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THUMB WARS

Actually, Oedekerk's THUMB WARS isn't even a new venture. It first aired on the UPN to coincide with the release of THE PHANTOM MENACE in 1999. Similarly, it was recently released to DVD at the same time that Lucas' film was, which gives us a great opportunity to have another look at this oddly hilarious, and dead-on, spoof of STAR WARS.

Oedekerk makes his living in Hollywood as a writer and sometime director of films like ACE VENTURE: WHEN NATURE CALLS and THE NUTTY PROFESSOR, but those big budget pics can't hold a thumb to this little 30-minute short. Yes, a thumb, for THUMB WARS is aptly named: using a process called "Thumbation," Oedekerk and his team have taken traditional thumb puppets (is there such a thing?) and digitally attached the eyes and mouths of actors onto them, with the end result being odd little living and breathing thumbs which act out the most memorable bits of STAR WARS (and some EMPIRE STRIKES BACK for good measure)with Oedekerk's unique sense of humor at the heart of it all. As he says in his intro to the film, when he "first met one of the thumbs, I was horrified. I found them to be freaky, disturbing creatures." And also hilarious.

The rest of the film is achieved through a combination of low-end mini-costumes attached to the thumbs, miniature sets and some pretty decent, if cartoonish, CGI effects. But it's the peculiarly mannered facial expressions that are strangely transplanted to the thumbsas well as the dead-on performances by the talentthat make this all work.

When Princess Bunhead's spaceship is attacked by the dreaded Black Helmet Man, the literally bun-headed thumb is taken prisoner (despite loyal followers who are willing to die in her place, nervously humming "waiting to be killed, waiting to be killed" until the end). The Princess' droids, Prissypeo and Beboobeep, escape to a nearby sand planet where they come into the employ of Uncle Soondead and Aunt Gonnabiteit, not to mention the eternally whining Loke Groundrunner. As Uncle Soondead describes the droids, "The big one is sort of effeminate and annoying, and I think the little one has an amputee inside!"

Of course, soon Loke's Uncle and Aunt are killedor rather, clippedby Black Helmet Man's forces, but after meeting the mysterious Oobedoob Benubi, the two decide to head out to fight the Thumbpire together and save the Princess. (Though Oobedoob insists that Loke and him touch tongues together first to "make it all official"don't remember Obi-Wan ever making such a request.) Soon they've joined forces with the rogue pilot Hand Duet and his hairy sidekick Crunchy, and they're off to save the galaxy.

Oedekerk is clearly a fan of the real STAR WARS, hitting all the right beats of the original film and twisting them suitably for his own purposes. The short is full of great one-liners and in-jokes that fans of the trilogy will love. For example, when the Hand Duet character introduces himself, he says the following: "A one-armed man killed my wife, Sabrina, a working girl. Now I'm a fugitive in a clear and present danger. I should be presumed innocent, but they're playing patriot games with me. Raiders. Regarding Henry. Blade Runner. Air Force One." He then asks to be paid for the use of his ship in "girly giggles."

THUMB WARS offers a non-stop barrage of such lunacy, a surprising amount of which works. A Thumbpire officer wants to know why "we all speak in British accents when we're from outer space and there is no Britain?" The Yoda character introduces itself as a puppet: "Hand goes into puppet, arm follows hand, hand manipulates mouth." When the Thumb Star is destroyed, you can hear the Thumbpire troops saying "Ouch."

It's all really stupid, but also really funny. The Thumbation technique is so unusual, Oedekerk's scripting so on and the human performances (many of which are also done by Oedekerk) so amusing that the whole process gels into one cohesive, insane whole.

The disc also offers Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround and Dolby Digital 2.0 audio, plus an audio commentary from Oedekerk and producer Paul Marshal that's almost as humorous as the film itself. Trailers for THUMB WARS as well as two other Thumbation projects, THUMBTANIC and THE BLAIR THUMB, are also included, as is a brief "Gabba the Butt" interview (Oedekerk again), a storyboard gallery and "thumbographies" for most of the characters.