Dudley Do-Right

Dudley Do-Right, Canadian Mountie (Brendan Fraser) is on his post in a remote village in Canada. A lifelong resident of the area, it was Dudley's childhood dream to become a Mountie. He lives in a small cabin with only his horse, Horse, as a companion. Yet, two people from Dudley's past resurface in the small, nearby village. One is Nell (Sara Jessica Parker) who Dudley has loved since their tweenage years. She has returned from a trip around the world and is more lovely than ever. But, alas, the other returnee is the dastardly Snidely Whiplash (Alfred Molina). He was Dudley's rival for Nell's affections long ago, despite his evil and conniving ways. Soon, Snidely has taken over the town's businesses, by hook and by crook, and is making a big play for Nell's attention while Dudley manages to upset the ruling party in Ottawa and is fired from his post. The world is looking pretty harsh to Dudley, that is for certain. Will he recover his job and win the heart of Nell? This is a second, cartoon-based film for Fraser, after the infinitely more successful George of the Jungle. The same creative minds were at work here but the results are far from perfect. Don't blame the cast, however, for Fraser, Parker, and Molina, with a bit of help from Eric Idle and Alex Rocco, are the reasons to see the film at all. Simply put, they are terrific and rise above the mundane script and uneven direction. Certainly, there are some very funny scenes, such as the one in which Snidely orders a poor lady and her children out of their home or where Dudley has the bad luck to have a moose head fall on him during a critical moment with Nell. Now, that's entertainment. Unfortunately, though, a few good scenes do not a great film make. Yet, if you like silly nonsense with likable stars, you might take a chance with this film. Yes, it may elicit a yawn here or there, but it's truly not a bad way to spend a couple of leisure hours.

During his rise to stardom, Brendan Fraser had become quite the leading man when it came to films in the family and adventure genres. After getting his big break with Disney in Jay Ward's live-action George of the Jungle (1997) and landed in the smash hit movie reboot The Mummy (1999), he had the reputation as a solid bankable star. Which naturally led him back to participating in a film quite similar to that of George of the Jungle (1997). Stepping back into the cartoon live-action genre, Fraser landed the role of Dudley Do-Right (1999), another Jay Ward based cartoon. Sadly, this one didn't have the same appeal. While it does have its moments there are several problems too.

The Dudley Do-Right (1969) cartoon was a short lived show that didn't make it past 1 season and was very much similar in plot to that of Popeye. For this feature, it was kept the same where Dudley Do-Right (Brendan Fraser) the protagonist has been working to do his best to outsmart Snidely Whiplash (Alfred Molina), his childhood (now grown up) arch enemy. Together these two old foes square off for the affections of Nell Fenwick (Sarah Jessica Parker) who can't seem to make up her mind as to who is the better individual. As if it was hard to tell. The adaption was written and directed by Hugh Wilson, a veteran of many comedies in the past like Police Academy (1984) and Rhustler's Rhapsody (1985). The difference is, those were original works.

Here Wilson seems to struggle between what exactly is necessary and what isn't for a number of components. Right from the start, the movie begins with a Jay Ward Short under the "Fractured Fairy Tales" banner. Unlike George of the Jungle (1997) and even The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle, which began as cartoons and led into the live action feature. Here the cartoon short is comical, but completely unrelated to the feature. What is the point? But that's not the only thing that drags, the pacing tends to feel overly drawn out for needless reasons too. There's a number of scenes where dance numbers take center stage over carrying the plot through. They are well choreographed, but that doesn't take away the pointlessness of having it.

There's also weak character development among the main characters. Nell really doesn't change and neither does Snidely. Really it's just Dudley who is shown this from a hobo played by Eric Idle. And while there are certain aspects to the supporting characters that can be important, most don't move the plot. There's also appearances from Robert Prosky as Nell's father. Alex Rocco plays the Chief of a Native American tribe and Jack Kehler plays one of Snidely's right hand henchmen. Lastly there's Corey Burton who oddly enough sounds like Keith Scott's impression of the narrator from George of the Jungle (1997) and The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle (2000). All in all, the actors act okay. It's just the script that stilts them in making their characters any more likable.

Cinematography on the other hand was well shot by Donald E. Thorin, cameraman of Lock Up (1989), Tango & Cash (1989) and Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995). Again, while some scenes were not crucial to have in the picture, they were all competently filmed with a wide angle lens. As for music, Steve Dorff served as composer to the film. And while an official soundtrack nor score was released, the music matches the scenes at hand and the TV show theme is revisited. Out of the three cartoon movies mentioned, The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle (2000) was the only film to get its own score released. So weird.

This cartoon live-action adaptation isn't as bad as the score says it is, but it is not that great either. There are some funny moments, the actors try, the camerawork is well done and the music fits. Yet there are several over padded scenes, little character development and unneeded characters.

What we have here is a failure to communicate any of the satire created by genius Jay Ward! Mr. Wilson made so many mistakes in telling Dudley's story that I believe this is simply not the Dudley Do-Right story, this was someone elses story. The set up should have centered more on the Mounties and less on Whiplash's plan, which dominated the entire film. Never once did Dudley have to rescue Nell, in fact, she seemed smittened by Whiplash. This gave less-than-attractive Sara Jessica Parker very little to do, not that as an actress, she has much to bring to the table. Aside from this, her character, Nell, was (under) written as though the writer (s) didn't want the character in the first place. Maybe, because Parker was re-cast in the role. Second Choice?

The character of Horse, which could have been an interesting character asset to Dudley were is not for the fact that he disappears a quarter into the film without explanation, was handled wrong. Likewise, Eric Idle's character seemed as though he might have been three separate characters in an original draft of the script. And now strung together, so the producers could use Idle's talents.

The flavor of the original cartoon is no where to be found.

Fraser and Alex Rocco were as wonderful as Parker and Molina were not up to snuff. However considering what they had to work with -- they were all okay ... silly set-ups, no pay offs and a script that seemed aimless at times leaves devotees of genius Jay Ward saddened.

Brendan Fraser wasted his time and talent and Sarah Jessica Parker made the biggest movie mistake in choosing to star in "Dudley Do-Right."

"Dudley Do-Right" is the type of movie everyone hopes will be a success. Unfortunately, the writing did not measure up to the level of talent that signed on to the movie. It is always fun to watch comedic spoofs if they are written well and are logical. However, this film broke both these rules.

It was clear that there was no plot or humor in "Dudley Do-Right." The only thing that made it bearable was the narrator because he is the only character who kept my interest.

SKIP this movie because you will be sorely disappointed if you don't

Jay Ward's cute but bland cartoon about Canada's No. #1 Mountie plays even worse when brought to the big screen as a live-action comic adventure. Brendan Fraser is spirited and very adept at buffoonish slapstick, but he's not the right actor for Dudley Do-Right; he's a big, handsome lunk, and he's cheerful enough, but he doesn't know how to mug, nor is he helped by his limited voice (a deep monotone). It's always nice to see Sarah Jessica Parker in a film, but she isn't cast right either; as love-interest Nell, Parker gets no funny lines, she's too modern and grounded a presence, although she does help enliven a dance sequence about 47 minutes into the proceedings. Alfred Molina attempts to have fun as egomaniacal villain Snidely Whiplash, but his voice and fake mustache are his only props. The pithy announcer gets some dryly comic lines and Dudley's horse (named Horse, ha ha) shoots off a few raspberries, but this is a very dim slapstick vehicle, short on inspiration, poorly conceived and even more unmemorable than its cartoon predecessor. * from ****