\Family Guy"" would not exist today without the advent of DVD. So it feels fitting for creator Seth MacFarlane to release ""Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story"" directly to DVD as a way of rewarding fans.
To further reward fans, MacFarlane chose some of his best writers to piece together the story in three parts. However, this approach makes the resulting product come out feeling disjointed and awkward.
It seems the project was approached like a game of telephone. The first team wrote one story, while a separate team wrote a connecting follow-up, and a third team tried tacking their plot onto the rest.
These stories can be hysterical by themselves, but when cut and pasted together as they are, it creates a dizzying effect that leaves viewers in need of a bathroom break. Leaving a desire for plot, continuity or premise at the door is advised. In a 30-minute episode such desires can be dismissed, but it is surprisingly hard to abide a ""Family Guy"" feature that runs over an hour and a half.
For the avid fan, this DVD is a must. Like any other ""Family Guy"" DVD, ""Untold Story"" can stay in the player on repeat, providing constant bits of inane, insane jokes. The newly initiated might want to become highly inebriated before tackling this movie. This viewing aid might erase any lingering effects from the lack of continuity.
MacFarlane touts ""Untold Story"" as a feature-length equal to ""Family Guy"" episodes ""Road to Rhode Island"" or ""Road to Europe."" These popular episodes centered on the infamous infant evil genius Stewie and the well-read alcoholic dog Brian.
While this formula has worked quite well in the past, ""The Untold Story"" fails to make use of this strong combination in an effective fashion. The triple threat combination of writing teams dices up the Stewie/Brian relationship so thinly that it feels like an affront to the aforementioned episodes, with its poor treatment of the characters.
However, there is laughter to be had in ""Untold Story."" Plots involving Peter taking a job alongside news anchor Tom Tucker and Chris working as a police officer 30 years in the future are hilarious. Many token characters from the series make an appearance in this feature-the evil monkey, the greased-up-deaf-guy, the early 20th century circus weight lifting team, Big Fat Paulie, the Kool-Aid jug and the list goes on.
For fans, ""Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story,"" should provide a hilarious ""Family Guy"" romp. While it is no ""Road to Rhode Island,"" and feels somewhat disjointed in nature, the jokes that hit, hit hard.
