Bat Thumb

with Steve Oedekerk, Paul Greenberg, Rob Paulsen
Directed by David Bourla
Written by Steve Oedekerk
(Image Entertainment)
By John Bikowski

The most recent Thumb release is Bat Thumb. Image Entertainment was intelligent enough to pick up the entire series and, as always, they’ve provided a fun little DVD package. Besides the 28-minute feature film, you also get trailers, storyboards, outtakes, behind-the-scene footage, character interviews, and audio commentary. The commentary is great because the director, David Bourla, talks with a heavy Indian accent about the injuries involved in doing certain stunts. The squadron of trailers includes Thumb Wars, Thumbtanic, and The Blair Thumb as well as Frankenthumb and The God Thumb. The outtakes and the interviews are funny as hell. Some of the jokes fall a little flat the first time you hear them but actually become the funniest parts in subsequent viewings. The Bat Thumb feature takes Naked Gun-style humor and make it even funnier, thanks to the priceless expressions of the noseless thumb faces. Just like in my own home movies… sweet.

The basic story line of Bat Thumb follows superhero Wuce Bane as he tries to save the city of Gaaathumb from the evil villain, “No-Face.” This bad guy is basically a regular old thumb with no facial features. His plan is to spread a toxic gas throughout the city that would make all the inhabitants look like him… a relative freak-of-thumb-nature. Adding to the suspense, both Bat Thumb and No-Face are after the hottie Vicky Nail. Joining the mayhem is Blue-Jay: the effeminate unwanted sidekick that gets harassed by villains and the general public. Some of the funny bits include a wide-eyed tourist belted upside the head with a 2×4 and the terminally drunk Fred (Alfred) rambling on about bacon. Even the one-eyed “Whoo-Hoo” guy is back for a cameo. Thanks go to Steve for his imagination and to Image for a great package at a very reasonable price. Thumbs up!
(www.image-entertainment.com, www.thumb.com)

Thumbtastic!

An Interview with Steve Oedekerk
By John Bikowski

I had the good fortune to catch up with Steve Oedekerk and ask him a couple of questions. “So what? Who’s that?” you say? He’s none other than the comic genius who brought us Thumb Cinema. Yes, that’s right. The one responsible for the likes of such classics as Thumb Wars, Thumbtanic, The Blair Thumb, and more. Yes, I’m jealous. Other films to his credit include Ace Ventura, Jimmy Neutron, and The Nutty Professor (not to mention director/star of Kung Pow: Enter the Fist, writer/director of Nothing to Lose, writer/co-star of High Strung [with Jim Carrey cameo], and a role in Casual Sex? with Lea Thompson, Victoria Jackson, and Andrew Dice Clay).

Have you had any negative feedback from the people involved with the films you’re spoofing? Have those people been generally supportive, given that many of the laughs in the Thumb films come from ranking on plot holes or scripting flaws in their films? For example: Thumb Wars got a good laugh from the fact that the Death Star was constructed with a self-destruct option.

So far we’ve had nothing but extremely positive responses. Everyone I’ve met involved with the original films has loved being Thumbed! Usually they’re very fascinated with the thumb-sized miniature recreations of their sets. Being a filmmaker myself, you’re usually aware of your own plot holes and story cheats, so I think everyone has fun with it.

Do you have any Dream Thumb projects, if you were given unlimited budget and time?
Well, I gotta do Thumbatrix, Lord of the Thumb Rings, and Super Thumb.

Have you ever entertained the thought of a Thumb movie based on a cartoon series like Scooby Doo, The Simpsons, South Park, or Charlie Brown?
Haven’t considered going outside live action movies, but you never know…