O Professor Aloprado 2: A Familia Klump

I loved the first film, it was funny and touching, and I feel it is underrated. This sequel is inferior, but I have honestly seen much worse sequels than this. There are some things wrong, such as the weak plot, uneven script, a slow beginning and uneven direction, but it is very amusing regardless. Thanks to some great sight gags such as the Fountain of Youth and the giant sex-mad hamster, another brilliant performance from Eddie Murphy and Janet Jackson very effective at playing it straight as the long suffering girlfriend. I also liked how it was filmed, and the score was lovely.

Overall, this is not a bad movie, not great, but not at all terrible.

6/10 Bethany Cox

NUTTY PROFESSOR II : THE KLUMPS (2000) *** Eddie Murphy, Janet Jackson, Larry Miller, John Ales, Richard Gant, Anna Maria Horsford, Melinda McGraw, Jamal Mixon. (Dir: Peter Segal)

The sequel to the remake of the Jerry Lewis classic `The Nutty Professor', with Eddie Murphy multiplied to the power of 6 has tons of laughs and charm to spare.

Murphy reprises his overweight and friendly college chemistry professor Sherman Klump and his entire brood as well as his alter ego, the diabolical Buddy Love this time with the kindly obese prof falling in love with his research assistant Denise Gaines (the voluptuous Jackson) and the discovery of a youth serum all the while battling with sustaining the maniacal id inside, Buddy Love, who eventually breaks free from his chubby trappings to wreak havoc on Klump by trying to beat him to the punch in pitching the miracle solvent to a prestigious pharmaceutical conglomerate for a wealthy sum for exclusive rights.

But the real focus of attention is Sherman's calorically challenged brood, his perpetually bickering family including Mama, Papa, Ernie & Granny Klump, the latter being the scene stealer for the entire film's run. While Sherman wrestles with his other side in his attempt to ask Denise to marry him, Buddy tries in vein to locate the chemical and to Sherman' s discovery realizes that the side effect of having Love out of his body is slowly making his intelligence drop. It's a race to beat the clock to thwart his opposite from gaining any more leverage.

Murphy is marvelous as all six (well ok seven if you include Papa Klump's temporary younger self after guzzling down the potent potable) of the Klump brood, each unique in personality, that you gradually get over the fact he's in fat suits and under layers of brilliant make-up by the legendary Oscar-winning Rick Baker (including an Academy Award from the first `Nutty'). Murphy has set the high standard for interacting with himself on so many levels its daunting but this veteran comic makes the best of it in a decathlon of laughs, albeit vulgar and of the gas-inducing variety. But it is his Granny Klump who walks away with the picture exhibiting a no-holds bar for speaking her surprisingly agile mind (and scarily )her promiscuous sexuality still in gear, particularly her hilarious close encounter with Buddy (if you think of it, it's Murphy soul-kissing Murphy). Perhaps the only run for her money in laughs is the too-close for comfort interaction between the college's dean (Miller returning as well) and a genetically enhanced giant hamster (you have to see it to believe it).

The film obviously relishes in its bathroom humor but underneath it all the concept of family values doesn't ring hollow during the film's climax with the aid of Sherman's dad. Heart is in the right place as well as the funny bone.

This picture is a crass and obnoxious misfire from Murphy, primarily due to it's unbelievably undeserved PG-13 rating. Laced with profanity, sexual innuendo and bathroom humor, you have to wonder if anyone from the ratings board was awake when this film was screened. If they think this type of fare is appropriate for young teenagers, they must live on another planet. Of course, if it had been rated "R", perhaps my opinion would be different: Murphy is often at his funniest when he's profane & irreverant, but that's for my adult sensibilities, not for those of pre-pubescent or (just barely) post-pubescent sensibilities. Murphy should know better (and has shown better judgement with the "Dr. DoLittle" pics) than to pander this kind of junk to kids.

All that notwithstanding, Murphy again essays multiple roles (under tons of Makeup) as nearly every member of the Klump family. Murphy has already worn more makeup than Boris Karloff ever did in his whole lifetime, so he must enjoy it. Tech credits are good as Murphy appears with Murphy, Murphy and Murphy in umpteen scenes, proving that split screen has been adequately exceeded with digital replacement.

Half-witted plot has professor Klump developing a youth serum, while dealing with the personal inner demons of his "Buddy Love" personna (see first movie for more details). Klump, constantly embarrased by subliminal impulses from his "Buddy" personna, isolates & extracts the Buddy Love DNA, which later spills onto the laboratory pet dog, resulting in an incomprehensible reincarnation of Buddy in human form (but with latent doggy traits). Buddy is intent on stealing the youth formula. and a race ensues to see who can complete the deal, with several dilemmas thrown in along the way. Looks like the sreenwriters swiped a few ideas from early Star Trek episodes (see "The Enemy Within").

Never mind what happens next. Change the channel. And definitely avoid the "Uncensored Director's Cut"; it just makes a bad movie worse.

I expected to see lots of variations of the humor that The Nutty Professor (the Murphy version) used in the classic scene of the Klumps at the dinner table. Instead, what little humor this sequel had split time with disgust as the movie went mostly for sexy granny jokes.

The sad thing is, more fart humor would have been an *improvement.* This movie was boring. It was uninteresting. It missed numerous opportunities to have some fun. And it spent too much time showing off make-up and not enough time being entertaining.

Perhaps most painful to watch was Eddie Murphy just being Eddie Murphy (as Buddy Love). I never understand why some actors/directors think that if a character screams real loud and makes a face, it's funny. It is especially not funny when it happens 2-3 times. In the first movie, Buddy Love was funny (if cruel), and his observations were right on target. In The Klumps, Love is like a grown version of that Home Alone kid, when he grabs his face and just yells at the camera. Uh, if you are done shouting now, can we move on?

Janet Jackson was fluff. And I don't know what she has done with her chest, but it seems unusually huge here.

I suppose it would be appropriate to say how well done the make up is as Murphy plays his half-dozen or so characters. Yes, he makes them seem like different people, at least superficially. But none of the characters are really there, you know? They each have little tag lines, and maybe a quirk, and those lines and that quirk are used to death. Take the granny. Yep, she likes sex. She is a sex machine. She wants every man. OK, uh, so? We've seen that 20 times. Can we get to something new?

Overall, I feel sad to see the level Murphy's wit has been reduced to. He used to be more biting, more insightful and more, well, funny. Now he is a human cartoon. I gave this movie a 4.

This cannot measure up to the first film - the first with Eddie Murphy, that is, not the Jerry Lewis film from 1963. (Actually, this doesn't measure up to the Lewis film, either.)

For me, the biggest disappointment was the "family" scenes in which Murphy plays almost all the roles including old ladies. In the first film, some of that was absolutely hilarious, the highlight of the movie. Here, that isn't the case. Also, some of the dialog is almost impossible to decipher. It's also too raunchy and this film should have been rated "R." A PG-13 rating is ridiculous with all the emphasis on sex. I hate to see kids watch movies like this.

Still, this had a decent share of funny moments. Also, to its credit, it is not as mean-spirited as the first film turned out to be. Still, the bad outweighs the good. It needed to be funnier, and less raunchy.