Synopsis: A group of teens from the wrong side of Budapest’s tracks band together to make themselves rich by traveling back in time, burying a horde of mammoths under the city’s streets, then returning to the present and drilling for oil. As creators of a new oil producing nation, their scheme draws attention of Vladimir Putin (who uses the district’s Russian hookers as spies), Tony Blair and George W. Bush. In the midst of it all, star crossed teen love is in bloom.

This outrageous and visually stunning animated satire plays like an unhinged ghetto update of Romeo & Juliet smash filtered through a politically charged – and politically incorrect – kaleidoscope of clashing world views and social unrest, complete with musical numbers and a wicked soundtrack of Hungarian Hip hop.

You have never seen anything like it.
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Nyócker! 7.0

‘The District!’ Is the feature-length version of a popular Hungarian show by the same name. It has been referred to as the “Hungarian South Park” but, personally, I don’t really see the resemblance – not in the animation style, the types of characters or the kind of humour. But maybe that’s just me.

Nevertheless, it’s an intriguing piece: the style of artwork is quite unlike what you’d find in a North American animated film (and it has its own unique charm), the story is somewhere along the lines of ‘New Jack City’ crossed with ‘Kids’ and a smidge of ‘Team America’ (and sometimes taken to a more surreal level) and the overall feel is very inner-city, ghetto – something we rarely get in animation (for good or bad)

I found the film entertaining enough, but it seemed to me, despite supreme efforts to the contrary, as though there was no punch; I felt like it was one big straight line through and through and I was never shaken out of that sense at any point. It might only be because I’m jaded by so much film and TV, but it just didn’t grab my attention in any visceral way. And I simply didn’t laugh at all, even though it’s supposed to be a hilarious comedy.

So I think I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt and assume that most of the humour was lost in translation. Otherwise, I’d have to give it a 6.0 or, at best, a 6.5.