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Before all the George maniacs out there start into me, please let me say that I have never seen a George of the Jungle cartoon. I am told that this live-action film was basically true to the form, except for making Ursula more sympathetic. So, with that in mind, I watched it like a Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon, and found it to be very silly and enjoyable - this is not Beckett, people, this is Brendan Fraser talking with no adjectives or articles while wearing a buttflap (which, for me, was worth the price of admission), and a menagerie of well-executed animals having fun with him.
It was totally silly and tree-smashing, but still had some hip little clever jokes and some predictable jokes that felt familiar *even though I have never seen the cartoon before.* |
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Kids will like it quite a bit despite the mushy stuff (and if the actress playing Ursula and Brendan Fraser did not actually do it at some point I will be very, very surprised.) It's definitely a different movie than A Simple Wish but I think more grownups will like George better. Kudos for a Swahili cover of Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On." |
| John Cleese provides the voice for an ape named Ape, CGI provides the voice for the elephant-dog Shep and there's a great toucan who might be a puppet or might be well-trained (Jim Henson's Creature Shop rides again. ) A cool treehouse, silly villains, funny porters, and an amusing (if pigeonholing) turn by Thomas Haden Church as Lyle, Ursula's obnoxious fiance-to-not-be make this movie even better. |
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| Lovely scenery - and the Hawaiian locations weren't bad either! Did I mention Brendan Fraser was almost naked? It's rare these days (except in a Joel Schumacher film) that the male body gets any feature when there are women to be seen instead, so for you ladies out there sick of Cameron Diaz and Julia Roberts, here are shiny pecs and gluts for ya. |
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Fraser was nice as a simple, sweet jungle boy with the natural artlessness of the wild - very all-around-nice-guy, as he should be. I have actually never seen a Brendan Fraser movie before this one - is that his real voice? It's not brilliant, but it's nice summertime fun - and squeaky clean at that. Grab a bag of popcorn and remember it's not dorky, it's cleverly ironic - at least, Rocky and Bullwinkle are, and it's the same idea. |
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Try a matinee on a hot summer Saturday, with popcorn. Or a soda.
karina |
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