New Casa Bonita Documentary Looks Inside the Renovation Nightmare
The new documentary ¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor! takes viewers inside Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s renovation nightmare and gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the South Park creators’ restoration of the iconic Denver Mexican restaurant.
Sometimes a documentary can feel like you’re watching your own home movies. The subject matter is so familiar that it’s like the filmmakers grabbed clips right from the camera roll on your phone.
As someone from Colorado who’s a huge fan of South Park and who remembers Casa Bonita before the renovations, that’s what I felt like watching the new documentary ¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!
For those who don’t know, Casa Bonita is an iconic Denver restaurant/theme park experience built in the 1970s and made famous in a 2003 episode of South Park. In the episode, Cartman is willing to betray his friends, commit felonies, and face a month in juvenile hall for a chance to experience the magic of Casa Bonita. The landmark also played a big part in South Park: The Fractured But Whole, which featured a DLC adventure set entirely in the restaurant.
Most people outside Colorado thought the restaurant was a creation of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, something they made up for the show, but those of us who grew up here know the legend of Casa Bonita.
For a long time, Casa Bonita was the preferred birthday destination for kids from all corners of Colorado. A giant Mexican restaurant that offered puppet shows, a cast of wacky characters including a gorilla (for some reason), and a waterfall with cliff divers was pretty irresistible for elementary school kids in Colorado. It was like our own little local Disneyland.
But over the past couple of decades, Casa Bonita fell on hard times. The food was notoriously gross, the place was dirty, everything felt dangerous and not up to code, and in 2021 the owners declared bankruptcy.
Thankfully, Parker and Stone heeded the call to save the iconic restaurant, purchasing it and vowing to restore it to its former glory.
Little did they know the massive shitshow they would be facing.
In ¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor! we watch as a project they thought would only require a little clean-up and a few LED lights balloons into a $40 million nightmare.
I was lucky enough to visit Casa Bonita both before and after their renovation and the love and dedication they’ve put into the restoration is visible in every inch of that place.
Watching the documentary gave me even more appreciation for the time, the work, and the money that went into it.
It was like watching a little piece of our own Colorado history to see footage and photos from when the restaurant opened in the 1970s all the way through scenes of Trey roaming the floor and trying to decide on little tweaks to improve the experiences for audiences today.
So if you have any interest in South Park, in Trey Parker and Matt Stone, or if you’re from Colorado and you remember Casa Bonita before it was fixed up, do not miss this documentary.
