MIGHTY JOE YOUNG (1998) * 1/2 (out of four)
-a review by Bill Chambers ( wchamber@netcom.ca )
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starring Charlize Theron, Bill Paxton, David Paymer, Rade Serbedzija
screenplay by Lawrence M. Konner & Mark Rosenthal
directed by Ron Underwood
The most absurd remake of 1998? It's a toss up between Gus Van Sant's Psycho and Mighty Joe Young, the new Disney picture based on the old RKO picture. (I knew I was in trouble when a polished, computer-generated version of that famous RKO logo appeared before the head credits.) There is no great demand for another giant ape movie-make that ape movie, period. (Witness the quick deaths of Buddy, Born To Be Wild and Congo.) And while this latest entry is inoffensive and watchable, it's also an assembly line product through and through, lacking the charm and unpredictability of the jungle serials that partly inspired it.
Theron is Jill Young: as a young girl in the wilds of Africa, she befriended a baby gorilla after both their mothers were slain by poachers. That baby gorilla (nicknamed Joe) grows to immense proportions, and adult Jill basically bides her time looking after him, playing hide and seek with him and guarding him against poachers. Enter conservationist Greg (Paxton), who convinces Jill to move with Joe to California, where they can protect him better in a controlled environment. Joe is restless at first; no sooner does he finally settle in to the new place than those nasty poachers show up in L.A., plotting Joe's demise. Suffice it to say, the movie could have been called "Joe: Ape In The City."
Theron (so good in Devil's Advocate) and Paxton (so good in the recent A Simple Plan) are fine actors, but not fine enough to transcend the material, a paint-by-numbers script from the hack writers of Superman IV and Mercury Rising. The plot arguably borrows more from Steven Spielberg's The Lost World than the 1949 original, with the computer-generated T-Rex-I mean, Joe-wreaking havoc on the busy streets for an encore; the storytelling becomes especially lazy during this final third, with Jill shouting, "Look, Joe's headed for the movie theatre!" followed by a shot of Joe scaling Mann's Chinese Theater; a moment later, Jill shouts again something like "Look, Joe's headed for an amusement park!" And what do you know, there's Joe at the Pallisades carnival, scaring the bejesus out of innocent thrillseekers.
The seams of last-minute edits to Mighty Joe Young show-unrelated scenes are patched together with quick dissolves. The movie sure feels uneven, regardless: act two is underdeveloped, while a little of Joe smashing cars in act three goes a long, long way. Underwood (Tremors, Speechless) was perhaps not the director for the job; even the plentiful, untamed landscape looks dull in his hands. (Capturing the beauty of nature requires more than his point and shoot style.)
I did enjoy certain sequences, especially the demoliton of a black-tie dinner sequence; and the prologue, however implausible, is touching. (As a tyke, Joe acts just like E.T.) Rick Baker's make-up effects and puppetry are outstanding, the real star of the show-yet, for all its technical flawlessness, the creature remains too grumpy and homicidal to love. (His facial expressions are variations on a scowl.) To be fair, I saw Mighty Joe Young in a cinema packed with wailing children-it's a wonder I was able to decipher the dialogue. It's certainly not a film for very young kids-intense fighting scenes may scare them, while any time Joe's not on camera may bore them to tears. (Note: older boys are more likely to be dazzled by Theron's colourful array of tank tops.) I suspect bland Mighty Joe Young is passable entertainment for a family outing, but they sure don't make ‘em like they used to.
-December, 1998
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