Cartoon Network’s [adult swim] makes its big-screen debut this weekend with the release of Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters. Rolling out in around 877 theaters across North America, the First Look Pictures release has had critics split pretty evenly down the middle, suggesting that it is likely to be a love-it-or-hate it affair. Expect some love from fans of the late-night cartoon show, especially those under the influence, and bewilderment from the uninitiated.
Written, produced and directed by series creators Matt Maiellaro and Dave Willis under the Williams Street banner, Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters reveals the mysterious origins of Master Shake, Frylock and Meatwad, the three fast-food items who come to share a rental home in New Jersey. The trio must come to the rescue when the Plutonians team with the Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past to take possession of an immortal piece of exercise equipment that threatens the balance of galactic peace.
Cult film hero Bruce Campbell and Rush front man Neil Peart lend their voices to the film, joining series regulars Maiellaro (Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past), Willis (Carl, Meatwad, Ignignokt), Dana Snyder (Master Shake), Carey Means (Frylock) and Andy Merrill and Mike Schatz (The Plutonians).
Despite getting some negative buzz from early test screenings, the movie has managed to garner favorable reviews from critics at such major publications as Rolling Stone, Village Voice, Newsday, the Washington Post, Premiere and the famously fickle Daily Variety. A number of reviewers applaud Maiellaro and Willis for sticking to their offbeat guns and delivering a surrealist assault on pop culture.
Aqua Teen Hunger Force premiered on Adult Swim in September of 2001 and has delighted fans with more than 60 15-minute episodes. Box office results will decide whether or not it was a mistake to stretch it to 85 minutes, especially after the three-hour Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino double feature Grindhouse overstayed its welcome with too many moviegoers last weekend.
Also opening in wide release today are Paramount/DreamWorks’ Rear Window-esque thriller Disturbia, Sony/Revolution’ Haley Berry/Bruce Willis suspense fest Perfect Stranger, Twentieth Century Fox’s Vikings-meet-Native-Americans actioner Pathfinder: Legend of the Ghost Warrior, Lionsgate’s Ray Liota crime thriller Slow Burn and Chicago Pictures’ high-octane car movie, Redline.
