sifujon

I just finished watching this movie on a stormy Saturday morning and it was a good choice. Not the funniest movie ever, but far from being the worst. In fact, I think it would be a good choice to watch with your kids because of the animals and general lack of offensiveness. In addition, there is a simplistic but not overly complicated moral message in the film; We all are given the chance to be who we want to be, but we also have the choice to let it slip away.

Steve Carell is just a funny actor, Morgan Freeman is OK, Wanda Sykes is her usual sharp-tongued character, and Lauren Graham doesn't do much except supply a pretty face. All in all nothing outstanding, but nothing worthy of a Razzy either.

My wife and I saw this last night in a sneak preview. Judging from audience laughter, it was well enjoyed.I give this film a 7 out of 10 solely based on the fine performance of Steve Carell as Dan, and to a lesser extent Juliette Binoche as Marie. Carell the interplay between them at times is hilarious, but only because we, the audience, know the reality of the situation.

The rest of the characters are on the whole unlikable. Two of Dan's three daughters are self-centered manipulators. The middle daughter especially is in need of serious counseling. Dan's brother is a manipulative liar, but that is never addressed. Superficially the family seems warm and supportive, but with a little deeper look you see they are really cruel and judgmental. They are like a 50's sitcom family filtered through John Waters. This comes through clearly in the scene prior to Dan's date.

Some here have compared this to Little Miss Sunshine, another superficial family film about a hideously dysfunctional, unlikable family. This was not nearly as depressing.

Even after reading my own review, I still give it a 7, but want to emphasize that this film is carried by the two leads.

Animals, natives, guns, quicksand, and the inevitable damsel in distress...what else could you want? When I was a kid in the 1960s I thought this show was as exciting as it got. I remember watching it every week, although I was a bit confused about when Tarzan turned into Jungle Jim. (And where were Jane and boy?) Johnny Weissmuller was unshakably cool, whether threatened by poachers, hungry natives or wild animals. Plus, he had a great safari suit and hat. A 70s fashion plate 20 years early.

I remember when the series Daktari premiered I got all excited thinking it would be like Jungle Jim, and was really disappointed at how bland the scripts were by comparison.

I guess today this series would be viewed as a monument of inaccuracies and racial stereotypes, but I will always remember it as an exciting and exotic escape into wonder for a small boy from Brooklyn.