George of the Jungle

Back in 1967, ABC aired George of the Jungle, one of Jay Ward’s most famous creations, which lasted 17 episodes (thanks to the animators regularly going over budget) and spawned some legacy media of its own. One of these was a film adaptation, George of the Jungle (GOTJ), which started life as a spec script called Gorilla Boy that parodied Tarzan. Disney would buy this spec script and have it rewritten into GOTJ (fitting, since the original cartoon was itself a parody of Tarzan). The final film released in 1997 and, in spite of the mixed reception, would more than earn its $55 million budget back with a final box office tally of about $174.4 million. I myself had vague memories of watching it as a kid, though not in a theater, and recently found myself curious about it again while revisiting the original cartoon. One stream through Disney+ later and while I can see how many children of the 90s would have more familiarity with this incarnation than the original, as well as fond memories, I found it less than stellar watching for the first time through adult eyes.

Perfect Blue

Note: This review contains spoilers for Perfect Blue.

Among the legendary directors of Japanese animated films, one name that doesn’t receive as much attention is Satoshi Kon. A few years into his animation career, which interestingly included directing the twelfth episode of Studio APPP’s JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure OVA (“DIO's World: Kakyoin -Duel in the Barrier-”), Kon would make his feature directorial debut with Perfect Blue in 1997. Based on the novel Perfect Blue: Complete Metamorphosis by Yoshikazu Takeuchi, the film would showcase Kon’s longstanding theme of blending fantasy and reality, which would inform his later works like Millennium Actress (2001) and Paranoia Agent (2004). When I finally obtained a copy of the English dub of the film on Blu-ray, I wanted to take a look back at where Kon’s output started and while I think his later works perfected the techniques he employed here, it’s still nonetheless an incredibly strong start.

Good Burger

Note: This review contains spoilers for Good Burger.

Back in 1994, Nickelodeon premiered All That, a live-action sketch comedy series that lasted ten seasons prior to its 2019 revival. Of the many sketches that appeared across the show’s nearly 200 episodes, the recurring “Good Burger” sketch, in which the clueless teenager Ed somehow always messes things up, proved popular enough that in January 1997, Paramount fast-tracked production of a feature film based on it. The final product released in July that same year to mixed critical reception, but proved commercially successful, grossing $23.7 million against its $8.5 million budget, and gained a cult following over time.

As someone who didn’t grow up watching All That, despite it airing during my childhood, I first saw Good Burger completely out of context through someone else’s VHS. Although I had no attention span as a child, Good Burger stood out and after sporadically rewatching it through a later DVD release, I could quote the movie even with up to over a decade between viewings. Naturally, with the release of the direct to streaming sequel Good Burger 2, we rewatched Good Burger once again and found that, while not a great movie, it had held up surprisingly well 26 years later.

Anastasia (1997)

Looking back on the career of former Disney animator Don Bluth can be an interesting experience. While he did manage to do well early in his solo career, his reputation started to decline after All Dogs Go to Heaven failed to compete against Disney’s The Little Mermaid, as well as his follow-up feature Rock-a-Doodle being not as well received. When Fox attempted to compete against Disney (years prior to the merger) by opening up their own animation department, Fox Animation Studios, Bluth was brought at the helm and his career found a bright spot with the studio’s first film, the acclaimed Anastasia (1997). Unfortunately, the failure of their second theatrical film, Titan A.E., led to the entire studio shutting down and Bluth to all but fall off the face of the Earth. Along with Anastasia’s acclaim came the long-standing misconception that it was Disney film due to sharing a number of elements with their output at the time; while it actually is a Disney film now by virtue of their ownership of Fox, it is, for all intents and purposes, a Fox Animation Studios film and not an entry in the Disney Animated Canon. This confusion is what eventually led to me watching Anastasia out of curiosity, though it was pulled from Disney+ by the time I got around to it and I had to watch it on demand through Starz, and I ended up enjoying it more than I anticipated.

Hercules (1997)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Hercules (1997).

Towards the end of the Disney Renaissance, Disney released their 35th animated feature, Hercules, to good reviews from critics, but underperformed at the box office, especially in comparison to the Disney films that came before it. At the same time, the liberties taken with Greek mythology, especially the Hercules myths on which the film is based, angered Greece enough that the film didn’t have its planned premiere in the country. As a kid at the time, however, I was completely unaware of this and only remember watching it through someone else’s VHS copy, though only certain parts of the film stuck with me. Growing up, however, I got more familiar with the different elements of the film through the heavy representation in the Kingdom Hearts series until, eventually, I finally rewatched the film in time for its 25th anniversary. While I can see now how it’s not that great as an adaptation of the Hercules myth, I did still find it a great film in its own right.

