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| Directed by Hugh Wilson; Starring Brenden Fraser, Alfred Molina, Sarah Jessica Parker, Robert Prosky, Jack Kehler, Don Yesso, Brant Von Hoffman, Jed Rees, Eric Idle, Alex Rocco, Louis Mustillo, and Eddie Moore |
I have a feeling that I’m in the exact same fix that I was in just a few weeks ago. Then I gave a review of Inspector Gadget in which I was disliking a film that was based on something that was great for me in my childhood. It just goes to show that trying to keep things going that have run their course is a mistake. I was quite the fan of Rocky and Bullwinkle as a child, including all the shorts that would appear in each episode including Dudley Do-Right. It was never my favorite, but I at least liked it, and it was sure better than what they brought to the big screen.
This film version of Dudley Do-Right is so awful that I’d dare say it deserves to go to the oblivion of The King and I remake. I really hated this film. It was not the ‘so stupid it’s fun’ film that it tried to be, it was just stupid. In trying to get as as off the wall as possible, the film becomes annoying and cloying. For those unacquainted with the premise, Dudley (Fraser) is a Canadian mountie that is unbelievably dim-witted, but it works for him because he is completely honorable and decent, always doing good and looking out for others. His life goes around four others: Nell (Parker) the girl he grew up with that is in love with him, Snidely Whiplash (Molina) the bad guy that looks to always do the wrong thing, and Dudley’s horse who is only true love. Since bestiality is not the best thing for films these days, the whole thing between Dudley and his horse are gone, making him now in love with Nell, losing some of the comedy of Nell attempting to get Dudley’s affection in return. In this, Snidely has taken over the entire town and left Dudley by himself at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police post. Dudley must stop Snidely by doing the one thing he can think of: become the bad guy since everyone in the town thinks Snidely is a good guy.
I never really laughed at the film and I was bored throughout most. What hurts the most about the film is that is from the director of Blast From the Past, a film that I went to great lengths to get some people to see and a highly underrated film. Fraser and Molina are both actors that I respect, but neither really shine in the film, though I will admit that Molina puts forth much more of an effort than Fraser, who seems to be attempting to recreate his performance from George of the Jungle. At least George of the Jungle was a film version of childhood favorite that I actually liked.
