By Adam Pugh
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Thursday February 20, 2003
This lovely little bunch of characters is described as "cute, cuddly and horribly wrong." And that just makes this DVD oh-so-right. Launching their career at Spike and Mike's Twisted Animation Festival, the Happy Tree Friends became a sensation on the big screen. Shortly thereafter, the munchkins of mayhem took over the Internet ÷ and now they're going to invade your living room.
If you have no idea what these creatures can do ÷ or just have no idea who these "Friends" are, then you are in for a real surprise. Take a moment to think about your children (imaginary children work, too ÷ it's just an exercise!) and what might happen if you put them on a merry-go-round that went out of control. They would go flying off and into the propeller of a jet plane sitting nearby, splattering their innocent little guts all over the place. I was thinking the same thing; gross. But if you took that child and replaced it with a cartoon bunny named Cuddles, you would be laughing your ass off!
"First Blood" is packed full of episodes like the aforementioned. These happy animals take aim at your funny bone with an AK-47 and blast away ÷ pain never felt so good! So what is it about cartoons being splattered all over the place that make us all laugh so hard? Think back to the old Tex Avery cartoons where Screwy Squirrel would run amok and beat the snot out of some unsuspecting wolf; Avery really pushed the envelope with those shorts. And now the "Friends" are taking Avery's lead and are treading new ground and treading all over each other for a laugh.
The best thing about this DVD is that you can unleash it on unsuspecting friends. First, invite them over for some beers. Second, get really bored. Third, pop this in and they will never know what hit them. Happy entrails!
