# Mighty Joe Young (1998)

### reviewed by
Nathaniel R. Atcheson

    Mighty Joe Young (1998)

Director: Ron Underwood Cast: Bill Paxton, Charlize Theron, David Paymer, Regina King, Naveen Andrews Screenplay: Mark Rosenthal, Lawrence Konner Producers: Ted Hartley, Tom Jacobson Runtime: US Distribution: Walt Disney Productions Rated PG: action violence, mild language

Copyright 1998 Nathaniel R. Atcheson

Mighty Joe Young blunders about for nearly twenty minutes before we actually get to see a great big gorilla. His entrance, however, is a grand one: out from the trees he leaps, gargantuan and imposing, sporting hands big enough to crush a Volkswagen bug, and a pair of feet much larger than any pro basketball player will ever have. Joe bellows at the poachers before him, angry that they would like to kill him and sell him for millions of dollars. During this scene, I turned to my friend and said, "Wow. That's some ape."

Joe is quite a gorilla -- a big, digital gorilla. He runs around the fields, chasing cars and people. He picks things up and stares at them pensively. He breaks things on accident, because he's just too big to avoid clumsiness. Joe, as a special effect, is an image that might hold your interest for five minutes. As a character, he doesn't quite register. And the story he's been put in is as limp as they come. The words "Family Entertainment" have never been a stamp of quality, but Might Joe Young is just a silly special effects movie pretending to have a heart.

The picture is a remake of the 1949 film. It's mostly just about the big gorilla, but, strictly as a formality, the movie also has a few human characters. The main one is Jill Young (poor Charlize Theron, forced to waste her talent), a lover of gorillas. As a child, she witnessed a group of poachers murder her mother; now, she lives in the jungle to protect the wildlife. Specifically, she's out to protect Joe, a giant gorilla who has been her friend since her childhood.

Soon, zoologist Gregg O'Hara (Bill Paxton) discovers Joe; he quickly realizes that poachers want to get Joe and sell him to a big game hunter named Strasser (Rade Sherbedgia), who just happens to be the same guy who killed Jill's mother. So, in an effort to save Joe, Jill and Gregg take the big gorilla to a preserve, where it is instantly clear that he is not safe from poachers. In addition, the space is way too small for him (after all, he is a really big gorilla). And, to add to the complications, Strasser shows up under a benevolent pretext (he tells Jill that he has a preserve big enough for Joe), and Joe recognizes Strasser as the guy who killed Jill's mother.

Jill, of course, doesn't recognize Strasser, even though he did kill her mother. This is just one of the many examples of stupidity in Mighty Joe Young, a film that fulfills every stereotype that comes with a Special Effects Film. The movie isn't really offensive -- it has some competent actors, a few nifty sets, and a lot of scenes with a big, digitized gorilla. But the story is really dumb, there aren't any characters, and the film isn't satisfying on any level beyond its visuals.

The movie also has bad dialogue. If a critic says that a film has bad dialogue, it's only fair to quote some of it, but most of the words spoken in this picture are phrases like "Joe isn't happy!" and "Joe isn't safe here!" "We need to get Joe out of here!" "Joe is way too big for that cage!" I don't know if these phrases are word for word, but they're close. As I said, the characters here are only present as a formality: they do little more than state the obvious (of *course* Joe is too big for that cage). Paxton and Theron are talented performers who deserve to work on a script that provides characters for them. Sadly, Mighty Joe Young wastes them both.

There are a few clever moments (although none of them are surfacing in my memory at the moment), and, as I said, the digital effects held my attention for at least five minutes. It's certainly not a bad film for kids; I doubt Joe will give them nightmares. But adults in the audience aren't likely to find much of anything interesting about the big gorilla. A big gorilla is only interesting for a little while; after that, something needs to be done with the big gorilla. Nobody ever figures out what to do with the big gorilla.

    Psychosis Rating: 4/10

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               Nathaniel R. Atcheson

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