Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story

Producing its first full-length movie, Family Guy (Underline movies and TV series' titles.) has proved that it is a legitimate series with a religious cult following. The series first premiered in 1999 on the Fox network where it ran for nearly three years. In 2002 Fox removed the show from its television show lineup. Little did the Fox Network know that from that point on the Family Guy series would only grow in strength. Reruns of the show began to be aired on TBS and Cartoon Network where it attracted a new adult fan base. At the same time the series recorded a notably high amount of DVD sales for a show that had been removed from one of the major national networks. Finally, Fox took note of the growing success of one of their old shows and in 2004 the series was launched once again.

Now, the Family Guy series has taken the next step in the entertainment world. This full-length movie is a masterpiece that proves (builds on?) the popularity of the television show. The movie itself is comprised of three separately written episodes. These segments were then hilariously strung together in a way that only the Family Guy writers are capable of accomplishing. The first of the three episodes is titled “Stewie B. Goode” and Stewie, the main character of the movie, is up to his usual devious antics. This segment introduces the plot that is to be followed by the other two episodes while still managing to stretch the bounds of acceptable comedy. The television show is known for not shying away from any joke that is borderline offensive. Viewers will not be disappointed in the selection of content for humor throughout the movie. While in the midst of a plot against a fellow toddler in his swim lesson, Stewie has a near life ending experience. Following his brief look into what hell will be like; (Change the semi-colon to a comma.) he attempts to amend his ways. Stewie’s efforts to control his anger soon leads to the most uncommon and unexpected problem for a toddler. Viewers that are avid watchers of the series and those who are not will both appreciate the unique nature of the humor in the movie.

The movie then flows into the next segment titled “Bango Was His Name Oh.” After an alleged sighting of his real father, Stewie decides to travel to San Diego. This piece of the story serves to connect the first and third segments as well as highlight different characters. For a movie that has most of the television series regulars play (playing) a minor role, Quagmire is highlighted in this portion. The movie cuts back and forth from the journey across the country to the antics back at the Griffin house. Somehow Louis and Peter don’t notice the absence of their toddler and Brian, their pet dog. Their major concern is achieving complete privacy from their children, at any cost. During the second part of the movie a number of cultural allusions are made to popular movies adding a touch of reality to this animated story.

The third segment is what ties all the pieces of the plot together. This portion, titled, “Stu and Stewie’s excellent adventure” allows Stewie and the man he believes to be his father face to face, only to yield an unexpected twist. The baby genius Stewie finds himself helping this man better his life only to make it worse than when the two started. In the end Stewie is able to reconcile all conflict that has been created and left unresolved from the first segment on. Amazingly he is able to accomplish this task in the last 5 minutes of the movie resulting in all characters being better off than expected. The third segment the most interesting because of the many cultural references that are made. The allusions to other movies rack up in the final segment. One of the most profound movie allusions made was Farris Bueller’s Day Off, music and dramatic shots included.

The only weakness that exists in the movie is the timing of the plot. Since the movie was written in three pieces and then put together the places where action occurs is slightly off from a typical movie. The conflict is completely resolved in the last five minutes of the movie. This timing is typical for television shows but slightly throws off the movie audience. Luckily this is barely noticeable because of the constant comedy that is ongoing from the first seconds of the movie.

Overall, the Family Guy movie is not just a testament to the over the top, edgy humor that is the staple of any episode, but it shows to power that it has in captivating an audience. Few other television shows can keep the audience laughing throughout an entire 83-minute span and still maintain their attention quite like the Family Guy movie does. This is a hilarious comedy that even viewers that are not avid watchers of the series will be able to appreciate.