Hi all. So here's a review of Furry Vengeance I wrote recently for The Irish Times...
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Brooke Shields, Matt Prokop, Ken Jeong, Matt Prokop, Angela Kinsey and Wallace Shawn
Directed by Roger Kumble
General release, PG certificate, 91mins
Ever since he walked into a glass door in California Man, Brendan Fraser has shown a rare gift for slapstick. Over the subsequent two decades his huge 6’3” frame, lantern jaw and lost eyes combined with a seemingly endless capacity for shrieking have served him well. Sadly, even Fraser’s boundless enthusiasm can’t compete with the dullness of this eco-slapstick comedy.
He plays Dan Sanders, a well-meaning developer who’s been bullied by his boss (Ken Jeong, funny as usual) into overseeing a real estate venture that would level a large forest. Dan’s loyal wife (Shields) and moping teenaged son (Prokop) disapprove, but not as much as the local fauna. The woodland animals, led by a malevolent racoon, have sinister plans. Anyone who’s seen The Birds, The Happening or Beethoven will know not to mess with Mother Nature, and sure enough, Fraser is inconvenienced by pecking birds, an angry bear and resourceful rodents.
Considering Fraser starred in Looney Tunes: Back in Action and George of the Jungle, Furry Vengeance is surprisingly slow in bringing the slapstick. Nobody takes a hit to the groin like Fraser, but the film seems more interested taking its time setting up the plot (why?) and focussing on his dull family (again, why?).
This writer’s inner child was looking forward to Furry Vengeance. But after waiting too long for the slapstick, and having to sit through both Brooke Shield’s yawn-some day-job scenes as a teacher and a dreary teen love story, my inner child was getting bored and restless. Recommended to very, very young kids and Brendan Fraser completists only.
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