PAULIE (1998)
Rating: 3.0 stars (out of 4.0) ******************************** Key to rating system: 2.0 stars - Debatable 2.5 stars - Some people may like it 3.0 stars - I liked it 3.5 stars - I am biased in favor of the movie 4.0 stars - I felt the movie's impact personally or it stood out ********************************* A Movie Review by David Sunga
Directed by: John Roberts
Written by: Laurie Craig
Starring: Jay Mohr, Hallie Kate Eisenberg, Tony Shalhoub, Cheech Marin, Trini Alvarado
Ingredients: lost parrot trying to get home, friends
Synopsis: A Russian janitor named Misha (Tony Shalhoub) discovers a little old parrot languishing in the basement of a science research facility. "Paulie the talking parrot" (the voice of Jay Mohr) soon regales Misha with his life story.
As a young bird Paulie is raised by Marie (Hallie Kate Eisenberg ), a little girl with a speech impediment. By attending Marie's speech lessons, Paulie learns to act/speak like a regular person. Unfortunately, after being unfairly blamed for an accident, Paulie is taken to a pawn shop and sold.
Paulie's biggest wish is to return to Marie. Many years later, and after a succession of memorable owners (Gena Rowlands, Cheech Marin, and Jay Mohr), Paulie falls in with a bad crowd and is apprehended in Los Angeles trying to steal jewelry. He is sent to a cruel research facility, where he refuses to participate and is imprisoned the basement.
Will Misha help Paulie get back to Marie?
Opinion: Every time people watch movies that portray animals as beings with cute human personalities, some well-meaning audience members go out next Christmas or birthday and buy a Dalmatian or whatever creature is currently popular. Soon enough, "birthday kid" loses interest and the purchased pup ends up at the local pound, a victim of neglect.
My sister owns a real PAULIE: it thinks like a parrot, bites like a parrot, and requires as much attention as a newborn human infant. Please think twice before buying one.
Okay. Back to the story. In movies, parrots usually play support characters, but PAULIE might be the first movie where the (animatronic) bird gets main billing. Paulie, like those side characters in Disney cartoons, is cute and sassy, a strutting, miniature human. Actually, Paulie is the voice of Jay Mohr (he played Jennifer Aniston's boyfriend on PICTURE PERFECT) doing his best Buddy Hackett impression (which is interesting, since Hackett himself cameos as the pawn shop owner, and Mohr doubles as a customer).
PAULIE is for kids. While watching PAULIE you hear little tykes in the theater laughing hysterically when Paulie calls the cat a "stupid furball." Sometimes, however, there are statements the kids don't get. For example, when Paulie's elderly owner Ivy (Gena Rowlands) dies, Paulie explains, "Well, one day, the cat got her." And you hear kids exclaim, "What cat?!"
Imagine LASSIE COME HOME, except with a doll-sized human dressed as a bird, and you'll have a good idea of the plot and characterization. Bird tries to get home. Bird meets elderly friend. Bird loses elderly friend. Bird meets eccentric friend. Bird loses eccentric friend. Bird meets bad influence. And so on and so forth, with Paulie meeting friends and saying goodbye at a meandering pace until he finally makes it back to Marie (Trini Alvarado).
The bottom line? Break out the popcorn money, Moms and Dads. PAULIE may be the low end version of LASSIE, BAMBI, or BABE, but he'll do. Sometimes the wisecracks go over their heads, but I'm sure youngsters can appreciate a story about a little person (Paulie) trying to get home, meeting friends and experiencing moral lessons on the way.
And good luck explaining what it means when Paulie says of Ivy, "Well, one day, the cat got her."
Reviewed by David Sunga April 22, 1998
Copyright © 1998 by David Sunga This review and others like it can be found at THE CRITIC ZOO: http://www.criticzoo.com email: zookeeper@criticzoo.com
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