XPost: rec.arts.tv, alt.tv.south-park   
   From: weberm@polaris.net   
      
   Maybe because most of us come from somewhere else, Americans just love   
   replicas of foreign places — William Randolph Hearst’s faux European castle   
   in San Simeon, Calif.; Paris Las Vegas with its half-size Eiffel Tower and   
   mini Louvre; or the mock Alpine village you find in, of all places, Helen,   
   Ga. Creating a giddy atmosphere that Umberto Eco dubbed "hyperreality," such   
   crazily ambitious simulacra fill nearly everyone with childish delight.   
      
   This includes Trey Parker and Matt Stone of South Park and The Book of Mormon   
   fame. Although notorious for their cynical humor, both harbor a profound   
   affection for one of the places they adored as kids: Casa Bonita, a 50,000   
   square foot attraction in a Lakewood, Colo., strip mall that has been dubbed   
   the Disneyland of Mexican restaurants. It’s an Anglo businessman’s   
   fantastical riff on an old Mexican village, one decked out with Old West   
   outlaws, volcanoes, cliff divers and even a gorilla that runs through caverns   
   studded with stalactites.   
      
   More than half a century after opening in 1974 — complete with TV ads   
   featuring Ricardo Montalban! — this once-spectacular crowd-puller had fallen   
   on such desperate times that it was doomed to close. Then it was bought out   
   of bankruptcy "as is" by Stone and Parker, who vowed to save the beloved   
   Colorado landmark and return it to its former glory.   
      
   Their battle to do so is the subject of the enjoyable new documentary ¡Casa   
   Bonita, Mi Amor! Directed by Arthur Bradford and produced by MTV Documentary   
   Films, the movie’s a treat, weaving together great archival footage, excerpts   
   from South Park and Elvis’ movie Fun in Acapulco, plus countless scenes of   
   Parker and Stone’s amused horror when they hear the latest reason why their   
   labor of love is becoming a money-pit.   
      
   After a zippy capsule history of Casa Bonita, with its Pepto-Bismol-pink   
   facade and blue fountain out front, the movie returns to the present to show   
   everything it takes to recreate a mecca whose true meaning lay in the   
   feelings it once induced. Because the original Casa Bonita was legendary for   
   lousy food, they bring on an executive chef, Dana Rodriguez, who’s been   
   nominated for James Beard Awards. She takes Parker to Oaxaca so he can soak   
   up the atmosphere and get inspired.   
      
   Yet wondrous inspiration bumps into un-wondrous reality. Turns out that their   
   new property is a dilapidated death trap in which everything — electricity,   
   plumbing, air conditioning — must be redone. A renovation originally budgeted   
   at $6 million suddenly balloons to a new estimate of $20 million plus.   
      
   Now, as ¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor! chronicles the high price of nostalgia, it also   
   offers an offhand glimpse at one of pop culture’s signature creative teams.   
   It doesn’t take long to spot the differences between the two longtime friends   
   — Parker is clearly the dreamy, creative one; Stone the shrewd whetstone on   
   which he sharpens his ideas. What you may find surprising is the secret   
   sentimentality of guys whose comedy takes such pride in finding nothing   
   sacred. Parker, in particular, betrays a sweetness in his romantic attachment   
   to the innocent pleasures of childhood. He’s also a perfectionist. We see his   
   artistic process, fussing over and tweaking every creative detail of the   
   project.   
      
   As their crew desperately races to have everything perfect by opening day —   
   spending even more millions along the way — it becomes clear that Parker and   
   Stone are chasing a ghost or maybe a paradox. The original Casa Bonita was a   
   1970s inauthentic version of 19th-century Mexico, but to recapture its magic   
   this new version can’t be the same Casa Bonita that Parker remembers so   
   fondly. Just as Indiana Jones' movies had to use top-drawer talent to emulate   
   cheap, old movie serials, so their restaurant has to meet today’s   
   expectations — tastier food, sharper entertainment — or visitors won’t find   
   it as thrilling as the original. To feel the same, it has to be different.   
      
   By the time Casa Bonita finally reopens — there is a happy ending — Parker   
   and Stone have done something that could hardly be more quintessentially   
   American: They’ve spent a fortune to make a copy of a Mexican-themed   
   restaurant that’s actually better than the original.   
      
   --   
   Let's go Brandon!   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)