A reboot, of sorts
At an outdoor cinema with some ominous clouds threatening to rain out the session, and a couple of kids tagging along (is it okay to bring a kids under ten to a movie like this? It was fine in the eighties, and this is much tamer in comparison to what we saw when we were kids), Anaconda delivered what it says on the box – Paul Rudd and Jack Black having fun bouncing off each other, with some good supporting cast along for the ride.
Black plays Doug, a wedding video creator who dreams of a horror themed marriage. Rudd, his best friend, is struggling actor Griffen. The two reunite alongside Kenny (Steve Zahn) and Claire (Thandiwe Newton) making up a foursome who had big ambitions to make movies when they were kids (like The Quatch, a bleeped out swear word, Scorsese-inspired masterpiece they made when they were kids).
The plot isn’t rocket science. The group of friends end up with the rights to Anaconda and head to Brazil to film it. There is an illegal gold mining side story that doesn’t really explain itself all that well but adds some guns and plot twists.
As you’d expect, a giant snake starts terrorising everyone on screen and the movie they have gone to the jungle to make gets real.
The best thing about the movie is it doesn’t take itself seriously and goes into the meta-remake territory where it can joke about itself and the original (is there cameos? What do you think?). It has some genuine laugh out loud moments, with not just Black and Rudd doing all the heavy lifting; the rest of the cast also hold their own
Naturally you are not going to see this movie with the expectations of anything more than ninety-ish minutes of fun and it delivers. Go see it at the cinema with some friends and popcorn and you’ll have a great time.