George of the Jungle (1997) Rating: *** out of ***** Starring: Brendan Fraser, Leslie Mann, Thomas Haden Church, voice of John Cleese. Screenplay by Dana Olsen and Audrey Wells. Directed by Sam Weisman. Rated: PG
Call me a sucker for cheesy movies that admit their intentions from the very beginning. Ever since the trailers for this movie were released, no one could deny this movie was going to be the mecca of cheese. Let's just say the movie delivers.
Almost a faithful translation of the original cartoon, replete with a new rendition of the "George" theme by the Presidents of the United States of America" and our good old faithful narrator, "George of the Jungle" offers up the "so bad it's good" tradition of film-making.
The cast gives the usual cardboard performances common to most slapstick children's films, especially Fraser who pulls a Keanu as George by not really altering his voice to match his wild upbringing, but on the whole the movie entertains. Fart jokes are not my style, though, and the last fifteen minutes seem to be crammed with this type of humor. Only one scene, involving yet another of my pet peeves: the face in the fecal matter, actually comes off as being one of the better scenes in the film, if not only for the scene that directly appears afterward.
Dana Olsen and Audrey Wells know their comedy fairly well, but their best writing actually comes out of the relationship between Ursula and her best friend (Kelly Miller). One almost longs to see a movie exclusively about the two of them because the scenes with them seem to ring the truest.
The rest of the cast is rounded out by Thomas Haden Church (Wings, Ned and Stacey) as the jerk boyfriend of Ursula who has a run in with the local African law, John Cleese (A Fish Called Wanda, Monty Python and the Holy Grail) as the voice of the ultra-intelligent Ape who must disguise his true nature whenever Ursula is around, and Greg Cruttwell (2 Days in the Valley) and Abraham Benrubi (Kubiack from Parker Lewis Can't Lose) as a pair of bumbling hunters out to find the mysterious "White Ape".
Be sure to stick around several minutes into the credits to catch a rendition of "My Way" you won't soon forget.
Reviewed by: Brian Matherly (jbmath@worldnet.att.net)
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