DUDLEY DO-RIGHT A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 1999 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): **
Sequel. Remake. Adaptation.
Choose one of the above and hire a bankable star. This tired formula is the essence of many studios' conservative approach to filmmaking. The predictably bland results may not excite audiences, but the risk of financial failure is greatly diminished. If enough people like the star and know the story, they will come, no matter how lame the production and how mediocre the reviews.
Thus it is with Universal's DUDLEY DO-RIGHT, a live-action adaptation of the old kids' television cartoon. Starring Brendan Fraser as Dudley Do-Right, a Royal Canadian Mountie who is one of the world's stupidest cops, the movie proves that some cartoons are hard to adapt to live-action. The grown-ups in DUDLEY DO-RIGHT just end up looking embarrassingly silly and are only sporadically funny. The slapstick humor is heavy on falling-down jokes. Writer and director Hugh Wilson believes that, if having Dudley fall out of his chair once can generate a few laughs, just have him do it again. Ditto for the loose floorboards that keep hitting him in the face.
The plot involves suspicion of vampires, wealthy Indians who run a lavish dinner show and, most of all, a Canadian gold rush that has "Yuppie wetbacks" storming across the Canadian border to get in on the action.
Alfred Molina in a by-the-numbers performance plays Snidely Whiplash, an arch villain and Dudley's long-time nemesis. Sarah Jessica Parker brings nothing to her role as Nell Fenwick, Dudley's girlfriend since childhood.
Although Fraser has some nice moments, the only consistently enjoyable performance is that by Corey Burton who does the off-screen voice of the announcer. Even so, his lines would work much better were the movie animated. "Though she had traveled far and wide, Nell had never heard a confession of love before from a moose," the announcer tells us after a moose head falls onto Dudley's shoulders as he professes love for his Nell.
"Not since their all-male revival of 'Little Women' had the Kumquat Nation faced such a hostile reaction," the announcer explains when the Indians run into a spot of trouble. (In a bow to political correctness, the Indians explain at the end that they weren't really Indians after all.)
Among the few enjoyable parts of the movie is an Indian dance extravaganza that looks like a River Dance sequence as choreographed by Busby Berkeley. Another nice section has Snidely becoming the hero of the local inhabitants after he transforms their sleepy little village into a lucrative, gold rush boomtown. Finally, in a high-spirited dance number, Fraser shows, as he did in BLAST FROM THE PAST, that he can really cut a rug.
"All you have to do is find 599 of the stupidest criminals around and everything will fall into place," Snidely says about his criminal plans. The movie takes a similarly simplistic approach. Dudley's horse, whose name is Horse, best summarizes the result. After the movie is over, Horse's head appears through the screen as he sticks out his tongue to give it raspberries. My sentiments exactly.
DUDLEY DO-RIGHT runs just 1:15. It is rated PG for mild comic action violence and for brief language and innuendo. It would be fine for most kids.
My son Jeffrey, age 10, who gave the move ** 1/2, said, "even though I didn't laugh, I thought it was kind of funny." (How's that for tepid praise?)
Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com
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