Blu-ray Movie Reviews

In the twelfth season, the boys from South Park follow the presidential election from the primaries through the new president-elect's acceptance speech, they help Britney Spears disfigure her body, and try to get the country of Canada back to work when it strikes for more money. The best episode during the season is "Elementary School Musical," when Stan realizes he'll lose Wendy forever unless he adopts the latest fad hitting the school—singing (think High School Musical).

The older I get, the harder I find this show to watch because of all the over-the-top potty humor. In fact, I think Freud would have a few words to say about creators Trey Parker's and Matt Stone's fascination with the derrière's orifice. Regardless, there are some laugh-out-loud moments in every episode, but there are equally many gross-outs, meaning it doesn't cater to a wide demographic.

South Park hits Blu-ray for the first time, and I can't say it's needed given the simplistic animation. Nevertheless, the vivid colors translate well to HD, especially blue and red. The AVC encode is generally clean, although backgrounds can look noisy with compression and there is occasional banding in solid objects.

The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack doesn't add much to the pedestrian sound design, but Paramount's commitment to lossless audio hasn't faltered. The front-loaded presentation collapses toward the center speaker with very little bleed to the surrounding speakers. The LFE is rarely tested, but the dynamics fit the style of the production.

The bonus features include a couple of behind-the-scenes features on the day-to-day production schedule and a specific look at episodes "Major Boobage" and "About Last Night" (HD). Additional supplements include mini-commentaries from Trey Parker and Matt Stone and downloadable digital copies of each episodes (Windows only).

South Park isn't for everyone, but its diehard fans will be pleased with its debut on Blu-ray. Granted, the material doesn't scream high-def, but it shows how far Blu-ray has come toward mainstream adoption when a show of this caliber is available on the format. Recommended for fans.

Release Date: March 10, 2009
Studio: Comedy Central / Paramount

Season: 7/10
Picture: 8/10
Sound: 6/10

Review System

Source
Panasonic DMP-BD55

Display
JVC DLA-RS1 projector
Stewart FireHawk screen (76.5" wide, 16:9)

Electronics
Onkyo Pro PR-SC885 pre/pro
Anthem PVA-7 Amplifier
Belkin PF60 power conditioner

Speakers
M&K S-150s (L, C, R)
M&K SS-150s (LS, RS, SBL, SBR)
SVS PC-Ultra subwoofer

Cables
Monoprice HDMI cables (source to pre/pro)
Best Deal analog-audio cables
PureLink HDC Fiber Optic HDMI Cable System (15 meters) from pre/pro to projector

Acoustical treatments from GIK Acoustics