Bye-Bye Bin Laden (2009)

As I write this review, Bye-Bye Bin Laden shows an average of 2.1 stars among 348 ratings, and mine will be the second 2-star review; four other reviews are 5 stars, and two glowingly praise the producer or production, even comparing it to Adult Swim. (Can you say "apple polishing"?) This 72-minute waste of time takes 12 minutes to set up the premise, which is: Bin Laden and Mullah Omar (whose eye patch constantly switches sides, ha ha) consider promoting Taliban thuggery by airing TV show knock-offs of American Idol, Gilligan's Island, I Love Lucy (riffing on the cupcake factory scene using anthrax), and Jeopardy. Meanwhile, a much taller President Bush and his wayward daughter Jenna compete with their own lackluster talent shows. You must be warned that the music throughout this production sounds like it was lifted from a Casio keyboard during a grade school or summer camp skit rehearsal. The singing is cringingly off-key, the audio is muffled, and the animation is not very good. (Many scenes skip along at 1 frame per second.) Most importantly, the songs ramble (both lyrically and melodically) but get good marks for vocabulary, and the whole silly thing is just not funny (it's barely even silly). The only part I appreciated (goosing my review up to 2 stars) was the Jeopardy segment, where a starving emburqahed woman was constantly asking for food ("--or else cigarettes, they're delicious!"). No way does this excretion compare with the genius that is Adult Swim. You will be much better served by watching Li'l Bush or the South Park episode where the US invaded Afghanistan. 2 stars. (8-4-2016)