Stubs - Tomorrow Never Dies

Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Jonathan Pryce, Michelle Yeoh, Terri Hatcher, Joe Don Baker, Judi Dench. Directed by Roger Spottiswoode. Screenplay by Bruce Feirstein. Based on James Bond by Ian Fleming. Produced by Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli. Run Time: 119 minutes  U.K. Color. Drama, Espionage.

After reviving the Bond franchise with GoldenEye (1995), there was pressure to come up with a successful follow-up. A lot of the pressure came from MGM and its new owner for the third-time billionaire Kirk Kerkorian. He wanted to take the studio public and what better way than on the heels of a big blockbuster like a Bond film?

But there were problems. With no Ian Fleming novel left to adapt, the new screenplay was based on an original story. This was completed in January 1997. However, the subject matter, which revolved around Hong Kong’s transfer of sovereignty to China, could not be used for a film opening at the end of the year, so the process was forced to start again.

Final Fantasy VII (PS1)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Final Fantasy VII.

As I mentioned in my review of Final Fantasy VII Remake, I’ve had an interesting history with Final Fantasy VII in that I went through more of Compilation of Final Fantasy VII before the actual game. While I thought I could experience the story through Remake, the ending finally gave me the motivation to play through the original game, which I accomplished with my PS1 copy. At this point, I can appreciate what Final Fantasy VII did and why it’s still celebrated today, but as someone who wasn’t there when it first launched, as I was only four years old, there are some flaws I couldn’t overlook.

Spy Fox in "Dry Cereal"

If you grew up during the ‘90s and early ‘00s, there’s a good chance you were either aware of Humongous Entertainment or have played one of their games. This developer specialized in edutainment games, however their particular brand of it is what makes their games more beloved to this day. As a kid, I was one of those people that was aware of their games, though I had always been mildly curious about them when seeing their box arts at my local CompUSA (which is now defunct). I didn’t get the urge to actually play one of their games until I had seen a couple YouTubers I watch play them, and I finally got my chance through a recent Humble Bundle that contained most of their catalog. I wanted to play the Spy Fox series in particular, so I began with the first entry, Spy Fox in “Dry Cereal”, originally released in 1997. Though the game is over 20 years old by now, I thought it actually held up pretty well and I enjoyed it for what it was.

Batman & Robin

When watching movies, you’ll sometimes see one that already has a certain reputation, either good or bad. At this point, it’s best to watch it yourself just to see whether or not it deserves said reputation. You may find that the movie is either overhyped or underappreciated depending on your point of view or how other people have told you about it. In this case, the movie we happened to watch was Batman & Robin (1997), which, even from its initial release, gained and maintained a reputation as one of the worst movies of all time. Even though I haven’t seen Batman Returns (1992) or Batman Forever (1995) from the Burton/Schumacher tetralogy, I still found myself understanding this film’s reputation, though I feel it’s somewhat exaggerated.

Stubs - Men In Black

MEN IN BLACK (1997) Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith, Linda Fiorentino, Vincent D’Onofrio, Rip Torn and Tony Shaloub. Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld. Screenplay by Ed Solomon. Based on the Men in Black Marvel comic series by Lowell Cunningham. Produced by Walter F. Parkes and Laurie McDonald. Run Time: 98. Color. U.S. Science Fiction, Comedy.

It’s summer, which means Hollywood will be coming out with its big blockbusters, several of which will be sequels. So far this summer, it is business as usual. The first big mega film of the year has been Marvel's The Avengers, which is in essence either the ultimate sequel or a film with five prequels depending how you want to look at it. This summer, we’re supposed to line up for Madagascar 3, Batman (the reboot) 3, Ice Age 4, Bourne 4 and Men in Black 3. Lots of new ideas in tinsel town.

Leading up to MIB3, I’ve started to watch its prequels, beginning with the original Men in Black. This was back before Will Smith and family became an entertainment entity all to themselves. He was still the kid from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air fresh off his previous summer hit, Independence Day. Tommy Lee Jones’ career had started in the early 70’s playing a Harvard student in Love Story. He had worked pretty steady since then, perhaps the highlight of his career coming with an Academy Award for The Fugitive in 1993.

