You may have been flipping through channels one day and come across something really weird on TV. It looked like thumbs with human faces doing a parody of some famous movie. But that couldn't be what it is, right? Actually, yes, this is exactly what you saw. Steve Oedekerk (a man involved with movies such as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and The Nutty Professor) helped created a new type of animation called Thumbation. This is actually a collection of the first six mini-movies they created. Each one runs about a half hour and parodies a famous movie.
The production value varies from movie to movie, but is generally pretty high. The humor is fairly consistent, but you kinda have to be in the mood for it. The movies that you know like the back of your hand (Star Wars) will seem a lot funnier than the ones you may have never seen (Frankenstein), probably due to the number of inside jokes that seem to run through them. Some of the movies have Commentary tracks on them, which are generally very funny; it seems like they have a good time making them.
Even though the group packaging for the movies is just a piece of thin cardboard, the DVDs themselves are each individually packaged very nicely, probably exactly how they would be if you bought them separately. Buying them as a group saves you some money, I believe I paid about $40 for the set, so only $7 a DVD, which is pretty nice. There a few extras on the discs, some have more than others. Outtakes and "interviews" with the cast are pretty funny when available.
If I had one criticism of the set, it would be that there is no documentary on the actual Thumbation process. I'd like to see how they actually film the handwork and faces, and do the compositing. Perhaps they're worried about somebody stealing their idea, but some footage of the make-up and staging would really be nice.
Overall it's a nice set, and a good way to spend a half hour if you don't want to watch a full length movie. A short summary of my impressions of each of the movies follows below.
Thumbtanic - According to the commentary, this is the first one made. Production values are a little lower, and it's not as funny as some of the others. It has its moments, and the commentary is very good.
Thumb Wars - Probably the most famous of the films, and for good reason. Great production values and lots of jokes that will make you laugh.
Bat Thumb - Not as funny, it seems to take it self a little too seriously.
The Godthumb - Lots of extras, they had fun with this one. No commentary track, but the movie is great without it.
The Blair Thumb - A great parody with some really funny moments. Bonus "Insane" audio commentary.
Frankenthumb - The jokes grow old on this one a little too quickly. A few cuts and it would have been great.
Overall this is a great set. I don't know if more of these are planned, but this is a good start.
