Amazon.com video review:
Alferd Packer was the only man in the United States ever convicted
of cannibalism--what better hero for fellow Coloradan and future South
Park creator Trey Parker to celebrate in music? Blue-eyed and boyish
Parker was still in college when he wrote, directed, composed the songs for,
and
took the starring role as the innocent young Packer in this film, giving a gee-
whiz
performance as an ambitious pioneer who joins an ill-fated trek west that
ends up stranded in the mountains. At times resembling a perverse community
theater parody of Rodgers and Hammerstein ("My heart's as full as a baked
po-ta-to!"), Parker bounces back and forth between cheery production
numbers and goony songs ("Let's build a snowman," sings one starving-mad
hiker) and grotesque gore (bloody body parts, festering sores, human hors
d'oeuvres). It lacks in style and consistency and the juvenile gags and
fart
jokes wear thin over the course of a feature film, but Parker's sheer energy
and
inventiveness carry the overlong picture to a rousing conclusion. Regular
Parker collaborators Matt Stone and Dian Bachar costar in this tuneful
barbecue. --Sean Axmaker
