Cool News
MIGHTY JOE YOUNG rumbles through Southern California!
SPOILER ALERT !!
Well fellow Geeks, this is one old Father Geek here has been waiting for for months, ever sinse I saw a Work print back in late June. That print realy got the old juices flowing. You see MIGHTY JOE YOUNG is one of my favorite fanasy films of the late 1940's. It had the great Harryhausen's First Feature work as well as some of Willis Obrien's best stuff sinse KING KONG, buuuuut I was worried. Why remake a classic story that worked so well the 1st time around? Well when I saw the Work Print with much of Joe's scenes still in wireframe and unfurred mode I got my answer. This is a fun film guys & gals! Go with an open mind, forget the 1st one temporarily, and prepare yourself for an adventureous funfilled evening. Here's our reporter's review...
Just got back from a screening of Mighty Joe Young, y'know that movie by
Ron Underwood that's been in the can for awhile, yeah that one that doesn't
open til x-mas? Anyways, it played at the AMC 14 in Burbank and
Cinovention's own Rick Baker was there. It was a private screening, not a
usual test as the theater was about 3/4 full.
Well, what can I say? Baker is awesome. His work in Mighty Joe Young is
just awesome, from the full size Joe units to the scaled down ones, they
just looked incredible. The CG Joe is damn good, too. The hair shaders are
dead on but there was just a bit of motion track for his shots running in
the open field with a moving camera that could have been given a tad bit
more motion blur to make it blend really well. Also, there were a lot of CG
animals when you really didn't need, and they stood out as CG. There were
shots of giraffes and rhinos, etc. that would have worked with live
animals, instead of their CG counterparts. Ok, enough on the vfx, on to the
story.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
It starts off with a Jill Young (Charlize Theron) at age 12, out with her
mother studying the gorillas. (By the way - great casting with Linda Purl,
she and Charlize look like the really COULD be related). To continue, Jill
points out that Joe is growing up a lot faster than the other 'rillas (it's
later briefly explained that a recessive gene causes gigantism at times).
Poachers descend upon them later that night and try to capture a gorilla to
sell. In the melee, Jill and Joe's moms are both killed by the poachers,
Jill and Joe form a special bond thru that.
12 (or was it 14?) years later, Bill Paxton arives on the scene. He
collecting samples for a California Animals Conservatory. He meets Joe and
Jill after a run in. He convinces them that to be safe, they should move
into the conservatory. Ok no problemo, however the poacher that tried to
get Joe the first time learns about him and tries to exact revenge for
escaping the first time and biting off his thumb and index finger. The
poacher comes in disguised as a fellow conservationalist (he runs a park
that operates as a slice and dice of exotic animals) his plan is to stir up
Joe causing Jill to rethink her position and take Joe to the poacher's
place. After getting Joe to cause a ruckus at the conservatory reception to
get funding, the poachers succeed in trying to steal Joe. Plans go wrong as
Jill and Paxton get hold of the coux and Joe escapes the clutches, turns
Hollywood Blvd upside down and runs from the cops. In the process, he kills
the poachers, rides a ferris wheel, and saves a boy's life while risking
his own and showing everyone that he's not just another wild animal.
All in all, a cute story with dialog problems. Charlize did a decent job of
acting, then again, I wasn't paying atention to her 'acting'. Paxton seemed
like he was still acting in 'Twister', but doing a horrid job. Joe stole
the show, his facial expressions, gestures, etc. were righ on.. er.. for a
gorilla. Rick Baker just did an awesome job. It paced itself about the same
as 'The Phantom', y'know.. like the way both of those movies were meant to
play. Not fast, not slow, just about what it needed to tell the story and
be action packed without any lull.
Oh well, I thought it was ok. Would do the same amount of business if it
were released now instead of at Christmas. 9 - 11 million opening. Much
better than Congo and had a very nice cameo by the master, Ray Harryhausen
himself. (I think the girl that was in the original MJY was his date).
That's it...
-Gold-en Eye-
just awesome, from the full size Joe units to the scaled down ones, they
just looked incredible. The CG Joe is damn good, too. The hair shaders are
dead on but there was just a bit of motion track for his shots running in
the open field with a moving camera that could have been given a tad bit
more motion blur to make it blend really well. Also, there were a lot of CG
animals when you really didn't need, and they stood out as CG. There were
shots of giraffes and rhinos, etc. that would have worked with live
animals, instead of their CG counterparts. Ok, enough on the vfx, on to the
story.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
It starts off with a Jill Young (Charlize Theron) at age 12, out with her
mother studying the gorillas. (By the way - great casting with Linda Purl,
she and Charlize look like the really COULD be related). To continue, Jill
points out that Joe is growing up a lot faster than the other 'rillas (it's
later briefly explained that a recessive gene causes gigantism at times).
Poachers descend upon them later that night and try to capture a gorilla to
sell. In the melee, Jill and Joe's moms are both killed by the poachers,
Jill and Joe form a special bond thru that.
