'Greystoke Lord of the Apes' has received a lot of ridicule over the years and it certainly is a bit hard to take, especially in the first half hour when John Clayton is being the ape boy in the jungle in West Africa. His 'mother' (ape) has facial expressions that cross the line of the ridiculous and is a highly risible thing to view. Aside from that it isn't too difficult to accept the fantasy of this story, which is exactly what it is... fantasy. The fantasy of the perfect human male, 'half Earl of Greystoke, half wild' as John says at the end.
Christopher Lambert is wonderful in this role, his international film debut. Beautiful, sympathetic, dangerous and highly appealing throughout. It's a shame the producers decided to dub in a smarmy-sounding Glenn Close over Andie MacDowell's performance. It is the one really huge blot on the film. MacDowell looks wonderful and though she is not the world's greatest actress I can't imagine her vocal performance being any worse than Ms Close's insipid performance. This was also Ralph Richardson's last role and he is an appropriately dotty Lord Greystoke, always a pleasure to watch. The other fine performance is from Ian Holm as Philippe, the explorer who discovers the ape-man and takes him back to England.
The cinematography is spectacular, especially in the African scenes. The music is a bit too slurpy but Elgar's tunes fit the mood very well over-all. There are many touching moments in this movie, a real tear-jerker in a couple of places which are not over-done, thanks mostly to the committed performance of Mr Lambert.
It's a good one for the kids over about 8 years of age and a good flick to watch on a rainy weekend afternoon when you just can't take any more reality. A good antidote to the recent family-dividing elections that have just taken place.
Christopher Lambert is wonderful in this role, his international film debut. Beautiful, sympathetic, dangerous and highly appealing throughout. It's a shame the producers decided to dub in a smarmy-sounding Glenn Close over Andie MacDowell's performance. It is the one really huge blot on the film. MacDowell looks wonderful and though she is not the world's greatest actress I can't imagine her vocal performance being any worse than Ms Close's insipid performance. This was also Ralph Richardson's last role and he is an appropriately dotty Lord Greystoke, always a pleasure to watch. The other fine performance is from Ian Holm as Philippe, the explorer who discovers the ape-man and takes him back to England.
The cinematography is spectacular, especially in the African scenes. The music is a bit too slurpy but Elgar's tunes fit the mood very well over-all. There are many touching moments in this movie, a real tear-jerker in a couple of places which are not over-done, thanks mostly to the committed performance of Mr Lambert.
It's a good one for the kids over about 8 years of age and a good flick to watch on a rainy weekend afternoon when you just can't take any more reality. A good antidote to the recent family-dividing elections that have just taken place.