Although animated films aimed at kids have been successful for some time now, live-action films with a similar target audience have been met with varying degrees of acceptance. For every "Home Alone," there are plenty of movies such as "That Darn Cat" and "Meet the Deedles" that never caught on. Perhaps sensing that Saturday morning programming would be a good place to mine potential hits, Hollywood has started excavating old cartoon shows.
With the success of 1997's "George of the Jungle" and this year's "Inspector Gadget," live-action kids films are suddenly making a comeback. With rumors of "Scooby Doo" and even "Lancelot Link" -- the 1970 simian version of "Get Smart" -- reportedly being somewhere in preproduction, don't be surprised if sometime in the future we're "treated" to big screen versions of "H.R. Pufnstuf" or "Josie and the Pussycats."
Until then, we'll have to contend with the latest such incarnation, "Dudley Do-Right." Excuse me, I meant to say "Dudley Do-Wrong" because this misguided feature doesn't have much, if anything, "right" going for it. Based on Jay Ward's animated shorts that used to appear in the old "Rocky and Bullwinkle" show -- and occasionally featured the Canadian Mountie rescuing a tied- up damsel from the villain and an approaching train -- the film is another one of those "should've left it alone" projects.
Although it attempts to emulate part of what made "George" so entertaining and popular -- and notwithstanding that imitation is, as they say, one of those good forms of flattery -- this picture, as written and directed by Hugh Wilson ("Blast From the Past," "The First Wives Club"), falls flat on its cinematic face. Whereas that Tarzan-inspired film, also based on a former Ward TV cartoon, managed to near perfectly capture the zany, if stupid antics of its animated predecessor, this one comes off just as lamebrained and inane.
It doesn't take a brain surgeon to realize this isn't meant to be high comedy or that too closely following the true spirit of a cartoon is risky business at best, but did anyone associated with this project -- particularly Wilson -- take the time to read what appeared in the script? To be as polite as possible, the story stinks. It also further demonstrates that attempting to turn any sort of short bit of entertainment -- be it a cartoon or most any "Saturday Night Live" skit -- into a full length movie is a difficult, if not impossible task.
Like many kid oriented films, this one includes the obligatory slapstick style mayhem (such as a guy getting hit in the crotch) and scatological humor (farting sounds & bird excrement). To be fair, such material did elicit some laughs from the kids at our screening. Yet one must remember that kids aren't too discerning about what makes them laugh. Regardless of that, in the end such moments aren't that plentiful here and quite often the sound of restless viewers filled our theater -- and that wasn't just the kids.
To its credit, the film does try -- at least on a theoretical level -- to entertain adults as well, much like "George of the Jungle" did. Nonetheless, such efforts are abysmal. While this film similarly uses the ever-present narrator who injects "humor" into the proceedings and even interacts with the onscreen characters -- an element that worked well in that previous film -- few if any of such instances are funny here.
Even the moments that might elicit a chuckle or two from the audience -- a TV announcer reporting that Canadian bacon is really just ham -- are few and far between while others -- such as a briefly amusing American-Indian takeoff of the Riverdance phenomenon -- run on way too long after the humor has all but evaporated (and that particular one is painfully revisited once more later in the film).
The same holds true for a dream sequence where Dudley finds his lost horse and runs toward him in slow motion as the song "Reunited" plays, and plays, and plays... and a motorcycle chase sequence through the woods that similarly appears for no apparent good reason or result.
Unlike in "George," the performances here don't help matters much. Brendan Fraser ("The Mummy," "Gods and Monsters"), who successfully and enjoyably embodied the title character of that other film but is now in danger of being typecast in stupid, live-action remakes of cartoon characters, is as flat as the film. Although the character probably isn't that far off from his animated cousin, what works in a cartoon doesn't translate well onto the live, big screen.
As Dudley's arch nemesis, Alfred Molina ("Boogie Nights," "The Impostors"), has the look just right -- the black top hat and handlebar mustache -- but that can't overcome his flat and weakly written character. The same holds true -- actually even more so -- for Sarah Jessica Parker ("Honeymoon in Vegas," "LA Story") as the flighty blond who should have been the damsel in distress, but never gets the opportunity.
Former Monty Python member Eric Idle is yet again wasted in a role that doesn't take advantage of his now long dormant comedic skills, while Alex Rocco ("The Godfather," "Get Shorty") appears as an American-Indian caricature that had presumably last been seen several decades ago, but alas, has been resurrected here -- not surprisingly without humorous results.
To make matters worse, the film follows a new version of those old "Fractured Fairy Tales" that also appeared on the original "Rocky & Bullwinkle" show. Named "the Phox, The Box & The Lox," it's far superior in every aspect -- and fortunately runs far shorter -- than the lumbering piece of schlock that unfortunately follows it. If you happen to be coerced into seeing "Dudley," make sure you get as much enjoyment out of that cartoon that precedes it, for you'll be in for a painful and torturous ride after that. We give "Dudley Do-Right" a weak 1 out of 10.