“Johnny Dingleberry Presents” is actually a collection of three short films, “Wagon Road”, “Shiro: The Galactic Makatoshi” and “The Justice Illegals of America”. Brace yourselves, because we are in for an entire WORLD of dingleberries. Spoilers will abound for no other reason than the movies are really too short to describe the plot without describing the entire movie as well.
“Wagon Road”, quite possibly the shortest film I’ve ever seen, clocks in at an astonishingly pointless forty seven seconds. Just long enough to have a guy in a wheelchair flash a kid who makes goofy faces at the camera, and then have a third guy wander in and cut off Wheelchair Guy’s head. Yes, that is the entire movie. You’re welcome. The end credit reel is almost longer than the actual film itself. “Shiro: The Galactic Makatoshi” allows Shiro to go up against arch-foe Demonico in true Power Rangers fashion. Only with a far, far lower budget.
Meanwhile, “The Justice Illegals of America” entails a coyote’s cargo struck by lightning and given dubious superpowers. It will feature the best Offspring parody I’ve heard since Weird Al. And complete with trumpet solos, no less. Even better, the villians of this piece will be an utter scream–but sadly, they don’t have the time to do very much with them. The characters are all at least passingly good ideas; the only problem is that the pace of the narrative doesn’t leave them with enough time to set up any kind of plot.
Needless to say, Steven Spielberg would call these guys “low-budget”. And yet, there’s a certain sort of manic humor going on here that can’t be denied. Or explained. Or even comfortably lived with. The whole thing is really rather disconcerting but it’s still pretty damn funny when you get down to it. All in all, each of Dingleberry’s shorts is entirely too short to get interested in. Funny, sure…but not long enough to be much more than a giggle.
