(out of ****)
_Dudley_Do-Right_ (PG) no stars
_Inspector_Gadget_ (PG) no stars
When will Hollywood learn that successful animated concepts just don't cut it when translated to flesh-and blood life? That is most certainly the case with _Dudley_Do-Right_--or, should I say, _Deadly_Do-Wrong_. After the inexplicable box office success of the horrible _George_of_the_Jungle_, it must've seemed like a good idea to have _George_ star Brendan Fraser tackle another Jay Ward cartoon character, the bumbling Canadian mountie and sworn enemy of the dastardly Snidley Whiplash (Alfred Molina). But if there's any justice in the world, the fluke financial success of _George_ will not be duplicated, for this excrutiatingly unfunny test of patience is even worse than that awful film. Writer-director Hugh Wilson's (who last teamed with Fraser earlier this year in _Blast_from_the_Past_) idea of comedy is having Dudley wear a moose head and get repeatedly hit by his cabin's loose floorboards. If you're with Wilson and are sent rolling on the floor by those gags, by all means, go to the film. Everyone else would be wise to just watch the new _Fractured_Fairy_Tale_ animated short that precedes the film... when the film hits video.
The other live-action cartoon adaptation of the summer, _Inspector_Gadget_, is indeed better, but only in the sense of what a severe migraine is to a heavy blow to the head: not as damaging, but still painful as all hell. Matthew Broderick plays the cop outfitted with various mechanical gizmos to defeat the evil Claw (Rupert Everett, cashing a paycheck) in this effects-laden, fast-paced film. The problem, though, is that the film is simply too fast-paced--a loud, hyperactively acted, directed, and edited exercise in sensory overkill that calls out for a lethal dose of Ritalin. That none of the 80 or so minutes in the film isn't slightly funny doesn't help--it just makes you reach for more Excedrin.
Michael Dequina twotrey@juno.com | michael_jordan@geocities.com | jordan_host@sportsmail.com | mrbrown@iname.com Mr. Brown's Movie Site: http://welcome.to/mrbrown CompuServe Hollywood Hotline: http://www.HollywoodHotline.com on ICQ: #25289934 | on AOL Instant Messenger: MrBrown23
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