All 5 South Park Movies Ranked From Worst To Best

Here are all the South Park movies ranked from worst to best. South Park’s voice cast has remained relatively unchanged since its release, with creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone voicing most of the main characters. South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut was one of the first adult animated shows to be adapted to a film. Now, two decades later more South Park movies are being produced. Since 2021, South Park has been contracted to create two movies each year for six years for the streaming platform Paramount+.

The feature-length specials represent a huge format change since South Park debuted over 20 years ago. The first of these specials, Post Covid, was released in November 2021 and was followed up by its sequel, Post Covid: The Return of Covid, which was available a month later. In 2022, this was followed by South Park The Streaming Wars and South Park The Streaming Wars Part 2, which respectively released in June and July 2022. With regular feature films now being produced, here is every South Park movie ranked from worst to best.

5 South Park The Streaming Wars (2022)

Although South Park The Streaming Wars isn’t bad, it simply fails to reach the same level as any other South Park movie. The latest South Park special on Paramount+ sees Stan and Tolkien set up a boat service to test whether streams across South Park are suitable for supplying water to local residents. The South Park special satirizes the privatization of public goods, climate change, and over-working content creators, continuing the show’s form for taking on current issues. While it does have funny moments, The Streaming Wars suffers from a slow pace and the general absence of the core group of boys being together.

Cartman is usually South Park‘s show-stealer, but his subplot in The Streaming Wars is weak compared to his past exploits. Upset that he’s living in a fast-food stand, Cartman argues with his mom about getting breast implants to attract a rich husband. It’s a joke that wears out quickly and isn’t as clever as Cartman’s previous evil schemes, and feels almost like a return to the dated low-brow toilet humor of earlier seasons.

Similarly, Randy Marsh’s story is underwhelming, as the movie once again draws from South Park‘s tired Tegridy Farms plot. The Streaming Wars‘ story is far from over and South Park‘s next special will likely be a direct follow-up. However, the lack of closure and unanswered questions make it feel incomplete as a standalone movie. It may not be a bad movie, but when it comes to South Park movies ranked for quality, The Streaming Wars is at the bottom.

4 South Park The Streaming Wars Part 2 (2022)

South Park immediately redeemed itself in South Park The Streaming Wars Part 2, as the sequel marked the return to the franchise roots. The fact that it’s a sequel of a bad movie gives it a lower place among South Park movies ranked against each other. However, South Park The Streaming Wars Part 2 was a great ending to the franchise’s 2022 releases, as it will be some time until the next movie hits streaming — based on their two-movies-per-year contract with Paramount.

This movie is also where South Park ends the Tegridy Farms plot, which isn’t the only reason for the sequel earning praise. South Park The Streaming Wars Part 2 also expertly makes fun of celebrities who’ve endorsed cryptocurrencies and NFTs, providing the biting commentary mixed with great jokes that long-time viewers have come to expect from the franchise. With the ending of South Park The Streaming Wars Part 2 bringing together Karen Marsh, ManBearPig, and Pi Pi — while resolving Cartman’s breast implant arc – the sequel somewhat raises the expectations for future film outings.

While South Park The Streaming Wars Part 2 provides a strong foundation from which the franchise’s future can grow, it’s still slightly overrated because it’s the sequel to the worst South Park movie. That said, South Park The Streaming Wars Part 2 is notable not only for saving the franchise but also for being the movie when South Park’s dropped trans humor. Indeed, it’s not a perfect movie — especially when compared to the very first movies released by South Park. Yet, it’s also undeniable that South Park The Streaming Wars Part 2 is a step in the right direction for the entire franchise.

3 South Park: Post Covid (2021)

South Park: Post Covid is set forty years in the future and sees a middle-aged Stan Marsh return to South Park, having fallen out with Kyle, Cartman, and his family during the pandemic. Post Covid is cynical and dark, but it is full of classic South Park humor as the reunited friends attempt to figure out how they can go back and stop COVID-19 before it started by investigating the latest death of South Park‘s Kenny, who grew up to be a scientist. The main issue with Post Covid is that it only works as part of a two-part series because of its unresolved threads and cliffhanger ending.

Written and directed by South Park co-creator Trey Parker, Post Covid is full of jokes about the future and political correctness, but its best moments come when the movie pokes fun at the boy’s age. Supporting characters also get a chance to shine, particularly Jimmy Valmer with his sarcastic jokes and Clyde Donovan who is used to poke fun at anti-vaccination activists. The reveal that Cartman grows up to become a happily married father and rabbi pays off years of teasing towards Kyle — although the latter remains hilariously convinced that it is just another elaborate chapter in Kyle and Cartman’s ongoing feud.

2 South Park: Post Covid — The Return of Covid (2021)

In the sequel to Post Covid, The Return of Covid, Stan and Kyle try to finish Kenny’s research and primary goal: trying to travel back in time to cure COVID-19. Standing in their way though is Cartman, whose underhanded tactics that defined their childhood come back to the surface because, unlike Stan and Kyle, he is happy with how life turned out so doesn’t want the past to change. A brilliant, modern twist on the franchise’s classic formulas, some long-time viewers of South Park movies ranked and continue to consider The Return of Covid to be the best of all the features.

The Return of Covid has a more optimistic tone than Post Covid, as the boys change the course of their futures by manufacturing “one precedented time” to change the residents of South Park’s reaction to the pandemic. This hopeful spirit is balanced out by the incredibly bleak alternate future of Cartman. Rather than growing up to be a happy family man, Cartman becomes bitter and homeless in the alternate timeline. Some jokes carried over from Post Covid became stale, including Stan’s human Alexa, but The Return of Covid thankfully brings in fresh material as well, like adult Butters growing up to be a prolific NFT salesman.

1 South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)

There are several reasons why most lists of South Park movies ranked for quality unanimously agree that the first movie is the best. Simply put, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut just outdoes every other South Park movie in terms of story, overall execution, comedy, and even its soundtrack. The first movie sees Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny constantly cursing after watching the new R-rated movie by the Canadian double act Terrance and Phillip. Disgusted by the boy’s new vocabulary, their parents start a movement to execute Terrance and Phillip, and the United States declares war on Canada.

All the while, in Hell, Kenny tries to stop Satan and Saddam Hussein from conquering the world. Like some older episodes of South Park that haven’t aged well, elements of Bigger, Longer & Uncut don’t work today. The movie is still packed with the chaotic energy that early South Park is loved for, and the decision to make it a musical helped to differentiate it from the TV series.

The landmark South Park movie achieved critical success, with its peak achievement being a nomination for Best Song (“Blame Canada”) at the 2000 Academy Awards. What Bigger, Longer & Uncut benefits from the most compared to later movies is keeping the focus on Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny. Not every episode needs to star the four boys, but South Park specials should center around them as they’re the reason for the show’s success.