Triumph of the Imagination(land)

The South Park Imaginationland trilogy concluded last night, and I have only one question: why wasn't this the next South Park movie that Matt and Trey keep saying they'd only make if they had a big enough idea?

Really, what idea could be bigger than an extended disquisition on the difference between real and imaginary beings, and which is more influential? Interwoven with a post-9/11 parable that says that terrorists have multiplied their force by taking over Americans' imaginations? Compounded by a cheerfully blasphemous plot in which Jesus, God and Buddha are as real as Superman, Luke Skywalker and Cap'n Crunch?:

All that would be the stuff of a really good South Park. What made the trilogy great is that--like all the best South Parks--it was also rooted in a hilarious but true-to-character story about the kids. (With their unsentimental bluntness about the mindset of children, Matt and Trey are the heirs of Charles Schulz, for a TV-MA-rated era.)

I don't just mean Cartman and Kyle's bet, which was funny enough, but it was perfect that Butters should end up being the hero: that the baroquely picked-on kid who once made himself into a supervillain would have an imagination powerful enough to save the world. And without getting too corny, the ending also showed SP's generosity of spirit, even as it attacked the central tenets of pretty much every major world religion: "Whether Jesus is real or not, he's had a bigger impact on the world than any of us have. And the same could be said for Bugs Bunny and Superman and Harry Potter." He's like a little Jewish Linus, that Kyle is.

Of course, this is a TV blog, not a movie blog, so I guess I'm glad we got Imaginationland for our genre. I just would have liked to see them get a few extra bucks to execute that cast-of-thousands Helm's-Deep-like battle scene. ManBearPig would have been awesome on a big-screen budget.