PAULIE
Release Date: April 17, 1998 Starring: Jay Mohr, Tony Shalhoub, Gena Rowlands, Cheech Marin, Bruce Davison, Trini Alvarado, Hallie Kate Eisenberg Directed by: John Roberts Distributed by: DreamWorks Pictures MPAA Rating: PG (brief mild language) URL: http://www.execpc.com/~kinnopio/reviews/1998/paulie.htm
After a while, although probably inconspicuous to the target audience, movies with animal protagonists gain a campy or hokey aura as a genre. (It may be interesting to note that, for some reason, an animated animal can talk and no one bats an eye; but if a live animal mouths anything more than 'Polly want a cracker,' it becomes unrealistic and unacceptable.) Perhaps it's the inability for a human audience over the age of ten to root for a protagonist that isn't of the same species, or perhaps it's the ability to more readily point out the shortcomings of a film that has little respect for physical reality. Whatever the case, Paulie has a tough audience to win over.
Sure, most kids whose age has not yet broken double digits will want to pay to see Paulie. What's not to like? The bird fires off jokes like an assault weapon fires bullets: rapidly, but hardly with good aim. His voice, done by Jay Mohr (Jerry Maguire), has that annoying little twang to it that gives him his cocky air. The Jay Mohr we see onscreen, similarly, plays a brainless petty thief named Benny. Benny uses the intelligent bird to aid his career, but at the first sign of trouble, abandons the creature to the ownership of a laboratory testing facility. None of the characters show much smarts, including the kindly old Ivy (two-time Academy Award nominee Gena Rowlands), and the only one to make an intelligent decision is the good-hearted Misha (Tony Shalhoub). Unfortunately, he's a janitor. Who likes janitors?
The movie follows the life of Paulie, from his "birth" as a gift to the child Marie (Hallie Kate Eisenberg) to his reunion with her (now played by Trini Alvarado) a good many years later. (Should I have called a spoiler there? Isn't it painfully obvious, in these movies, that the animal always makes it back?) Although sold off by Marie's father (Matt Craven) early on, Paulie survives on his own. Pawned off by a guitarist, taken cross country by Ivy, hired by Ignacio (Cheech Marin) the taco man, picked up by Benny, and finally given to Dr. Reingold (Bruce Davison), Paulie comes to be locked away in the basement of the laboratory, where he meets Misha. He tells the Russian janitor of his life, and soon the man takes pity on him.
You have to be in a Lassie Come Home sort of mood to see Paulie with any sort of plausibility. Some of the jokes the parrot makes might be funny to the adult crowd, but the maturity level isn't that high. This movie is good as the product it's intended to be, and from a child's point of view it's most likely highly entertaining. Unfortunately, I can't comment with any expertise there, and so any outstanding qualities lose value in the translation. Not recommendable, but good if there's nothing else to see and you're dying to spend seven bucks.
FINAL AWARD FOR "PAULIE": 2.0 stars - a fair movie.
-- Craig Roush kinnopio@execpc.com -- Kinnopio's Movie Reviews http://www.execpc.com/~kinnopio
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