Mr. Magoo

There's a part of me that knows what a godawful, scattershot mess Mr. Magoo is. That part of me begs reason, implores myself to recognize the boldfaced stupidity and flagrant dips into shameless, moronic lowbrow humour barely worthy of a troupe of chimps. There's also another part of me that absolutely loves the movie for all of the reasons just outlined. OK, so I watched it a lot as a kid, and have that nostalgia for it that one can only have with a fond childhood memory of something. But even so, all ridiculousness taken into account, it's a silly bit of fun that doesn't quite capture the tone of the famous cartoon, but fires away on its own whacko cylinders for ninety minutes of eyebrow raising, idiotic bliss. Leslie Nielsen, who has made a career of playing disastrous buffoons, portrays Mr. Magoo, a near sighted elderly gent whose visual impairment leads him on all sorts of adventures and odd situations, which the movie doesn't hesitate to illustrate in bold, silly fashion that gives the animated source material a run for its money. When a valuable foreign jewel which his charitable foundation is tasked with presenting is stolen, he and his asinine nephew Waldo (terminally awkward Matt Keesler) are led on a goose chase to find the two thieves, laughably sultry Kelly Lynch and dimbulb Nick Chinlund. That's about as far as plot goes, and it's all the blueprint you need for the cascade of slapstick muck that bombards your good taste for the better part of an hour and a half. One has to give credit to the stunt crew, who create scene after scene of madness for Nielsen and crew to parade through, from a snow chase on an ironing board, to a South American waterfall derby and all kinds of messiness in between. Some truly talented people got dragged into this, including Jennifer Garner as an Eastern European (HA!), Stephen Tobolowsky as an overzealous, bumbling fed who borders on certifiable, beloved Ernie Hudson as another law enforcement stooge, Miguel Ferrer as a Peruvian drug lord, and the one and only Malcolm McDowell as a sinister crime boss (who else?). The Vancouver locations are cool, especially an over the top Grouse Mountain set showdown. Like I said, it's a whole lot of dumb dumb, and don't say I didn't warn you. But it's also so much Fricken fun, man.

Mr Magoo is as wealthy as he is short-sighted and it is this combination that sees him trapped in the museum he is patron of late one night, when a robbery occurs. The CCTV footage makes him look like he was in on it and the FBI/CIA investigation focuses on him as they try to locate a stolen diamond while keeping the robbery on the low-down. Meanwhile, as he fishes, Magoo manages to have the stolen jewel dropped into his fishing box (best not to ask how) and thus is unwittingly pursued by thieves and cops.

OK. This is based on a old cartoon character so I tried to ignore the modern PC outrage over this film by disabled groups protesting the depiction of partial blindness. According to IMDb it was this that saw the film sliding into video obscurity however I beg to differ. I was outraged by this film – but not for the reasons of objecting to the fact that it gets laughs out of a disability, but rather the fact that it totally fails to get laughs out of a disability. I'd love to pretend to be politically correct and sensitive but there we go! No, the main problem I had with the film is that it is simply not funny. Obviously the gags are all pretty obvious and can be seen coming from miles off but it still surprised me by how lazy it all was.

The plot makes no sense but this was perhaps to be expected, however the total delivery is poor. A constantly "wacky" score is forced upon us in a desperate attempt to make us believe that it is hilarious when it is not. Nielsen was a great choice for the lead but even he can do nothing with this rot and in failing to improve it he just becomes part of the problem. The support cast features turns from Garner, Hudson, Tobolowsky, Lynch, Ferrer and McDowell all of whom are either wasted, look embarrassed or both. As director Tong seems to worry that the jokes will surprise his audience and, I assume, fearing injury from split sides, makes sure that we all get a chance to see each and every gag coming from quite a distance.

Overall then, a film that will appeal to few audience demographics outside of children and those currently drunk. The jokes are obvious and lazy and all that is left is a terrible plot that (perhaps correctly) assumes the audience has the IQ of a basket and just hopes that a man stumbling around is enough to make it – for me personally, it wasn't.

The movie "Mr. Magoo" is an adaptation of the popular cartoon. For what it's worth, it does a good job of presenting itself as a live-action cartoon. Leslie Nielsen has made a career of acting in screwball comedy. He seems to fit his role well as the famously weak-eyed character. In this day and age of political correctness, making a movie such as this was bound to raise a few hackles. The little disclaimer run by Disney about the blind should give you an idea what the PC movement has done to movies today. The point of the cartoon was not to put down the blind at all. So forget what others say, and look this "Magoo" over!

Mr. Magoo, a favorite cartoon character, is brought to life by the comical Leslie Nielsen. As a millionaire and art lover, Magoo opens the exhibit of a large, beautiful ruby at the local museum. Soon after, jewel thieves break into the museum and steal the gem. However, through a series of mishaps, it ends up in the tackle box of Mr. Magoo. The thieves are then, of course, after Mr. Magoo and go through many twists and turns to recover the ruby. Along the way, there are car chases, boat chases, and helicopter chases. There are even baboon chases. Will be stunning jewel end up with the good guys of the film (such as Mr. Magoo) or will it ultimately be taken by the thieves?

This film is by no means a gem of a movie. Yet, it is watchable (especially the second half) and mildly humorous. Kelly Lynch seems to relish her role as a female thief. Mr. Magoo also keeps a little English bulldog whose appearances are always welcome. This viewer purchased the video for $1.00 at the secondhand store and feels she got her money's worth and more. Recommended as acceptable family entertainment for a break from the regular television schedule.

I love the animated version of Mr. Magoo and was disappointed by the film version. The character has come under fire for mocking the disabled because of his deafness but he really is the hero each time and it makes a change for a hero to not be in full compliment of his faculties. The film tries but fails to capture the true magic of the bumbler from the cartoons but Leslie Nielsen looks uncomfortable here as more serious roles suit him better. Mr Magoo was always a two joke affair: 1) He couldn't see well and 2) he always made little quips and remarks to himself. Not something that would lend itself easily to an hour+ motion picture. In this case, the late Nielsen's charisma and a few decent gags make this run-of-the-mill, late 90's Disney-cartoon-adaptation a little more tolerable than most of its despised peers.

Overall rating: 6 out of 10.