Plustown
A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.
Griff Lees
Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.
Zlatica
One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.
Leofwine_draca
I watched the original MIGHTY JOE YOUNG recently and really enjoyed as a lesser variant of KING KONG. This full-colour, all-action, CGI-animated remake takes that premise and turns it into a soppy, unashamedly sentimental family film that lacks all of the characterisation, drama and danger of the oldie. And it proves, once and for all, that stop motion creations are much better at expressing character than their CGI counterparts.In some ways the movie is oddly old-fashioned, particularly in the early scenes of Naveen Andrews running around calling the white man 'boss' which I found oddly uncomfortable (inevitably, the bad guys in this are all foreign and the good guys all American). Then there's plenty of politically correct greenie stuff and an excruciating turn from Charlize Theron as a Jungle Jane type who strides from the bushes with a full face of make-up. Only in Hollywood! Once the action shifts to America I hoped it would start picking up, but it never does. The CGI effects are admittedly good but lack the charm of their olden-day versions and the large-scale mayhem is no different from two dozen similar, cookie-cutter Hollywood action flicks. I couldn't help but feel embarrassed for Bill Paxton appearing in such twee and childish fare, but then he did appear in the same year's A SIMPLE PLAN so it wasn't all bad for him.
Neil Welch
This remake of Mighty Joe Young updates the story to present day but keeps the same plot beats, and dresses it in state of the art special effects.The story - misunderstood ape in the city, hunted, but redeems himself by heroic action during calamity - works as well as it did in the original, and is augmented by wicked hunters.Charlize Theron and Bill Paxton are attractive leads, but the film belongs to Joe. He is achieved by a mix of animatronics and CGI (and, I suspect, the occasional bloke in an ape suit), but he succeeds as a character who displays emotion and engages audience sympathetic.This bright, colourful film is a charming and exciting family movie.
Jackson Booth-Millard
I remember seeing this family film at least three times when I was younger, I obviously wouldn't realise back then and I only found out in adulthood that it is a remake of the 1949 film, from director Ron Underwood (Tremors, City Slickers, Pluto Nash). Basically in the African jungle, young Jill Young (Mika Boorem) witnesses her mother Ruth Young (Linda Purl) die, and the same night baby silver back gorilla Joe witnesses his mother killed by poachers, one of whom has his thumb and forefinger bitten off. Twelve years later, eco-minded Professor Gregory 'Gregg' O'Hara (Bill Paxton) is in the same jungle, and stumbles upon the grown up Jill Young (Charlize Theron) and genetically abnormally large Joe the gorilla living relatively peacefully. Gregg is suggesting Joe would be safer from poaching if Jill agrees to come with him with her large friend back to Hollywood, California and live in a refuge with plenty of food and space. Eventually she does agree, and they do go to the United States, and to everyone's amazement Joe does like this safe haven, and the occasional visitors, including fellow eco scientists see his good progress. But then the leader of the poachers Andrei Strasser (Rade Serbedzija) with the missing thumb and finger turns up at the sanctuary and caused the gorilla to get angry and violent, and everyone is mistaken into thinking he cannot cope with his life in L.A. With this in mind preparation are made to have Joe go back to the jungle, but he somehow escapes and ends up following a light he mistakes as a signal from Jill, and when she and Gregg catch up to him they find him, and Strasser, in a carnival. Disaster strikes when the ferris wheel breaks down, and after the villain is killed Joe is the only one who can a little boy trapped near a fire surrounding it. In the end it looks like the child is safe but Joe is dead from the fall, but thankfully he is fine and is taken back to Africa to roam free in a large bit of land with donations coming in for Jill and Gregg. Also starring Peter Firth as Garth, Quiz Show's David Paymer as Harry Ruben, Jerry Maguire's Regina King as Cecily Banks, Robert Wisdom as Kweli, Lost's Naveen Andrews as Pindi and Verne Troyer as Baby Joe. Theron is obviously gorgeous, and Paxton as usual is reliable, the gorilla does steal the show, being both cuddly and sweet, and aggressive and angry, with moments reminiscent of King Kong it is an easy to follow story that will have the kids and the adults near enough hooked, a fun fantasy adventure. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Visual Effects. Worth watching!
d-millhoff
Sweet, and faithful to the 1949 original Mighty Joe Young, this is one of the better remakes I have seen. While the original movie about a girl and her giant gorilla friend remains entertaining enough to stand on its own, this remake strives to do it justice, and succeeds. The two movies complement each other almost perfectly!A fairly faithful, straightforward update of the original plot (which itself is something of an upbeat remake of King Kong), someone definitely did their homework in re-creating Mighty Joe. The computer effects and animatronics are believable, but the facial expressions and primate mannerisms are what make him so absolutely convincing.(spoilers):While the "giant-gorilla-on-the-loose-in-the-big-city" scenes don't compare to their truly outrageous counterparts in the original MJY (real, live African lions being catapulted about the Coconut Grove!), they're entertaining enough for audiences of all ages.The remake also felt some politically-correct need to add bad guys that weren't necessary in the original, but by introducing poachers that leave the girl and Joe orphaned, they also seem to offer an ironic apology for what almost certainly happened in acquiring the baby gorilla for the original movie.
