Mamma mi sono persa il fratellino!

I was looking for Scarlett Johansson movies that I haven't watched and came across this one streaming on U-tube. It in general deserves its low rating, it isn't a particularly good movie, but it doesn't deserve the approximately 25% votes of "1" in the IMDb. I'd suggest "4" or "5" is more appropriate. It does have some redeeming qualities and seems mostly to be a kids' movie.

This came out right after her break-out role in "The Horse Whisperer", and of course now in 2023 we can look back at the large number of feature roles she has had. She has become a genuine movie star. So it was fun seeing her when she was about 14.

Her family lives in the L. A. area, she has a very annoying younger brother who often acts like a pig at home, his eating habits, his tendency to make messes. They also have a 25-yr-old nanny who is from a family in Mexico. When the parents leave for a trip bicycling across the French wine country, the kids run a bit wild.

The big event is when the brother goes into the nanny's room without permission, encounters some ancient voodoo artifacts, and is turned into a real pig, a juvenile one. So it turns out the only hope for a remedy is the take a road trip back to Mexico, to see if her old grandma can work her magic and turn him back before the parents return. And avoiding the local butcher as they go along.

Yes, much of the movie is very silly, and although they get into many binds most of them aren't that funny. The final scene isn't particularly funny or touching. But it was entertaining enough (on a rainy day inside) to see Johansson in a very early role.

I rented this from the "family" section of my local video store, and much to my dismay, there was a large amount of foul language coming from the mouth of Scarlett Johansen. Her (and the rest of the cast's) acting was far below her performance in The Horse Whisperer a year prior. The only similarity is that once again she plays a teen with a bad attitude that gets overcome in the end. The plot might have been written by my 2 year old. It became painful to watch after a while, but my kids insisted on watching it to the end (we had to keep saying, "oh that's a bad word!" as the language was inappropriate for the under 13 crowd. Absolutely a waste of a dollar to rent!

Teenage brat, Kathy (Scarlett Johansson) finds her brother George (Nick Fuoco) annoying. She plays a prank on him to get him into trouble with their cool babysitter, Matilda (Eva Mendez). He gets turned into a pig after accidentally activating a Mexican voodoo spell. They travel to Mexico to find a way to break the curse while their parents are on a cycling trip in France.

There a host of famous faces here. Judge Reinhold was the big name. He isn't in the film for very long and plays the wise cracking father, a role he's played many times. Scarlett Johansson is particularly annoying and comes across more as a bully than a cool girl going through puberty. Dee Bradley Baker voices the pig, he's best known for providing the voices for many hit Cartoon Network shows; he's only given a few lines, none of them good. Eva Mendez was around 25 at the time of the film's release. She doesn't look significantly older than Scarlett and plays a sort of big sis role, she's decent. Alex D. Linz deserves a mention as he is given the best lines and nails them.

I wanted to like this film more. Sadly it feels like a TV Movie at best and an overly long episode of a Saturday morning sitcom at worst. The characters are never really developed and feel a bit unrealistic. I didn't really feel Kathy had an annoying younger brother; I felt more sorry for him. His big crime is making a giant bowl of ice cream and trashing a kitchen. There's supposed to be some sort of comment on the brother and sister age gap; one is growing up, the other is still a kid. This theme is often explored in PG rated comedies, but it's not done as well as in say, Fudge (Fudgeamania).

The fantasy theme, not fantastical enough and the voodoo style curse never really explained. The special effects are bad even for 1999. The climax was a letdown as well given the film had been building for over an hour by that point.

I think it is a good film, but far from a great one. I didn't find the acting to be bad, just the characters underwritten. Compared to high marks of family films like Home Alone and Mrs Doubtfire, My Brother The Pig falls way short. That said there is something enjoyable about seeing a pig shaped mountain and there's a few funny lines. This film can't shake off dated Mexican stereotypes, but it did try to blend the two cultures before Dora the Explorer got it right.

Availability: The film is available on DVD in the UK rated PG uncut. It's quite rare. The DVD has nice picture quality and sound I'm fairly sure the film has been broadcast on terrestrial TV albeit 20 years ago. It's an OK 90 minutes timewaster, but even children will want a more meaty film.

Caught this on Showtime last month.. with kids, 8, 9, 13. They wanted to save it on our DVR so it must be good. I enjoyed watching it more than most crud that the kids make me watch (over the hedge, firehouse dog, Barbie movie) and the cast was like a whose who of Hollywood. Fun comedy, good animals and original. Good family flick. It's not going to change the world, but it's solid family entertainment that I could watch also. There's also a kid (Disney kid?) that is the smart kid that is really likable. Eva Mendes is fun, and sexy, also. Scarlett looks just the same as an adult. They are showing it daily it seems. Catch it.

Richard Caldwell (Judge Reinhold) and Kathy Caldwell (Romy Windsor) are the parents. Their daughter Kathy (Scarlett Johansson) hates her little brother George and his pranks. Matilda (Eva Mendes) is their nanny. Kathy is frustrated that George remains unpunished for his bad behavior. While the parents are away in France, George gets into Matilda's secret magic crystals and gets turned into a pig. They with George's friend Freud have to go to Mexico to seek help from Matilda's Grandma Berta.

This is a family film with a teenage ScarJo. She's perfectly fine in this. I like the first half like one of those silly body snatching 70's Disney movies. It's fine until they decide to take the little kid. It makes no sense even if his parents don't care about it. They don't even seek permission from the parents. A better premise would be him as a car stowaway. Then they split up for no reason and put the kid in charge of the pig. Something is wrong with these people. Also splitting them up detracts the chemistry between the characters. The second half is pretty annoying. Kathy turns into an annoying tween girl. Matilda turns into an annoying idiot. Freud is still an annoying little boy. They should have done a MacGuffin hunt instead. So the movie turns into a kiddie chase and it gets really boring after escaping the town.