Okay, how many of us are old enough to remember The Thunderbirds? Mmm hmmm, I thought not. It was a dorky TV show with a cast of puppets that aired in 65-66. My older brother (and I think my sister) loved it; I remember it being on but was young enough that I don't remember actually watching it. Certainly Matt Stone and Trey Parker didn't see it the first time through, they weren't born yet.

And yet here they are, forty years later, making a parody of it. Go figure.

Maid-of-Awesome brought this over for us to see, knowing that we love South Park. She has recommended some really good stuff in the past, so we gave this a try...and, well, it had moments. Twenty years ago (maybe 25) I would have been HOWLING at it...but now, in my older Otterness...it had moments.

The bar scene was great. The scene where they released the black panthers was great. The puppet sex scene was great (although Maid-of-Awesome said she had never heard the story about filming this, or seen the uncut version...they have a lot of it in the special features of This Film Is Not Yet Rated). And the most truly amazing puppet-vomiting scene ever filmed. But otherwise? didn't do much for me. Mildly amusing, not fall-down-funny.

If you're young, if you like gross-out humor, if you're really into good special effects (the puppets were indeed excellently done), or if you just want to see a silly parody, this is the movie for you.