THE ABSENT-MINDED PROFESSOR
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1998 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): ** 1/2
As Disney's 1961 film THE ABSENT-MINDED PROFESSOR opens, the two questions are whether the professor will "solve the mysteries of the universe" and whether he will forget his wedding for the third time, the former being the more likely of the two. Despite a series of wedding-reminder signs being posted in front of his face by his housekeeper, Mrs. Chatsworth (played with complete seriousness by Belle Montrose), it seems pretty obvious that he will not get to the church on time.
Disney's recent movie called FLUBBER -- an underrated film that critics, except me, generally loathed but kids loved -- is a remake of THE ABSENT-MINDED PROFESSOR starring Fred MacMurray as Professor Ned Brainard. After seeing and liking Robin Williams in FLUBBER, our family decided to check out the original.
The original's simple humor looks remarkably tired compared with the story's energetic and much more inventive remake. Moreover, the performances in the original, except those of Fred MacMurray and Keenan Wynn, as the villain Alonzo Hawk, are wooden. The professor's intended, Nancy Olson, for example, is played lethargically by Betsy Carlisle in the original. And although MacMurray did a fine job, Williams brought much more to the role.
The professor has a very expressive dog named Charlie, who can speak volumes without a single bark just in the way he raises his ears. Then again, WEEBO, the professor's companion in the remake outclasses poor Charlie and garners an order of magnitude more laughs.
The basis of the story is that the professor invents flying rubber, which he calls "flubber." The question confronting the professor, and the script writers, is "What can you do with flubber?" In both film versions, the substance is used in a basketball game and as an alternative fuel for the professor's car. In the original the professor and Charlie go soaring into a bank of cumulus clouds, which looks especially handsome in the film's black and white cinematography.
John Hughes did the script for FLUBBER, based on the original script by Bill Walsh and the book by Samuel W. Taylor. In the remake they simply find many more imaginative and comical things to do with flubber, not the least of which is a magical, synchronized dance number. Even the parts that are the same in the two versions are so much more realistic, funny, and involving in FLUBBER. Even the simplest things are done particularly poorly in the original. The sounds effects during the big basketball game sound less like a real crowd than a swarm of droning bees.
The talky comedy has less humor than it should and relatively few sight gags, amazing given the possibilities of flying rubber. The romance and chemistry between the two leads are close to non-existent.
The visuals of the flying tin lizzie are sweet, and the ending, where they finally put the bad guy in his place, does have the imagination that the rest of the picture too often lacks. Although it is a genuinely charming comedy, THE ABSENT-MINDED PROFESSOR is that rare original movie that made me yearn for its remake.
THE ABSENT-MINDED PROFESSOR runs 1:37. It is not rated, but would be a G and is suitable for all ages.
My son Jeffrey, age 8, thoughts it was a "really good movie." He gave it ***, and said he thought it was tied with FLUBBER. He went on to comment that he liked the way that neither version was bloody.
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