12 (or was it 14?) years later, Bill Paxton arives on the scene. He
collecting samples for a California Animals Conservatory. He meets Joe and
Jill after a run in. He convinces them that to be safe, they should move
into the conservatory. Ok no problemo, however the poacher that tried to
get Joe the first time learns about him and tries to exact revenge for
escaping the first time and biting off his thumb and index finger. The
poacher comes in disguised as a fellow conservationalist (he runs a park
that operates as a slice and dice of exotic animals) his plan is to stir up
Joe causing Jill to rethink her position and take Joe to the poacher's
place. After getting Joe to cause a ruckus at the conservatory reception to
get funding, the poachers succeed in trying to steal Joe. Plans go wrong as
Jill and Paxton get hold of the coux and Joe escapes the clutches, turns
Hollywood Blvd upside down and runs from the cops. In the process, he kills
the poachers, rides a ferris wheel, and saves a boy's life while risking
his own and showing everyone that he's not just another wild animal.
All in all, a cute story with dialog problems. Charlize did a decent job of
acting, then again, I wasn't paying atention to her 'acting'. Paxton seemed
like he was still acting in 'Twister', but doing a horrid job. Joe stole
the show, his facial expressions, gestures, etc. were righ on.. er.. for a
gorilla. Rick Baker just did an awesome job. It paced itself about the same
as 'The Phantom', y'know.. like the way both of those movies were meant to
play. Not fast, not slow, just about what it needed to tell the story and
be action packed without any lull.
Oh well, I thought it was ok. Would do the same amount of business if it
were released now instead of at Christmas. 9 - 11 million opening. Much
better than Congo and had a very nice cameo by the master, Ray Harryhausen
himself. (I think the girl that was in the original MJY was his date).
That's it...
-Gold-en Eye-
collecting samples for a California Animals Conservatory. He meets Joe and
Jill after a run in. He convinces them that to be safe, they should move
into the conservatory. Ok no problemo, however the poacher that tried to
get Joe the first time learns about him and tries to exact revenge for
escaping the first time and biting off his thumb and index finger. The
poacher comes in disguised as a fellow conservationalist (he runs a park
that operates as a slice and dice of exotic animals) his plan is to stir up
Joe causing Jill to rethink her position and take Joe to the poacher's
place. After getting Joe to cause a ruckus at the conservatory reception to
get funding, the poachers succeed in trying to steal Joe. Plans go wrong as
Jill and Paxton get hold of the coux and Joe escapes the clutches, turns
Hollywood Blvd upside down and runs from the cops. In the process, he kills
the poachers, rides a ferris wheel, and saves a boy's life while risking
his own and showing everyone that he's not just another wild animal.
All in all, a cute story with dialog problems. Charlize did a decent job of
acting, then again, I wasn't paying atention to her 'acting'. Paxton seemed
like he was still acting in 'Twister', but doing a horrid job. Joe stole
the show, his facial expressions, gestures, etc. were righ on.. er.. for a
gorilla. Rick Baker just did an awesome job. It paced itself about the same
as 'The Phantom', y'know.. like the way both of those movies were meant to
play. Not fast, not slow, just about what it needed to tell the story and
be action packed without any lull.
Oh well, I thought it was ok. Would do the same amount of business if it
were released now instead of at Christmas. 9 - 11 million opening. Much
better than Congo and had a very nice cameo by the master, Ray Harryhausen
himself. (I think the girl that was in the original MJY was his date).
That's it...
-Gold-en Eye-
were released now instead of at Christmas. 9 - 11 million opening. Much
better than Congo and had a very nice cameo by the master, Ray Harryhausen
himself. (I think the girl that was in the original MJY was his date).
That's it...
-Gold-en Eye-
-
+ Expand All
-
Paxton seems like he's still acting in Twister, but doing a horrible job"?? Replace "but" with "therefore" and I'll agree.
-
One word: GODZILLA.
No matter what anyone says about this film the merican Public will not get sucked into another giant animal runs amok movie. The only reason Diney keeps pushing it back is because after Godzilla's scary plunge in the box office. they know that they're gonna get smacked upside the head with this one. They release it at Christmas so it will get so mixed in with other Diney offerings that the hit won't bruise that much.
-
Why does this guy have a career? I guess Hollywood needs someone to stand around and look dumb. As for Mighty Joe Young, it looks interesting but seems like something that could quite easily end up being just ridiculous. I could predict the entire movie from the preview, and with Paxton I doubt it will hold any surprises. After all, do we really need another King Kong
-
I'm going to see this movie as soon as possible so I can indulge my Rade Serbedzija fetish. I'd rather watch a GOOD movie than a bad one, but it really doesn't make a lot of difference to me. Bill Paxton sounds harmless.
-
This movie is going to killed at the box office. Six major movies are being released on Xmas day. Disney moved it to Xmas because of of all the summer competition. Disney should now move it to Easter. Maybe then it might do some box office business!!
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