It’s no surprise that the makers of South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut have created an outrageous exercise in shock and awe with Team America: World Police. Employing his trademark scattergun approach to insult all-comers of all creed and colour, director Trey Parker also lifts the animated benchmark with super-supermarionation (think Thunderbirds with balls). Taking his cue from that seminal series, he created a band of dedicated freedom fighters, who, from a secret bunker with super-technology, save the world from evil wherever it may lurk. Having ‘liberated’ France from Arab terrorists, they uncover a plot by North Korea’s Kim Jong Il (voiced by Eric Cartman) to take over the world with a little help from Alec Baldwin. Satirical? Well, sometimes. The rest of the story is gross-out comedy at its most gross in which puppets puke, shag, shoot ‘ragheads’, destroy Paris and generally behave like Americans do when they’re saving the world – badly. A barrage of cheap shots at easy targets such as martial arts or the pacifist Film Actors Guild (FAG) make for a rolling ride as Parker and pals charge headlong into an always absurd and frequently irrational parody of anything that moves. The notable absence of George W. Bush is as much of a mystery as portraying Matt Damon as Timmy’s long, lost brother. But this isn’t really meant to make too much sense, otherwise Hans Blix wouldn’t have been eaten by sharks. Parker links the action with hearty songs such as one about AIDS from the musical Lease and Kim’s lament - I’m So Ronery. Team America are GO! F**k yeah! // COLIN FRASER