Customer Reviews

Rifftrax: Wide World of Shorts - from the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000!

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Take ten shorts, mix them with riffing from three former MST3K Vets, shake 'em up and the result is the very funny collection, "Wide World of Shorts". Along with it's companion, "Shorts-tacular, Shorts-straviganza" we have two worthy DVDs for your collection.

The shorts live up to the Rifftrax title as they range from carnivorous plants to drinking kids to being scared of water to cramming food down one's piehole. We start with the dangers of suicidal depression because someone got a "B" instead of an "A" in the short, "Snap Out of It". The riffing is side-splitting, especially when the principal sits in his oddly plain office while Mike sings under his breath, "...you spin me right 'round baby right 'round..." A great start which sets the tone for the rest of the shorts.

Highlights include the pointless, "Alcohol Trigger Films" made during the '70s which shows the dangers of 10 year olds sipping beer and tearing up a rather shabby apartment, a tipsy Mother driving a stationwagon which apparently is not as dangerous as her embarassing behavior, and pre-teens slammin' schnapps in a park. "Why Vandalism" shows that boredom leads to accidentally killing a large, docile rabbit. And the pro-beer "As We Like It" which encourages what "Alcohol Trigger Films" is against.

My fave is the earnest, but hopelessly naive "The Terrible Truth" which tells the story of a young, beautiful teen who shoots up with herion non-stop, gets arrested, and destroys her life. Afterwards, she looks just as hot. I guess being on "the dope" isn't all that bad.

"Aqua Frolics" suffers from the dreaded "YouTube" strobing effect seen on other Rifftrax DVDs. Though admittedly it's not too distracting.

The DVD Menu is as plain as it gets, but it's complimented by Kevin Murphy belting out "When a Man Loves a Shark" on the soundtrack. It's hilarious, just like the riffing on the shorts. Get this today.

RiffTrax: Wide World of Shorts / 844503001528 / B0030VBGJ0

This screamingly funny shorts collection contains the following:

- Snap Out of It: If you loved the "Act Your Age" short from RiffTrax Shorts Volume 2, then you'll love this - same adult actors playing extremely moody high school students, same creepily mustachioed principal, and same cheery condescending narrator! Heck, for that matter, it's the same Family Friendly Aesop!

- Alcohol Trigger Films: Drinking is Bad. To prove it, here's a series of films about drunk people exhibiting above average driving skills and having normal, dull conversations.

- Carnivorous Plants: Mousetraps are a sacrilege against God.

- Aqua Frolics: Dinner under the sea? Madness!

- Why Vandalism: A chilling short on the dangers of vandalism. Do NOT follow the white rabbit!

- Self Conscious Guy: Practice Shakespeare in front of a mirror once a day in order to gain exceptional public speaking skills and a girlfriend. (* Note: Results Not Typical.)

- As We Like It: Beer is Awesome. To prove it, here's a series of endearing water colors of happy bartenders.

- Toward Emotional Maturity: Marvel as a young lady grows up and learns that torching forests, vandalizing houses, and white-hot-fencing-hatred are all unacceptable behaviors - and all because her high school teacher threw a snake at her!

- The Terrible Truth: Being hepped up on Mary Jane is Bad, kids. Everything speeds up, until you're basically forced to take heroine to ease the shakes. And Commies are supplying our kids with drugs in order to take down our school system - like they did in China. True story.

- Good Eating Habits: If you're not tucking in six square meals a day, you're just not trying hard enough. CHEW!

Seriously, this is one of the best shorts collections yet. (And it played fine on our DVD player, so as of June 2010, the "bad batch" that other reviewers seemed to heave been getting must have been fixed.)

~ Ana Mardoll

"Wild World of Shorts" is yet another collection of strange and amusing educational short films skewered by our friends at RiffTrax, Bill Corbett, Kevin Murphy, and Mike Nelson. I must admit that this is not my favorite RiffTrax shorts collection, and actually teetered between a three and four star rating, but settled on four as the riffing is very good even if the source material isn't as inherently funny as in some of the other sets.

My favorite of the set were "Carnivorous Plants" which is a religious film (really,) and "Alcohol Trigger Films," which is a very 1970's look at parental alcoholism, bad behavior, and the life-scarring embarrassment it causes for children. The mother's driving skills are exhibit A, and are quite frightening: I can only imagine how much scarier she would be today in a giant SUV on her cell phone instead of serenely driving in her quaint station wagon. "Aqua Frolics" features an annoyingly flickering effect, but is still modestly amusing: they certainly don't make movies like this today.

The set unfortunately features a disproportionate number of teenage angst related pictures which are tiresomely repetitive, especially considering that the same thematic area is so well covered by other RiffTrax sets. Two cures for insomnia, "Toward Emotional Maturity" and "Why Vandalism?" headline this genre and are more similar than different, and both are unredeemable for me, even with the RiffTrax treatment. Aimed at a slightly younger crowd, "Snap Out of It" and "Good Eating Habits" are equally boring, but at least diverge (if just a bit) from the theme of juvenile delinquency. Not diverging from the JD theme, though, is "The Terrible Truth" about a beautiful girl who becomes a drug fiend. This one features some of the best writing and riffing, but didn't stray far from oft-covered ground.

