Greg the Bunny: Best of the Film Parodies review, Greg the Bunny DVD review

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Buy your copy from Amazon.com Greg the Bunny: Best of the Film Parodies (2006) starstarstarstarno star Starring: Greg the Bunny, Warren “The Ape” DeMontague, Frederick “Count” Blah, Pat Friendlies, and the Wumpus
Director: Dan Milano, Spencer Chinoy and Sean Baker
Category: Comedy
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When “Greg the Bunny” aired on the Fox Network for about five minutes (actually, it was 11 episodes; it only seemed like five minutes), the characters were toned down considerably from their appearances on the Independent Film Channel. When the series was cancelled, its creators – Dan Milano, Spencer Chinoy, and Sean Baker – happily took Greg the Bunny, Warren “The Ape” DeMontague, and Count Blah back to IFC, where they could curse a blue streak and continue the hilarious film parodies they’d been doing before their foray into network television.

The warning emblazoned on the back of the box – “Contains adult content, adult language, and some puppet sex” – is a wise one. Seeing Greg and Warren on the cover of the DVD, it’s easy to look past the prison jumpsuits they’re wearing (and the cigar hanging out of Warren’s mouth) and think, “Oh, they’re so cute!” That might be true, but this definitely ain’t for kids…though, ironically, it might be hard for adults to get into watching a puppet show. But, come on, these are puppets that say “fuck”! How can you not get into that?

Each of these episodes, their average length hovering at around 15 minutes, begin with opening credits that are a spot-on parody of “The A-Team,” setting the stage for the proceedings to follow. The film parodies are pretty broad in some cases, occasionally leaving almost the entire original flick behind to incorporate bits and pieces of them into the characters’ lives…like “Martian Serum Seven from Mars,” which is inspired by “Ed Wood” but mostly focuses on Count Blah’s career. In the case of “The Godpappy,” the original gives them so much to work with that they spend the entire time in full-on parody; then again, they also make fun of the fact of how the lack of time and budget results in a lot of stuff either being done off-camera or left out altogether.

Fans of the Fox series might be disappointed that the only carry-over characters are Greg, Warren, and Blah (with occasional guest appearances from Seth Green as himself), but film geeks will have a ball watching the show. Then again, no one else would even be able to wrap their head around the concept of a puppet parody of “Eraserhead” (with Greg walking in and mentioning that “it’s really noir-ish and industrial outside”). The obscenities fly fast and furious throughout the episodes, but that’s cable for you...and, besides, it just comes back to what we said a moment ago: puppets that say “fuck” makes for quality television.

Special Features: You can always tell that a show’s a labor of love for its creators when they can manage to produce commentary for each and every episode, which is what they’ve done here. There are also two featurettes, deleted scenes, and a gag reel…and, friends, this is just further proof that puppet bloopers = instant hilarity. There are two complaints, however. First off, there’s no “Play All” feature, which means that you have to select each of the parodies individually; given that they’re not very long, it gets kind of annoying. Secondly, where’s “Fur on the Asphalt: The Greg the Bunny Reunion Show,” which celebrated the characters’ return to IFC? Seems like its inclusion would’ve been a gimme, but it’s nowhere to be found.

~Will Harris