by Conan Simmons – July 10, 2021 – 9:49 pm
Back when Saturday mornings were ruled by cartoons ‘The Banana Splits’ was a hit in the early days of that Golden Age of entertainment. Airing on NBC from 1968 to 1970 the original series was directed by Richard Donner prior to his breakout success with the horror film ‘The Omen’. The series was a mixture of animation and live action produced by Hanna-Barbera with some live action sequences featuring actor Jan-Michael Vincent who later starred in the hit 1980’s action series ‘Airwolf’.
This movie released in 2019 is most definitely nothing like the series of yesteryear. ‘The Banana Splits Movie’ does feature the big furry animal characters as they star on their eponymous show but that only serves as a setup for a gorehound’s comical delight.
The plot revolves around a young boy, played by Finlay Wojtak-Hissong, who is obsessed with the Banana Splits Show which, in the scenario for this movie, is still on the air. It’s the boy’s birthday and his family, consisting of his mother and step-father and older step-brother (played by Dani Kind, Steve Lund and Romeo Carere), is planning to take him to see a live taping of his favorite show.
The Banana Splits are robots programmed with artificial intelligence and their software update goes a little haywire as word comes down from the network that the show has been canceled. The Banana Splits are not pleased with this news and begin killing people behind the scenes just before they take the stage for what should be their final taping.
After the taping several lucky fans get a chance to meet the cast. The boy is invited to stay after his step-brother smooth talks Paige, the page who escorts audience to and from the studio set. Paige, played by Naledi Majola, gets distracted having to chase down an over eager father hoping to get his daughter into showbusiness and is therefore unable to keep the lucky fans from veering off into other areas of the studio.
Bloody mayhem ensues as two try-hard, aspiring, social media influencers have a deadly encounter with one of the robots. This is a scene that leaves no doubt in your mind that ‘The Banana Splits Movie’ is not for children. The gore is prominent setting the tone for the rest of the film.
As absurd as the concept of ‘The Banana Splits Movie’ is it is also dementedly humorous. It’s obviously what many would consider a bad movie, which is clear from the setup, but it’s very well put together. The movie itself knows it’s absurd and it plays its sick comedy with mostly deadpan straight faces.
What really elevates ‘The Banana Splits Movie’ from the gross premise is the quality of the acting. The entire case, which also includes Celina Martin, Sara Canning, Eric Bauza, Lily Spangenberg, Daniel Fox and Keeno Lee Hector, all play their parts very convincingly. Leaning into their respective character traits and playing scenes with sincerity regardless of the bizarreness around them, they all, as it’s termed in comedy, commit to the bit.
‘The Banana Splits Movie’ is definitely not for everyone. For those with a capacity for grimly dark, cartoonish humor and willing to go along with absurd satire that borders weirdly baffling fan-fiction there is entertainment to be had. Most of the enjoyment comes from watching the game cast, all very capable and wouldn’t be surprising to see many of them in bigger, perhaps less bizarre, films in years to come.