Cannibal! The Musical
Things for Alferd Packer (Trey Parker) have been better. One day, he's riding his beloved horse, Liane, through Utah, only to get roped up into being a guide for a group of aspiring miners looking to make some money and get to Breckenridge in Colorado Territory. But before he knows it, he's gotten his party of would-be prospectors lost in the Rocky Mountains, Liane goes missing, and he and the others are snowbound. And to top it off, once his troubles should be over, he's accused of being a cannibal! With problems like these, it's hardly been a shpadoinkle day for Packer, if you know exactly what I mean.
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Cannibal! The Musical is a gleefully irreverent musical comedy, full of absurd and juvenile humor alongside occasional scenes of grisly violence, which are played up to ridiculous effect for added comic value--exactly the kind of movie you'd expect given its pedigree. The film was released by Troma Entertainment--whose library consists of campy, low-budget exploitation flicks like The Toxic Avenger--and was written by and starring Trey Parker and Matt Stone (who plays Humphrey), the same duo of best known for the popular animated TV show, "South Park". Cannibal! The Musical boasts over half a dozen surprisingly catchy songs, which are almost uniformly silly satires of the music from Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Oklahoma!"; the introductory title card for Cannibal! The Musical humorously pokes fun at this. Even though Cannibal! The Musical has some occasional foul language and some gory bits, the film is deliberately staged to look like it was intended as a G-rated reenactment of the "true" story of the real Alferd Packer--like a PBS educational program lost in some truly disturbed territory. The limited production values and intentionally cheeseball acting further cement this impression. Fortunately, you don't have to be a history buff regarding obscure legends about pioneering cannibals to enjoy the ridiculous spoof of a Western that is Cannibal! The Musical; this is good, because the film takes plenty--and I mean plenty--of creative license with history. The journey for the intrepid entrepreneurs takes them all around Utah and Colorado Territory, through canyons and vast rivers, trudging through the snow and the mud. They encounter all sorts of strange people, including a "cyclops" and even some "Indians" which are all played by Japanese...and all speak Japanese...and do karate and carry katanas, and...you get the idea. A lot of Cannibal! The Musical feels unreal and most of it is told as a flashback by Packer to Polly Pry (Toddy Walters), the inquisitive reporter from Denver who grows to sympathize with Packer as his story unfolds. This gives Cannibal! The Musical a layer of dramatic irony, since the statements by the fiery prosecutor conjure an image of Packer as a hellish ghoul, ripping the flesh from his still living compatriots, rather than merely sustaining himself on their corpses to survive the brutal winter. Packer's almost whimsical and naive flashbacks could suggest that this version of the truth is only how Packer remembers it. But Cannibal! The Musical is not the kind of movie which lends itself to a complex analysis of perspective and unreliable narrators; it's best enjoyed as the outrageous, rollicking good laugh-fest it is. Like the simple-minded Packer, it's best not to think about such things.
Cannibal! The Musical released approximately a year before "South Park" debuted, which eventually became a cultural phenomenon that made the comedy duo famous. The same comic beats from their iconic TV show can be found in Cannibal! The Musical, from the predominance of silly and absurd music that leans toward melodrama for hilarity, to an abundance of sight gags, puns, and raunchy humor. Packer's overwhelming fondness for his horse, Liane--and the innuendo-laden song, "Ode to Liane"--not so subtly suggests an illicit relationship between the two; this is played off as unintentional, since Packer is actually a good-natured (if naive) man. Along with Humphrey, Packer's diverse and unusual travelling companions include Shannon Bell (Ian Hardin), the Mormon priest, Frank (Jason McHugh), the would-be butcher, a young man named George (Dian Bachar), who is too eager to lose his virginity, and even an unshakable optimist named Swan (John Hegel), who believes all of life's problems can be solved by building a snowman. Packer never really claims to be a guide into Colorado Territory, but he is too good-natured to disappoint the men who ask him for help, which is ironically what causes him to do so. Packer spends most of the trip not dreaming of gold buried in the hills, but of finding his erstwhile travelling companion, Liane. He follows her trails instead of paying attention to the bends in the rivers, often leading the party in the completely wrong direction. From the first, Packer looks as though he were in a state of beleaguered shock. Even the picture from his wanted poster--with mouth agape and bug-eyes--gives him a look of frozen horror and paralysis that recalls the manic reactions of the great comic actor, Gene Wilder, who similarly starred in spoofs of Westerns like Blazing Saddles. For all his faults and arguable stupidity, Packer is a likable dope, a kind soul who gets in over his head and doesn't know how to dig his way out. It's a strange kind of protagonist who both breaks one of the few remaining taboo acts in civilized society, and yet can beam a pleasant smile and burst into joyous song from the lightness in his heart. Cannibal! The Musical won't do you any favors if you're looking to brush up on your esoteric 19th century American history, but as a wonderfully weird comedy, it is sure to leave your heart "as warm as a baked potato".
Recommended for: Fans of a silly but also--dare I say--charming musical about an obscure and grisly event in history. For "South Park" fans, Cannibal! The Musical also represents a different kind of "history lesson", as the jumping off point for the creative comedy writers Trey Parker and Matt Stone.
Cannibal! The Musical released approximately a year before "South Park" debuted, which eventually became a cultural phenomenon that made the comedy duo famous. The same comic beats from their iconic TV show can be found in Cannibal! The Musical, from the predominance of silly and absurd music that leans toward melodrama for hilarity, to an abundance of sight gags, puns, and raunchy humor. Packer's overwhelming fondness for his horse, Liane--and the innuendo-laden song, "Ode to Liane"--not so subtly suggests an illicit relationship between the two; this is played off as unintentional, since Packer is actually a good-natured (if naive) man. Along with Humphrey, Packer's diverse and unusual travelling companions include Shannon Bell (Ian Hardin), the Mormon priest, Frank (Jason McHugh), the would-be butcher, a young man named George (Dian Bachar), who is too eager to lose his virginity, and even an unshakable optimist named Swan (John Hegel), who believes all of life's problems can be solved by building a snowman. Packer never really claims to be a guide into Colorado Territory, but he is too good-natured to disappoint the men who ask him for help, which is ironically what causes him to do so. Packer spends most of the trip not dreaming of gold buried in the hills, but of finding his erstwhile travelling companion, Liane. He follows her trails instead of paying attention to the bends in the rivers, often leading the party in the completely wrong direction. From the first, Packer looks as though he were in a state of beleaguered shock. Even the picture from his wanted poster--with mouth agape and bug-eyes--gives him a look of frozen horror and paralysis that recalls the manic reactions of the great comic actor, Gene Wilder, who similarly starred in spoofs of Westerns like Blazing Saddles. For all his faults and arguable stupidity, Packer is a likable dope, a kind soul who gets in over his head and doesn't know how to dig his way out. It's a strange kind of protagonist who both breaks one of the few remaining taboo acts in civilized society, and yet can beam a pleasant smile and burst into joyous song from the lightness in his heart. Cannibal! The Musical won't do you any favors if you're looking to brush up on your esoteric 19th century American history, but as a wonderfully weird comedy, it is sure to leave your heart "as warm as a baked potato".
Recommended for: Fans of a silly but also--dare I say--charming musical about an obscure and grisly event in history. For "South Park" fans, Cannibal! The Musical also represents a different kind of "history lesson", as the jumping off point for the creative comedy writers Trey Parker and Matt Stone.