Movie Review - America: The Motion Picture

If one is familiar with FX's Archer (2009), then one is familiar with the style and techniques here. Archer is an irreverent, adult but juvenile, animated comedy. That brand of humor is very much present here, which makes sense because one of the Emmy-winning producers from Archer, Matt Thompson, is the director of this film. Dave Callaham is the writer, and Callaham has a long history of writing super-hero and video-game films, such as Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), Mortal Kombat (2021), Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) and Doom (2005). However, Callaham isn't new to the idea of doing irreverent humor that mainly spoofs expressions of masculinity, even toxic masculinity, especially as seen through the lens of male heroism in action flicks. Callaham tackled that exact thing in the series Jean-Claude Van Johnson (2016). Callaham also wrote Zombieland: Double Tap (2019), so he's also experienced with depictions of violence that results in a lot of over-the-top blood and gore.

As I watched this animated film, strangely the property that came to mind was Hamilton (2020), the Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda. That musical was a retelling of the life of the titular Founding Father from United States' history, but done so with a modern-day bent or an anachronistic angle, specifically that of color-blind casting. Thompson and Callaham's film here does a similar thing where they tell a story involving one of the United States' Founding Fathers but with a modern-day bent and plenty of anachronisms. In fact, there are anachronisms all over the place. However, what Miranda did for Black and Latino representation, Thompson and Callaham do for horny, drunk, young, white men who are likely college-age. Or, Thompson and Callahm do Hamilton as if directed by Michael Bay or Quentin Tarantino.

Channing Tatum (Magic Mike and 21 Jump Street) stars as George Washington, one of the Founding Fathers and the man who became the first President of the United States. However, the character of George here isn't the dignified statesman or upright military leader that has become part of America's myths about its first president. Here, George is a bad-ass, muscle-bound punisher who is the embodiment of jingoism that often was a character of 1980's action films. He also has a quirk that isn't the same but akin to that of the titular character in Edward Scissorhands (1990).

Thompson and Callaham aren't going for historical accuracy in its telling of George Washington's life. This is historical fiction, mixed with dark fantasy, on the level of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012). Abraham Lincoln is a character here but instead of vampires, Thompson and Callaham have werewolves as the monster of choice. In this narrative, we see the events leading up to the War of Independence and how America defeated the British to become a free nation. The narrative is twisted so that the British are led by a powerful werewolf who is the historical traitor, Benedict Arnold, voiced here by Andy Samberg (Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Saturday Night Live).

To help defeat Benedict Arnold, George goes around the country and gathers a diverse group of people. The first is another white alpha male type named Sam Adams, voiced by Jason Mantzoukas (Big Mouth and Invincible). Sam Adams is another Founding Father who is known more as an Ivy League, political philosopher who was instrumental in the Boston Tea Party. However, this film depicts the Founding Father as a beer-loving, frat boy, an embodiment of the Boston Beer Company that would be named in Adams' honor 200 years after his time. However, the diverse group includes the gender-bending of Thomas Edison and moving his lifetime from the 19th to the 18th century. It also includes Geronimo, the famous Native American whose lifetime was also moved from the 19th to the 18th century in order to be a part of this narrative.

It's not surprising that the film would make anachronisms out of these two people. Before Edison and Geronimo are even introduced, we get the anachronism that George Washington and Abraham Lincoln were friends. In reality, Washington died ten years before Lincoln was even born. Here though, this film has the two as being childhood buddies who then developed a strong bromance. It's like someone interpreting their faces on Mount Rushmore as being indicative of them being contemporaries. Because this film loves its references to Star Wars (1977) and mainly to The Empire Strikes Back (1980), at one point the film compares Washington and Lincoln's relationship as being akin to Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi with George being the Luke Skywalker of this story.

So much of the comedy here are references to things in pop culture today that are placed in this narrative as anachronisms. At one point, I thought this film would be like a feature-length version of "A Brief History of the United States of America," the animated segment in Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine (2002), but Moore's segment probably has more of a theme and more of a cohesive statement about the history of America than this film does. This film does have some commentary, but that commentary isn't necessarily about the history of America. Its statement is probably more about the politics under President Donald Trump's administration, as this film was conceived not long after Trump's inauguration.

There are clear indications that this film is taking aim at Trump. In that regard, this film is also akin to Trey Parker's Team America; World Police (2004), which was a film that was interpreted as taking aim at President George W. Bush and his administration's Iraq War. Parker's film could also be seen as taking aim at American foreign policy. This film doesn't seem to have a specific policy to center itself. I suppose white privilege and anti-science are issues that are considered central here, but the film is more all over the place in terms of the issues that it continues to raise. It's a bit manic in that way.

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller produced this film. Lord and Miller are the creative forces behind such projects as The Lego Movie (2014) and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018). When it comes to making manic, animated films, Lord and Miller are masters, so it's not surprising that this film also brings a bit of that manic sensibility. That mania also comes in the form of visual references to other films in what could be called a kind of cinematic collage. Instead of stop-motion or 3D animation, here it's as if we're placed in a Japanese anime overall, but at numerous points, it feels like we're in a Star Wars film, then The Fast and the Furious (2001), then The Imitation Game (2014) and finally Avengers: Endgame (2019). Even more references are crammed in there.

Along the way, the film does spotlight what happened to Native Americans in the early years of this country. It also gives lip-service to other injustices or bigotries that came along with the formation of this country. Yet, the main thrust is about demonizing the British empire and the monarchy, which are ripe for demonization and criticism for sure, but the main thrust is that America is good and the British are monsters. The final moment of this film tosses out the idea that maybe America isn't as good as this film purports. Yet, that's only a few seconds as opposed to 90 minutes of this film being gung-ho for America. Yes, the character of Geronimo, voiced by Raoul Max Trujillo (Mayans M.C. and Apocalypto) is great for its representation of the Native American plight, but one major oversight is the issue of slavery.

Killer Mike aka Michael Render is a rapper who voices a character known as "Blacksmith," an African-American metallurgist. Blacksmith's principal concern is the issue of taxes. It's strange though that this Blacksmith never brings up the issue of slavery, which I think would be a more urgent matter for an African-American back then. Yes, there were free Black people even in the 18th century and leading up to the American Revolution, but if the character of Geronimo can speak to the issues affecting Native Americans more broadly, it makes no sense why the Blacksmith here would not have brought up the broader issues around Black people, specifically chattel slavery. I compared this film to Hamilton, which is ironic because Hamilton also brushes over the issue of slavery.

Rated TV-MA.

Running Time: 1 hr. and 38 mins.

Available on Netflix.