"As We Like It" serves as an entertaining counterpoint to "Alcohol Trigger Films," as it celebrates the wonders of beer. Yes, in this movie, beer drinkers are erudite and cosmopolitan conversationalists in a world where everyone is polite and happy, and not only does the national economy hinge on beer production, so does the very fabric of civilized society. It's hilarious, if wholly inaccurate, and the RiffTrax crew make the most of its golden comedic potential.

"Wide World of Shorts" is amusing, but is not one of the best RiffTrax shorts collections; despite its occasional monotonous subject matter, though, fans will enjoy it.

The Shorts are always my favs on the Mystery Science Theater 3000 DVD Box sets....and we have a lot of MST3K Box sets. When buying the latest MST3K DVD Box Set, Amazon.com recommended Rifftrax. I was interested after reading the review, but a little hesitant because the covers look kinda cheesy. I shouldn't have been concerned. These "Shorts-Only" DVDs are absolutely hilarious. They are just like the old MST3K Shorts in content, theme and spirit. I thought I'd miss seeing their silhouettes in the corner, but I wasn't. It's just flat-out funny! I bought 3 of the DVDs and they are all good.

I took 2 Rifftrax Shorts DVDs to my family's Easter party this year, since you don't have to sit there and focus on it for 90 mins to get what's going on and laugh. Everyone, from kids to grandparents, where cracking-up. This was a great addition to our DVD collection and I will definitely buy more of them. Great job guys!

I didn't read the reviews for this before buying it. I wish I had. Twenty minutes and four different dvd players couldn't make the dvd run. I am disappointed in the dvd manufacturer. Please don't buy this dvd because it just doesn't work.

Like several other reviewers, my copy of the DVD was defective. It froze and had dropouts. Amazon promptly sent a replacement but it too had the same problem.
Since the copies had problems in different parts of the DVD, my family was able to watch a total of three of the shorts and all of them were funny. Nothing quite as grand as children in monkey masks being killed off in biking accidents one-by-one Final Destination-style as in one of the other Rifftrax Shorts, but still funny. Hopefully Amazon will get a replacement shipment of DVDs that work properly because the shorts are definitely the best Rifftrax material.

Instead of 8 this time there are 10 shorts for the guys from Rifftrax and they keep the pace up throughout all the dull, bland material.

"Snap Out of It", high school teens played by adults and the usual bad acting make this perfect fodder for Mike, Kevin and Bill. We see the usual problems most teens had in this era, like in school, life and not being able to accept failure.

"Alcohol Trigger Films", a quick montage of drunk people and how their habits can effect their families. Its very short though, like 5 minutes I think, but the jokes are rapid fire and funny.

"Carnivorous Plants" has a creepy narrator talking about the wonders of plants and how their complex systems are fascinating. Its funny though very odd, but well the guys still do a good job making it easier to watch.

"Aqua Frolics" answers the question whether anyone can eat a turkey dinner underwater, the answer is yes, but not for very long. Thats one of many goofy things we see in this short of water tricks in the 50's, however its funny and the jokes are well paced.

"Why Vandalism?", if you fall in with the wrong crowd it could lead to becoming a vandal, burning down a lab in your school and killing a white rabbit. Another funny one, as the guys rip the acting and bad story.

"Self Conscious Guy", we see a guy in high school who learns to read Shakespeare, but crumbles in front of a live crowd. He finally does and gets the part in his school play, which provides great riffing for the guys as this is another cheesy 50's short.

"As We Like It", shows the world of bartending and how beer makes everything better. Its good stuff with the guys making tons of drunk jokes and its a funny short.

"Toward Emotional Maturity", how the young people of the 50's grow up through the eyes of a young woman, who witnesses acts of vandalism and violence but realizes she needs to clean up and be mature. A good funny short here as the 50's are an era the guys always did well with.

"The Terrible Truth", proves you shouldn't take drugs ever or you will be forced to clean up. Actually isn't terrible but it is very badly acted, that doesn't stop the guys from making some great riffs about drug use.

"Good Eating Habits", apparently in the 50's you needed to eat at the right pace, at the right time and eat a lot or you would end up with a stomach ache. Quite funny here as the cheesy material is perfect for the guys brand of humor.

Its a good collection as the guys just rip apart so many of these shorts and especially the actors.

Loved it. Very funny stuff. These guys never get stale. The movies are generally good, but the Shorts are my favorites. This DVD played fine. Shhh, I didn't buy it from Amazon. Shhh, I say.

I always have a soft spot the shorts as they are great for a quick watch or to share with others to introduce them to MST3Kesque antics. This set is pretty strong, although not my favorite of the Rifftrax shorts. I have found I enjoy these Rifftrax more on rewatching, so I hope these season well. The Vandalism and Alcohol Trigger shorts are pretty good already- classic material!

Also, I ordered this in early August, and my DVD was fine.

this was my 3rd rifftrax order....the disc is a dead stick....after ordering it i noticed that there were a host of complaints about freezes and dropouts. it's true...you can't get anything to play properly. i was dissapointed, but even more so in the return policy....it seems that if you remove the cheap plastic wrapper, you de-value the damaged disc by 50%.....wow, you'd think folks would stop selling broken things in the first place, but it'd be nice to see them stand behind the product......the worlds changing....erichl5