Teaming Mr. Jones and Mr. Smith together for a big blockbuster must have seemed like not much of a gamble. The film would go on to reap $589 million, which believe me used to be a lot of money, and it would spawn a sequel five years after that and a second sequel ten years after that.

In Men In Black, Jones and Smith play agents K and J respectively, this probably has more to do with their locker assignment at MIB headquarters than anything else. Men In Black is a secret agency without ties to any one government, but manned primarily by Americans and all of the action takes place, true to its Marvel Comic roots, in and around New York City, which is apparently space alien central. The first time, though, we meet K and his then partner Agent D working along the Mexican border. Interrupting a Border Patrol stop, K and D are looking for a particular type of illegal alien. Not one from south of the border but from outer space. In the back of a smuggler’s truck, they find a man who doesn’t speak or understand Spanish.

When one of the border patrol agents gets too close, K has to blast the alien which sends blue gloop everywhere. This is only the first time someone gets glooped; there is more slime in this movie than a Nickelodeon Awards show. Since the border patrol agents know too much, K has to use a neuralyzer to wipe out the memories of the agents and then next to his partner D, who isn’t up to the job any longer.

As a replacement, K convinces Chief Zed (Rip Torn) into letting him pick James Darrell Edwards III (Smith), a New York policeman who singlehandedly runs down an alien criminal on top of the Guggenheim museum after a long chase through the streets of Manhattan. He is trained on the job as they are confronted with the invasion by Edgar the Bug (Vincent D’Onofrio), who has come to Earth to steal the “Galaxy”. In doing so, he kills not only Edgar, a Mid-west farmer whose skin he wears over his own cockroach body, but two Arquillians who are protecting it. Along the way, they pick up Dr. Laurel Weaver (Linda Fiorentino), who despite being zapped a couple of times by the neuralyzer, is still helpful to the agents. It is in her morgue that one of the Arquillians, barely still alive in his robot human body, tells the agents that the Galaxy is on Orion’s belt.

The agents and the Bug both figure out that the Orion in question is a cat once owned by the Arquillian and the belt is actually Orion’s collar. But the Bug beats the agents back to the morgue and takes Dr. Weaver along as a snack for the trip back to his home planet.

When the Arquillians learn of what is happening they dispatch a fleet to destroy Earth, rather than let the Galaxy fall into enemy hands. J and K have an hour to stop the Bug from leaving the planet and from stealing the Galaxy. Saving the girl is a secondary idea.

The ending takes place at the site of the 1964-65 World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows, which was put on to hide the fact that aliens had landed there. The two Observatory Towers, one of a handful of buildings still standing, were actually alien ships, one of which the Bug is going to fly home now that the MIB have his original space ship.

In the end, K jumps inside the Bug to retrieve his weapon and while J distracts him, K blows the Bug up from inside with more slime to go around. But the Bug is not dead and while K tells J that he has trained him not to be his partner, but to be his replacement, the Bug creeps up behind them. They are only saved because Dr. Weaver picks up J’s weapon and blows the Bug away before he can attack.

J neuralyzes K, who returns to civilian life and to the woman he had to leave behind when he joined MIB. Dr. Weaver, now Agent L, is J’s new partner and all seems right with the world for the moment.

In MIB, Will Smith proves again that he can be funny and heroic, traits that would bode well for his career. His films were usually all box office hits, no matter how good they were, until he apparently stopped acting in 2008. He has become a producer (The Karate Kid) and promoter for his children’s movie ambitions. MIB3 will be his first film in front of the camera since that year’s Seven Pounds.

Tommy Lee Jones has continued to act and was in two films in 2011, including Captain America: The First Avenger, and will be in three films this year.

Linda Fiorentino’s career has slowed to a crawl. Her biggest splash had come in 1994’s The Last Seduction, in which she played a sexy femme fatale opposite Bill Pullman and Battleship director, then actor, Peter Berg. She hasn’t appeared on film since 2009’s Once More With Feeling.

The aliens are nightmare fuel if you are the least bit squeamish about insects, as they all seem to be some form or another of that species. But the teaming of Smith and Jones paid off. As mentioned before, the film was a big success at the time.

The film is fun, but not always a laugh riot, to watch, unless you find bug guts funny. There are some funny lines, mostly spoken by Smith, but it is a sort of gross out comedy, having more in common with Ghostbusters than the work of Woody Allen. Still it was smart summer fare at the time and it does hold up very well.

When you watch the film, knowing that there is a sequel or two to follow, you can’t help but wonder why it took so long to put them together. We’ll take a closer look at MIBII next week on this same blog.