CROCODILE DUNDEE IN LOS ANGELES A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 2001 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): **
Like reheated leftovers, CROCODILE DUNDEE IN LOS ANGELES, the third and hopefully last in the series, has little spice left. There are a few mildly humorous moments, but you've seen it all before. Paul Hogan's fish-out-of-water story was funny the first time out but already tired by its second outing. In its defense, this third episode is at least harmless family fare that just barely earns its PG-rating. You can take your little ones without concern. "No worries," as Crocodile Dundee would say.
Starting and ending in Australia's Walkabout Creek -- population 20 -- the movie lets us observe lots of flora and fauna, especially the colorful fauna. But we quickly leave the outback so that our hero, Mick 'Crocodile' Dundee (Hogan), his long-time live-in girlfriend, Sue Charlton (Linda Kozlowski), and their son can head off for the wilds of Los Angeles, where some really strange creatures live. The best of these is a guy at a bar (George Hamilton) who recommends a coffee enema as a better regimen for the body than health foods. "It's L.A.," the bartender offers in explanation to a dumbstruck Dundee.
Hogan is a likable bloke with dark-tanned, crocodile skin. The intense Australian sun has added a lot of wrinkles since we saw him last. In contrast, blonde, fair-skinned Kozlowski looks like she stays inside, away from the ultraviolet rays. Only an extra 30 pounds or so and some natural aging have changed her.
No Dundee movie would be complete without several knife jokes. The best this time comes when they take the Paramount studio tour. When their tram is "attacked" by a giant anaconda, Dundee sticks his big pocket knife right through the beast's large, mechanical head.
The story's minimal plot concerns a money-losing movie studio that keeps making lamer and lamer sequels of a film (LETHAL AGENT). How's that for far fetched?
CROCODILE DUNDEE IN LOS ANGELES runs 1:35. It is rated PG for some language and brief violence and would be acceptable for all ages.
My son Jeffrey, age 12, gave it ** 1/2, saying that he liked it but that there weren't any high points or low points. ("Mediocre" isn't in his vocabulary yet.)
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