BEFORE: Tim Curry carries over again, making for a voiceover trifecta. Full disclosure: I know the director of this film in the real world, I will do my best to remain impartial. But really, if I didn't, what's the harm?
THE PLOT: Queer Duck leaves his lover, Openly Gator, when he becomes enamored of and marries the Nora-Desmondesque Ms. Buzzard.
AFTER: I guess this also springs from a Showtime TV series, probably their bid to compete with "South Park" and "Drawn Together", this is in the same vein of irreverent animation.
This film may have also sprung from that news item a few years ago about gay penguins in some zoo, which sparked some controversy and shook up people's notions about animals and sexuality. Or, maybe it's just trying to be funny. There are lots of pot-shots at gay culture and general pop culture, so it somehow manages to celebrate and spoof the gay lifestyle at the same time. Homophobes and born-again preachers who try to "pray away the gay" are easy targets, of course.
In addition to the obvious "Sunset Boulevard" references, there are send-ups of "Beauty and the Beast", "Lady and the Tramp", Gilbert & Sullivan, "A Clockwork Orange", "The Graduate", and "A Christmas Carol". I'm sure I'm probably missing a few. Meanwhile there are "South Park"-like jabs at Liz Taylor, Michael Jackson, Liza Minnelli, Barbra Streisand (of course...), and Rosie O'Donnell. The downside is that jabs at the King of Pop, as well as the show "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" are now really dated, and this movie's just 5 years old! That's the risk you take when you go topical.
Still, there's lots of clever stuff here - what else would you expect from a film with characters named Bi-Polar Bear and Oscar Wildcat? Or an aging actress (literally, an old buzzard) who stars in a one-woman show titled "Still Not Dead"?
Also starring the voices of Jim J. Bullock (last seen in "Switch"), Kevin Michael Richardson (last heard as the shaman in "The Wild Thornberrys Movie"), Billy West (last heard in "Cats & Dogs"), Jackie Hoffman, Maurice LaMarche, and Jeff Bennett (last heard as Ted in "Curious George 2"), with cameos from Mark Hamill (last heard in "Tom and Jerry in Shiver Me Whiskers"), Andy Dick (last heard in "The Lion King 2"), Estelle Harris (last heard in "Teacher's Pet"), Bruce Vilanch and Conan O'Brien.
RATING: 6 out of 10 thermometers
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