43 lines
3.7 KiB
Plaintext
43 lines
3.7 KiB
Plaintext
i cried during _babe_ .
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i admit it .
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the special effects , the story , the great dialogue were woven together so delicately and successfully that my mind lost track that this was a " children's film " --so much so that , yes , i got a little overly sentimental .
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such , my friend , is the power of cinema .
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when word came out that they were using this newly developed f/x for a doctor dolittle update , in which eddie murphy plays the title character , and many great comic actors supply the voices , my anticipation rose to great expectations .
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they can't possibly drop the ball on this one .
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can't miss .
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can't possibly miss .
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they missed .
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what went wrong ?
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after much thought , i supply three general rules .
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( 1 ) don't let a television actress-turned-comedy movie director near an urbanite script ( i . e . , penny marshall's dreadful " preacher's wife " ) .
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betty thomas worked wonders with " the brady bunch movie " , but the same sitcom-airiness doesn't quite work here .
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it's as if she lifted a generic sitcom , and iced it with light doses of modern r&b .
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take away the black cast , take away the atrocious soundtrack , and you have the residue of some mid-80's kirk cameron show .
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( 2 ) the greater the cast , the less the individual cast-member has to do ( i . e . ,
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" con air " ) .
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it is great to have the comic voices of jenna elfman , garry schandling , john leguizimo , ellen degeneres , and gilbert godfried in your lineup , but they have nothing to do but improvise their underdeveloped , stereotyped characters , one-line-at-a-time .
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it's even worse , because sometimes their voices are so unrecognizable that you don't get the satisfaction of linking the voice to the comedian until the credits .
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now there are three character actors who do get special treatment : albert brooks brings dignity to nearly every project he's in , and the scenes as a depressed tiger do resonate a certain poignancy .
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norm mcdonald fares nearly as well , as a stray dog who learns to bond with dolittle .
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but there's little humor here .
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that rests on the shoulders of chris rock , sorely miscast and unfunny as the voice of their wise-ass guinea pig .
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even the mouth is ill-synched .
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( 3 ) don't let the special effects technicians walk away with the script .
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there's a certain timing that's mandatory in comedy .
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to have this timing usurped by the brilliancy of computer generated mouths or lifelike creations of jim henson's creature shop , is a travesty .
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this is not to say that special effects filled comedies or muppet movies aren't well-timed laughfests ; with the right director , they can be and have .
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here , betty thomas is clearly over her head .
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i wish i could commend the special effects , but they're merely average .
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count the number of times where the animal's mouth is turned away from the camera , or too far to notice , or ill-synched .
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this is less a " babe " and more of a " look who's barking " clone .
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you may be wondering , 'how does eddie murphy fare ? '
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well , he came back with the exceptional " nutty professor " , and i don't doubt he can come back again .
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here , he's tied into a straight man and given little to do .
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the exceptions are when he fears he's going crazy : a far cry from his smarter-than-you'd expect routine that he's more adept at .
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it's unfortunate that he is where richard pryor was ten years ago , making lame comedies without the same bite he had given in his early years .
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after all this , what's left ?
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butt jokes .
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a _lot_ of butt jokes .
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i guess for kids that may be funny , but i was stone-faced .
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if there's a lesson the film may be telling us , is that animals have feelings too , and they care way too much for your butt .
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