Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Beavis and Butt-Head Do America Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman December 16, 2021

There's always been some allure in watching people of a lower intelligence attempt to get through the rigors of daily life. Their fumbles and stumbles are meant to pick up the audience and make it feel a little better about itself (there's no way I could be that dumb!) while also, maybe in a roundabout way, commenting on society as a whole, or at least a subsection of it. Perhaps nowhere has that been truer than in Mike Judge's Beavis and Butt-Head, the (all too likely) story of a couple of nobody teenagers into music and television (MTV) and babes who live their lives in a shared bubble of mindless autopilot. They are both unwilling and unable to do more than see what they want to see right in front of them. In most cases, that is the television, and that the television goes missing is the catalyst for their cross-country adventures in their feature film debut, Beavis and Butt-Head Do America.

Following a midday nap, Beavis and Butt-Head (both voiced by Mike Judge) awaken to find their prized television missing. Out and about looking for a new set, they wander into a motel where they run into Muddy Grimes (voiced by Bruce Willis) who drunkenly mistakes them for a pair of hitmen he’s hired to kill, or as he says “do,” his wife Dallas (voiced by Demi Moore). Of course, Beavis and Butt-Head think they are being hired to have sex with her and eagerly board a plane bound for Vegs, where she is hiding out. They quickly find her, but when she realizes that they’re a couple of gullible and brainless teenagers, not trained assassins, she turns the tables and sends them back to kill Muddy with the promise of sex afterwards. As they embark on a cross-country journey, they are chased by a zealous government agent (voiced by Robert Stack) who believes them to be in possession of a dangerous weapon of mass destruction.

What makes the movie work is that it doesn't hold any ambitions beyond extending the length of a typical Beavis and Butt-Head adventure. Certainly, there's a larger scope to the film in terms of the literal length and breadth the characters traverse, but at its core it's more of the same that made the MTV shorts so wildly successful in the first place. Judge sticks to what got him there, and the movie resultantly plays well within its comfort zone. The story allows plenty of opportunity for dumb-headed wit, as does the script which is careful to introduce key words the characters can riff on while still organically fitting into the larger plot. It holds to the spirit that got it there, never betraying its own essence because it's suddenly on the big rather than the small screen.

The voice work is top tier as always; Judge as the two lead characters (and some others as well) holds to the typical cadence that is casually vulgar, dim, and dense, hitting a home run with every scripted syllable and grunt that see the characters not grow in the least but rather hold to the mindless banter and deliberate tunnel vision view of the world that got them to where they are. Celebrities like Willis, Moore, and Stack are excellent in supportive voice roles as well, smartly playing off the dunderheaded leads but never appearing too bright themselves.

Beavis and Butt-Head Do America Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Beavis and Butt-Head Do America does Blu-ray quite nicely. The 1080p transfer reveals crisp, satisfying core animation details and clarity, though to be sure the picture is not perfectly clean, revealing sporadic speckles and stray debris. Nevertheless, lines are crisp, and the animation reveals the source for all it's worth, whether considering fluid character models or static backgrounds. The picture holds to a nice filmic image as well, revealing a regularly occurring, and light, grain structure. Colors are handled well. There's a good bit of natural punch to clothes and hair and locations. Contrast is even and color temperature holds natural. Black levels are fine, too. This is a satisfying presentation from Paramount.

Beavis and Butt-Head Do America Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Paramount brings Beavis and Butt-Head Do Americato Blu-ray with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The surround channels are active and healthy from the get-go when dozens of citizens run in panicked fear from the Godzilla-like Butt-Head. There's some awesome surround and side extension when guns fire at him, and some prominent bass when he and Beavis talk and move around in super-size. Similarly prominent action elements are handled equally well for engagement and detail. The track offers excellent feelings of space and clarity even in otherwise unassuming scenes, such as when Van Driessen confronts the boys in a school hallway in the opening moments, where light reverb nicely defines the place. Music is clear and spacious, including both front side and surround activity, all in balance. Dialogue is clear and center positioned for the duration.

Beavis and Butt-Head Do America Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of Beavis and Butt-Head Do America includes several featurettes and some trailers and TV spots. No DVD copy is included, nor is a slipcover. This release does ship with a digital copy code.

• Audio Commentary: Writer/Director/Creator Mike Judge and Animation Director Yvette Kaplan discuss the film. Note that this supplement is accessible in the "settings" submenu rather than the "extras" submenu.
• The Big Picture (480i, 22:42): A look at the show's success quickly leading to a movie pitch, the MTV landscape at the time of the show's debut, casting and voice work, animation, the hallucination sequence, critical response, and more.
• We're Gonna Score! Scoring Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (480i, 10:57): As the title suggests, this piece looks at the film's music with Mike Judge and Composer John Frizzell.
• The Smackdown (480i, 2:33): A montage of mostly high energy scenes from the movie.
• MTV News Celebrity Shorts (480i): Celebrities offer a few humorous anecdotes as they pitch the movie. Included are Jennifer Tilly (1:08), Steve Buscemi (1:38), and Snoop Dogg (0:48).
• Trailers (480i): Included are Teaser Trailer 1 (0:35) and Teaser Trailer 2 (0:46).
• TV Spots (480i, 6:10 total runtime): Included are Action - Mike Judge Directing the Boys, Kick - Mike Judge Directing the Boys, Loss - Mike Judge Directing the Boys, Stunt - Mike Judge Directing the Boys, Taken Away, Important, Biggest Stars, Most Wanted, Start Running, Suit, Characters/Alt, and Your Movie.

Beavis and Butt-Head Do America Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Beavis and Butt-Head Do America does most everything right. It's bitingly funny and free flowing, just like the show that inspired it. The film holds to the same animation style, vocalizations, the whole nine yards: it really is just a very extended episode. Paramount's Bu-ray is solid, delivering pleasing video and audio along with a smattering of standard definition legacy supplements. Recommended!