Super Groovy Cartoon Movie, the animated feature film starring another popular stoner duo.

This is a film that has no agenda and no real coherent plan, kind of like the stereotype of a stoner. If the film is trying to mimic the listless style of a common stereotype, that's about the only thing it succeeds at. The entire film focuses on bathroom humor, the stupidity of its protagonists, and jokes so foggy in their punchline they appear to be resting in used bong-water. The film revolves around its title characters, who are aimlessly cruising the streets, one higher than the other, and discussing whatever seems to come to their mind at the moment. This lasts for about twenty-five minutes before the duo come home and watch whatever is on TV for about twenty to twenty-five more minutes. Finally, the last thirty minutes seems to focus on...whatever the animators felt like. The precious minutes are wasted on ridiculous comedy skits, captured in retro but relatively uninspired animation with little coherency between scenes. One minute we're on Earth, two minutes later we're in space with little explanation.

Perhaps the assistance of chemical reinforcement helps in the coherency department. Maybe after a few shots and a few puffs of a not-so-legal substance, I would've been enjoying the ride Cheech and Chong's Animated Movie provided me with rather than condemning it. Films like this almost don't feel like they're worth the time they take to analyze and review. They simply are, the film simply is, and the work stands as it is. What I mean by that is that the film is already marketed to an audience that will find it (the audience in this case being fans of stoner humor, actual stoners, and Cheech and Chong fans). I wish them the best possible viewing. However, from my point of view, if the bottom barrel humor showcased in Cheech and Chong's Animated Movie is the kind of humor they predicated their entire career on, I can't believe they still get work.

The animation is reminiscent of one of those cheesy cartoon specials from years past, or even a low-quality product utilized in a Flash animating program. The colors are vibrant and the animation flows nicely, but really, why does the stoner duo even need animation? Their antics in real life seemed to work for decades, so why must the popular stoner duo return to a medium that really isn't met for this kind of material? Cheech and Chong's Animated Movie is a mere seventy minutes and in that time it doesn't do enough to exercise the boundaries of its medium. So my question in the long run, is why even bother making it or even watching it?

Voiced by: Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong. Directed by: Branden Chambers and Eric D. Chambers.