Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters

If you're a fan of Aqua Teen Hunger Force (ATHF), you have very low expectations of the show. ATHF involves three symbols of fast food: the insane Master Shake (Dana Snyder), the lovably moronic Meatwad (Dave Willis), and the super-intelligent Frylock (Carey Means). They are exactly what they sound like: walking (sometimes floating), talking shakes, piles of meat, and boxes of fries. This is not an ironic fact lost on the producers; at various times, other people who encounter the Hunger Force (like Carl, the shut-in voiced by Dennis Franz) comment on the strangeness of these bizarre alien beings who happen to act like teenagers.

There are other beings who happen to harass our protagonists, including spiky aliens, aliens that look like they came from an Atari 2600 video game, and aliens that might be time traveling robot turkeys. But that's largely irrelevant, because ATHF isn't so much a universe as it is performance art, with the topic of the night playing out to its inevitable conclusion. In the vein of much British humor, plotlines and continuity are irrelevant. Characters argue with each other, fight with each other, and even kill each other. Sometimes, Frylock gets tired of his idiot roommates and just leaves. Sometimes, Master Shake's insanely far-fetched plans destroy the world. And sometimes, Meatwad kills Master Shake.

ATHF, unburdened by any real anchors to reality, is thus free to explore whatever, whenever, and wherever, the plot meandering to some illogical conclusion, often played for laughs but sometimes just to torture a particular character to death. 15 minutes of this is hilarious, and it's pretty obvious that ATHF is meant to be watched by college kids with short attention spans. And adults like me who have 15 minutes before going to work.

So why make a movie? Or to be more precise, why make a movie titled Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters?

The dodge is that it reveals the origins of the ATHF, but that's silly. For one, ATHF's comedic value is precisely in the complete and utter lack of explanation as to why fast food is living in New Jersey. For another, ATHF is about conflict between various characters for no good reason other than to dance for our entertainment. And that's precisely what the movie does, although it wears a little thin after the prerequisite 15 minutes normally allocated to the television show.

Explaining the plot of the movie is pointless, because it's not meant to be explained. It involves a talking watermelon, a mad scientist, Bruce Campbell voicing a chicken McNugget (of course), Space Ghost, the reincarnated soul of MC Pee Pants, the CIA, jazzercising giant robots that poop little jazzercising robots, and Abraham Lincoln's time travel shenanigans. Aren't you sorry you asked?

Your perception of all this is really dependent on your perception of the show. It won't turn you into a fan. In fact, the entire intro is a joke on those "let's go out to the movies" dancing food characters, with various angry incarnations of movie junk food screaming to thrash metal, "You came here. Watch it. Don't like it? Walk out."

I didn't walk out. If you're a fan of ATHF, you won't either.