Furry Vengeance (C- or 1.5/4 stars)
'Furry Vengeance' (directed by Roger Kumble) is crap. But, Brendan Fraser throws it ALL out on the line to make us laugh, win us over, & pull the wool over our eyes of just how atrocious this film is. The movie deserves 1.5 stars, if only for Fraser, alone! Seriously, he's balls-to-the-wall crazy here, & I love it.
Fraser stars as Dan Sanders, an ambitious real estate man who moves his reluctant wife, Tammy (Brooke Shields), & teen son, Tyler (Matt Prokop), from NY to Oregon's wilderness to spearhead a housing development project. Driven by blind ambition & a dictatorial boss (Ken Jeong, who annoys me), Dan hopes to build a huge subdivision in an eco-friendly way, but protesters; in the form of local animal population (birds, rabbits, squirrels, etc.), see right through his 'plans'. Led by a very brainy raccoon, the forest creatures band together for an all-out assault on Dan (and only Dan) until he & his boss(es) finally see the wrong that they're doing, stop the development, & realize the environmental consequences of their actions. Can the angsty woodland critters get their beautiful forest back?
You know, the level of humor in 'Furry Vengeance' is geared STRAIGHT to young kids & animal-lovin' old folks. That's why I can't really pan this movie. I do think it will appeal to some people. Sure, it's not funny for 90% of the proceedings, but as mentioned, Brendan Fraser makes the film go down easy. He is just absolutely insane in this movie: pratfalls, gags (getting sprayed by skunks), physical humor (getting sprinkled in the crotch), silly humor, nudity (pouring hot sauce over his body in the tub), stunts (getting caught in a tree), you name it ... he did it ... and with his usual goofball charm. He just throws himself into the role with such reckless abandon that all I can do is applaud his efforts. There is literally NO reason to see this movie other than to see Fraser do his shtick-on-steroids.
Okay, okay, let's see … is there anything else salvageable about 'Furry Vengeance'? Oh, yeah, the CG-animals don't talk. Thank. God. If anyone knows me, they know that I despise talking animals in movies; where their mouths move & human voices come out. So there you have it: feeble humor (that some may appreciate), poor 'special effects', poor writing, no direction to speak of, & a bloated production budget. $35 million for what?!?
Fraser stars as Dan Sanders, an ambitious real estate man who moves his reluctant wife, Tammy (Brooke Shields), & teen son, Tyler (Matt Prokop), from NY to Oregon's wilderness to spearhead a housing development project. Driven by blind ambition & a dictatorial boss (Ken Jeong, who annoys me), Dan hopes to build a huge subdivision in an eco-friendly way, but protesters; in the form of local animal population (birds, rabbits, squirrels, etc.), see right through his 'plans'. Led by a very brainy raccoon, the forest creatures band together for an all-out assault on Dan (and only Dan) until he & his boss(es) finally see the wrong that they're doing, stop the development, & realize the environmental consequences of their actions. Can the angsty woodland critters get their beautiful forest back?
You know, the level of humor in 'Furry Vengeance' is geared STRAIGHT to young kids & animal-lovin' old folks. That's why I can't really pan this movie. I do think it will appeal to some people. Sure, it's not funny for 90% of the proceedings, but as mentioned, Brendan Fraser makes the film go down easy. He is just absolutely insane in this movie: pratfalls, gags (getting sprayed by skunks), physical humor (getting sprinkled in the crotch), silly humor, nudity (pouring hot sauce over his body in the tub), stunts (getting caught in a tree), you name it ... he did it ... and with his usual goofball charm. He just throws himself into the role with such reckless abandon that all I can do is applaud his efforts. There is literally NO reason to see this movie other than to see Fraser do his shtick-on-steroids.
Okay, okay, let's see … is there anything else salvageable about 'Furry Vengeance'? Oh, yeah, the CG-animals don't talk. Thank. God. If anyone knows me, they know that I despise talking animals in movies; where their mouths move & human voices come out. So there you have it: feeble humor (that some may appreciate), poor 'special effects', poor writing, no direction to speak of, & a bloated production budget. $35 million for what?!?