The Best Super Bowl Commercials of 2007

What do an ax wielding maniac, two gorillas and a dalmatian have in common? They are just a few of the cast members of some of the best Super Bowl commercials of 2007. In case you watched Super Bowl XLI for something other than the super expensive commercials, here's a review of some of the best of the best for 2007.

The best Super Bowl commercials of 2007 included the usual hilarious entries as well as a couple of sentimental tear-jerkers. But do any have the stuff to unseat all time favorites such as Coca-Cola's Mean Joe Green commercial, which touched the hearts of millions of Super Bowl viewers in 1980 or the infamous GoDaddy.com commercial, which shocked and titillated 2005 Super Bowl viewers when the GoDaddy.com girl nearly lost her top? Will any of this year's commercials match the hilarity of Budweiser's 2006 streaking lamb? We'll take a look at each of the best Super Bowl commercials for 2007 below, but follow the links to review each of the Super Bowl XLI commercials best of the best for yourself, and you be the judge.

The Funny Ones

Bud Light's Rock, Paper, Scissors ad was a cute homage to a childhood classic game with a hilarious payoff. (Click here to watch the ad) The ad opens with guys reaching for the last Bud Light. How will they decide who gets it? Why, they will play Rock, Paper, Scissors, of course! The payoff comes when they "shoot" their entries in the game, and one of the guys hits the floor, literally. "I threw paper," he moans. "I threw a rock," the other guy shrugs as he walks away with the Bud Light. He threw a real rock. This was a simple and hilarious ad that worked well. Bud Light's Hitchker ad was another one of their great entries in this year's Super Bowl as an hilarious homage to horror movies. (Click here to watch the ad)

Then there was the controversial Snicker's Kiss ad. (Click here to watch the ad) Two grease monkey accidentally kiss while chewing on either end of a Snickers bar. Never fear! They save themselves by "doing something manly," and ripping out their chest hair. It is weird and unappealing, but funny and definitely controversial enough to be Monday morning water cooler fodder.

The Animals

The Blockbuster Mouse ad took an easy play on words to a new level. (Click here to watch the ad) A bunny, a gerbil and a mouse are in a pet and shop and want to get online to rent a movie. So naturally, they use the mouse as a mouse! It doesn't work of course. But the mouse really objects when they think the answer to their problems is to plug the mouse in. The hook here is the cleverly animated talking animals. It's a clever concept paired with an ever favorite animation technique. Good job, Blockbuster!

The Budweiser Fake Dalmatian ad was the sentimental tear-jerker entry of the bunch. (Click here to watch the ad) A down and out dog just can't get a break until he is splashed with mud, leaving him covered in spots. He realizes that this makes him look like the Dalmatian riding high and mighty in the parade. So, he is able to join in the celebration. It is a very sweet feel good moment. This is a well-down add by Budweiser that projects the values of its brand image.

The Bud Light Gorillas ad employed cleverly animated Gorillas in a humorous ad premise. (Click here to watch the ad) The Gorillas, stuck in the zoo, hatch a plan to steal some Bud Light. But, the one Gorilla gets distracted by the lady taking his picture, so he totally misses his opportunity to go for the beer! In fact, he's so busy hamming it up for the camera, he doesn't even remember what he was supposed to do.

The Amateur Entries

Advertisers also had a clever ploy this year by holding contests to allow amateurs to write Super Bowl commercials of their own. This was a great idea on the part of advertisers because it generated a lot of publicity from people who were interested to see who won and what their commercials were like, capitalizing on the popular reality TV genre. There was the Doritos Crash the Super Bowl commercial where a handsome young man sees a lovely young lady and their antics are illustrated by words used to describe Doritos. Cheesy, as the young man grins at the lady. Crunchy, as crash his car and smashed his head into his Doritos! Bold, as the lady runs to his rescue. You get the picture. (Click here to watch the ad)

Another Doritos Crash the Super Bowl ad, The Checkout Girl, was also hilarious! (Click here to watch the ad) The decidedly unattractive checkout girl comes on to her patron in an increasingly strong fashion as she rings up his Doritos. "Oh...Salsa Verde...Blazing Buffalo Ranch? Giddy Up!" And then, the unthinkable. A tousled checkout girl emerges from below her register asking for a cleanup on register six. This was a great comedic payoff! The commercial had a good concept because it integrated many of the Doritos product names and had a great comedic payoff at the end.

Can These Ads Unseat Our Favorites

This year's ads had the normal array of humor filled moment mixed in with some sentimental moments. There was some great animation as well as the clever concept employed by allowing amateurs to participate with their entries. However, even out of the best of the best, there doesn't seem to be that great ad that will stand the test of time like Coca-Cola's Mean Joe Green ad. Hear that, Madison Avenue? It's back to the drawing board for next year. Or, maybe you there, in your living room. Will you be the next amateur to hit it big with a Super Bowl ad next year?