Critique
He’s a kid and he’s pretty angry. This ‘exactly what it says on the tin’ animation from Aardman started life as an internet gimmick before cult status brought it to BBC 3. Here we have Angry Kid in his first season of 25 shorts of about a minute each that combines complex effects with childish antics that you’ll either love or hate depending on your taste for various levels of toilet humour. Whether he’s in front of the TV, on the back seat of his even angrier Dad’s car, on the playground or weaving dangerously through the streets on his Chopper Angry Kid finds something increasingly gross to turn his attention to. The spiky red headed harlequin plays with his own bodily fluids, swears at his delicate younger sister and generally makes a nuisance of himself. If he’s likeable or not doesn’t really come into it, the true test is if you can stand it for 25 gut-churning minutes. Personally I just about managed it but true fans will no doubt be returning to their favourite episodes many times. There are some highlights like the gruesome experiment into what happens if you sneeze with your eyes open or the Exorcist parody but they really only serve their original purpose, to send to your mates one bored lunchtime over the net and perhaps not settle down in front of the telly to endure.

The technique employed is superb and you’d expect nothing less from the company who brought us Wallace & Gromit and the Creature Comfort ads. Here painstaking stop-frame animation of Angry Kid’s face is combined flawlessly with patient live action to bring the pre-teen to life. So it is lovingly put together but can you put up with the squelching sounds and bad language that goes with it? No doubt other kids will love it’s debauchery and lack of respect ensuring Angry Kid always will always have a cult following.

Video
Presented in 1.33:1 full-frame and seeing how much effort goes into each episode you won't be surprised to hear that it looks great. The flawless animation more than fills the screen and you won't miss a single drop of gore.

Audio
The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo does the job, with Angry Kid's idle mumblings coming across clearly and the soft background noises never interfering with the action.

Extras
Documentary – A 5 minute insight into the making of the show and it’s a shame there’s no more as it has a lot to offer. From the amazing dedication of the actor playing Angry Kid who has to star rigid for hours on end to the director who also provides the voice for his own character. There’s also the off-screen antics of a crew who you’ll be pleased to hear are as rebellious and delinquent as the show they’ve created.

Subtitled Episodes – 3 of the shorts redone with stereotypical music and voiceovers from several countries. A bizarre addition but it at least shows that gratuitous violence is funny in whatever language.

Season 2 trailer – A look at future episodes following the usual sequel rules – more swearing, more action, more violence, just more!

Gallery – The usual photos with Angry Kid himself humming a tune over the top.

Overall
If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if the Farrelly Brothers directed a Sex Pistols video then this is the result. Depending on the strength of your stomach, Angry Kid is irreverent fun but on DVD its anarchic, underground charm seems lost with everything strung together for the format. 25 minutes just isn’t long enough for a main feature, not when the wealth of extra features you’d expect aren’t there to back it up.

Rich Badley