Mighty Joe Young starts in Africa where conservationist Professor Gregory O'Hara (Bill Paxton) discovers the existence of Joe Young, a huge 2000 pound giant Ape that has been looked after & cared for by Jill Young (Charlize Theron) ever since their mother's were killed on the same night by poachers twelve years ago. O'Hara is amazed by both Joe & Jill & when poachers return to try & kill Joe he arranges for him to be taken to California where he can be properly protected from poachers in a zoo. At first Joe seems happy enough but once again he comes under threat from poachers & when he runs amok at a dinner party he is considered a threat to the public, it's up to Jill & O'Hara to save Joe before he is either killed by poachers or the authorities...
Directed by Ron Underwood this big budget Disney production was a remake of the same titled Mighty Joe Young (1949), while not terrible I suppose this remake is nowhere near as good as the original & at times I found it a bit of an overly sentimental bore with far too many annoying Disney-esquire touches. The script here sticks to the general storyline of the original but changes a lot of the set-pieces to lacklustre effects like the capturing of Joe is changed from Cowboys lassoing him to blokes in jeeps & the fantastic climax set in a nightclub where Joe fights Lions & then saves children in a burning orphanage is replaced with a walk around Hollywood & saving a kid on a burning ferris wheel. While the CGI effects are excellent there's a certain coldness to the action & adventure scenes while the character's are terrible with some annoying comic relief & a really sickening romance between the two leads & lots of moralising about the evils of poaching & the perils of locking animals up in cages rather than letting run free & the parallels that has with our own lives as we too are locked up in cages & it's just that we call them houses. At almost two hours Mighty Joe Young is a bit too long, there's too much mushy Hollywood sentiment including a cringe worthy ending in which random members of the public all decide to give money to rehouse Joe & this remake doesn't have the magical fantastical quality of the original & if I am honest feels lie a poor man's King Kong (1933) with it's slightly weird central relationship between a giant Ape & a pretty blonde woman. Having said that it's watchable I suppose & the effects are good.
As already mentioned the CGI effects are very good as are the practical effects created by Rick Baker who was along with his team nominated for an Oscar but lost out to What Dreams May Come (1998). This being a squeaky clean Disney family film there's no violence & even the main villain doesn't get much of a send-off. Charlize Theron's attempt to portray a character who has never been to civilisation & spent her entire life in the jungles of Africa is hopeless & she comes across as some ball American blonde anyway.
With a supposed budget of about $90,000,000 this had a lot of money spent on it & it show's with great effects & ambitious set-pieces although the finished product doesn't come across as exciting on screen due to the awful music & lack of imagination that isn't the fault of the effects work which is impressive. The acting is bland & I usually quite like Bill Paxton but not in a family film such as this.
Mighty Joe Young is a remake that isn't as good as the original & comes across as a second rate King Kong, hell even the ridiculous King Kong Lives (1986) is better than this. Basically a King Kong wannabe that doesn't cut the mustard & isn't as good as the original Mighty Joe Young either but is still watchable on a corny level.
Directed by Ron Underwood this big budget Disney production was a remake of the same titled Mighty Joe Young (1949), while not terrible I suppose this remake is nowhere near as good as the original & at times I found it a bit of an overly sentimental bore with far too many annoying Disney-esquire touches. The script here sticks to the general storyline of the original but changes a lot of the set-pieces to lacklustre effects like the capturing of Joe is changed from Cowboys lassoing him to blokes in jeeps & the fantastic climax set in a nightclub where Joe fights Lions & then saves children in a burning orphanage is replaced with a walk around Hollywood & saving a kid on a burning ferris wheel. While the CGI effects are excellent there's a certain coldness to the action & adventure scenes while the character's are terrible with some annoying comic relief & a really sickening romance between the two leads & lots of moralising about the evils of poaching & the perils of locking animals up in cages rather than letting run free & the parallels that has with our own lives as we too are locked up in cages & it's just that we call them houses. At almost two hours Mighty Joe Young is a bit too long, there's too much mushy Hollywood sentiment including a cringe worthy ending in which random members of the public all decide to give money to rehouse Joe & this remake doesn't have the magical fantastical quality of the original & if I am honest feels lie a poor man's King Kong (1933) with it's slightly weird central relationship between a giant Ape & a pretty blonde woman. Having said that it's watchable I suppose & the effects are good.
As already mentioned the CGI effects are very good as are the practical effects created by Rick Baker who was along with his team nominated for an Oscar but lost out to What Dreams May Come (1998). This being a squeaky clean Disney family film there's no violence & even the main villain doesn't get much of a send-off. Charlize Theron's attempt to portray a character who has never been to civilisation & spent her entire life in the jungles of Africa is hopeless & she comes across as some ball American blonde anyway.
With a supposed budget of about $90,000,000 this had a lot of money spent on it & it show's with great effects & ambitious set-pieces although the finished product doesn't come across as exciting on screen due to the awful music & lack of imagination that isn't the fault of the effects work which is impressive. The acting is bland & I usually quite like Bill Paxton but not in a family film such as this.
Mighty Joe Young is a remake that isn't as good as the original & comes across as a second rate King Kong, hell even the ridiculous King Kong Lives (1986) is better than this. Basically a King Kong wannabe that doesn't cut the mustard & isn't as good as the original Mighty Joe Young either but is still watchable on a corny level.