I’m going to say this up top: seeing Too Many Cooks should be required viewing for anyone even remotely interested in this movie. It’s easy to find (free on Adult Swim’s YouTube channel) and gives you an immediate sense of Casper Kelly’s style and the way he likes to write. It’s fast-paced, absurd and dabbles in the weird and unexplained. If Too Many Cooks doesn’t work for you, you won’t like Buddy either because it’s much of the same DNA.
Buddy follows a group of kids on a Barney-style television show about a large orange unicorn named Buddy. The movie shows us a lot of this children’s television show, and right away we sit through what is essentially a full episode. It’s clear only minutes in though that things are not quite right, and when one of the kids goes missing … well … it certainly changes from there.
This movie is very dependent on its child-heavy cast, and I think they pretty much nail it. A special shout out to Delaney Quinn (A24 fans may recognize her from If I Had Legs I’d Kick You) who clearly steals the show. Keegan-Michael Key is doing a very distinct voice for Buddy and to be honest, I forgot it was him for most of the film’s runtime. There’s also some great voice acting from both Patton Oswalt and Michael Shannon, but the kids are the ones who really keep up the energy and it’s rare to see a young cast do that so well.
Buddy is also gory in a way that’s both cartoonish and horrifying. Much like Too Many Cooks or other shows like Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared, watching something wholesome or childlike combined with buckets of gore and viscera is genuinely jaw dropping in its execution. It’s hilarious, but messed up. All of the sets and characters are practical, and this only adds to the dynamic when things get violent, and they get violent a lot.
Barney being evil isn’t exactly a new idea. We all sang that song as kids: I hate you, you hate me, let’s get together and kill Barney! Maybe it would be right to say that watching Buddy is our discomfort around the big purple dinosaur on the big screen, but I think it’s actually doing more than that. It’s taking our discomfort and pointing us to an uncomfortable truth: these shows (at least in part) raised us, and in some ways, they were real. Maybe they no longer are, but there’s still an anxiety around how young and impressionable we once were. Maybe in some ways, like the kids, we want to forget.
I think the film is also touching on the idea of unrestricted tech in the hands of kids who don’t yet know any better (i.e. iPad kids). It’s a soft touch though, and it’s clear this isn’t all a giant metaphor. Still, the idea is explored when appropriate and I think it works for the most part.
Ultimately, this is a great time and an absurd wonderful mess of a film. While not every choice works, the end product is a lot of fun and the experience of watching is a great one. Definitely check this out (but watch/rewatch Too Many Cooks before you do).
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