Puppet love lives in Paramount's "Team America: World Police," though the film's creators have had to trim back the movie's puppet sex.

According to Paramount Motion Picture Group vice chairman Rob Friedman, filmmakers Matt Stone and Trey Parker received an R rating Tuesday for their political satire that features a cast of marionettes.

The rating comes after a drawn-out battle with the MPAA's ratings board over a scene that depicts simulated sex between puppets. The board initially gave the film, which centers on an international police force fighting global terrorism, an NC-17 rating.

But because of contractual obligations that require the filmmakers to deliver an R-rated product to Paramount, the production team submitted the scene with various alterations to the board 10 times before it agreed to an R rating.

The sex scene, which shows a male puppet simulating oral sex, has been trimmed, though Friedman would not give details as to what was cut to achieve the pared-down rating. The R rating will be accompanied by an MPAA explanation citing "graphic, crude and sexual humor, violent images and strong language all involving puppets."

Paramount was under pressure to solve the ratings question because it plans to screen the film in 800 theaters this weekend as part of a national sneak preview. The studio faced a deadline today for placing ads in newspapers nationwide to advertise the sneaks.

Without the R rating, Paramount would have been forced to pull the sneaks from their scheduled dates.

The film goes into national release Oct. 15.