American Werewolf in Paris

I enjoyed this movie. Its not in the same league as the Original (An American Werewolf in London), but fun all the same. I think a lot of the reviewers on here have gave it a bad write-up, because they were probably comparing it to the original too much.

6 out of 10 ... It's worth watching.

5.5 out of 10

Werewolf movies are usually alarmingly bad, even though they should, in theory, make for more interesting villains than vampires, zombies, and slashers. But An American Werewolf in Paris is an exception, sort of. Tom Everett Scott stars as a daredevil who tours Europe with his buddies, performing outrageous stunts. During one particular escapade, he saves the life of a young woman (Julie Delpy) who tries to commite suicide. Thinking she's the girl of his dreams, little does he know what he's getting into.

Paris tries to be a mixture of different genres: it wants to work as a horror film (to a mild extent), an action/adventure, and as a comedy. Dog Soldiers was definitely far superior at these aspects, but AAWIP's campy approach makes it a decent timewaster. There's not a single boring moment, though a lot of the material is admittedly very silly. Thankfully, none of it's taken very seriously, and some of the humor is actually very funny. Scott and Delpy (who's probably the third most beautiful French actress I've ever seen, behind only Mathilda May and Sophie Marceau) have good chemistry together, even if Scott's performance is a little on and off. The werewolf effects are obviously CGI, but more "serious" effects work would have ruined the campy mood.

"An American Werewolf in Paris" is an excellent horror-comedy, in the great tradition of "The Lost Boys" and "Fright Night". I see that a lot of people dislike this movie. These are obviously hardcore horror fans who wanted to see something dark and gothic; but instead got something blackly humorous and were not amused by it. I admit, "An American Werewolf in Paris" is not really scary, but neither are "The Lost Boys" and "Fright Night," and those two movies seem to be highly regarded by horror fans. I don't understand why everyone hates this one so much. If you are a fan of horror-comedies, or if you have a morbid sense of humor, this is definitely for you. I think it's great: nine out of ten stars (On a one star DVD, I should say. It would have been nice to have some extra features besides the trailer.)

OK, so I don't know why they decided to make another movie about a Yankee college student going to a European capital and becoming a lycanthrope. But still, "An American Werewolf in Paris" definitely has its moments. Some scenes were no doubt thrown in for comic relief, like "You can't just pop up and tell me what to do." I agree with a previous reviewer that people who slam this movie are comparing it too much to "An American Werewolf in London". Maybe there's a slight feeling of that one, but you have to take this one as something new - and rather campy - to really enjoy it. Tom Everett Scott and Julie Delpy do a pretty cool job. But either way, I think that I've had my fill of movies about US citizens becoming lycanthropes in the Old Continent.

So what do YOU plan to do the next time that there's a full moon?

If you want a great plot, terrific special effects, good humor and characters you can really care about, rent An American Werewolf in LONDON. Stay away from this tripe.

For one thing, the supposedly high-tech special effects are terribly disappointing. Hard to believe that even though the original movie was made 14 years before this one, its SFX are actually more realistic, mostly because the transformation scenes in this movie often happen either off-camera or while the character is running behind something.

Also, the humor in the movie falls short. Granted, the "chewing gum" skit was pretty funny, but as I walked out of the theatre I was pretty ashamed of myself for laughing at such an immature joke. The Eiffel Tower scene is funny only because of its felonious breaking of the laws of physics (Uh, since the Tower spreads outward, wouldn't these bungee jumpers wind up slamming into it at some point during their fall?)

And finally, the plot is simply insulting. Even though the original movie had little more behind its story than "I'm a werewolf, oh no" that is even better than this stereotypical drivel about an anti-American punk who wants to "purify" the world from the country. If that's not bad enough, their method (luring Gen-X tourists into a club to meet their grisly deaths) is awful inefficient. And to top it off, there are numerous mentions and depictions of eating/drinking someone's heart (including a scene in which Julie Delpy sticks a human heart in a blender - yummy), none of which are suitable for anyone with a stomach.

As stated in the beginning, if you really want to see a good werewolf movie, the original 1983 film will suit you just fine. But if you rent this one, be warned: the producers and writers spent more time getting Bush to sing the theme song than they did writing the plot.