Jacob Two Two Meets the Hooded Fang

I probably came across this at the best time - 3 a.m. while channel surfing. I could not believe this was Gary Busey. And, then, imagine my surprise when I also learned it was Miranda Richardson. What? Were these people at the work house? Had they fallen so low as to do this dreck?

One might possibly term this a warmed over Captain Hook story where for some reason (all right, I did miss the beginning) children were imprisoned by a demented ex-wrestler who demanded that they keep a fog machine in operation so that their prison could remain hidden.

I know this is a children's movie but I don't even think a 5-year-old would have bought this story.

For shame.

I love the movie. Gary Busey does an excellent villian. The producer and the writer did an excellent job. The plot was good too. The songs are good in here. Ice-T does a good rap song. It's a kid movie, that's for sure. I would show it to my kid. It's pretty weird and pretty good.

Jacob Two Two is the best movie I have ever seen! I am stunned that it did not even get an oscar nod..Gary Busey plays the role of a lifetime, and Jacob is super cool. ICE-T drops some funky raps too! All in all, I have not seen a better movie since The Langoliers. Truly a film for all ages.

I actually did see the previous film version of the classic children's book as a child - in fact, it's one of the few Canadian films I have seen in a theater. I don't remember too much about the previous version, except that it stuck pretty close to the book. When the opportunity came to see this remake, I decided to give it a chance - especially since it was a chance to see it free, and I have been burned too many times from other government-funded Canadian films.

I didn't think this version worked for a number of reasons, mainly the following three:

(1) It's pretty cheap. Now, I will admit that the production values of this movie are superior to the no-budget original movie, but the movie still looks pretty shabby. Even the scenes that take place outdoors in the "real world" look undernourished.

(2) The child actor playing Jacob Two Two was very uncharismatic. I suppose some people will give him slack because he's just a child, but I have seen over the years a number of child actors his age who could easily beat him at the acting game.

(3) The decision to make this as a musical was a bad one. Now, it COULD have worked. But the songs in this movie are HORRIBLE. There is not one song that is memorable or catchy enough that you'll be humming afterwards There is a faint pulse of life with the scenes involving Gary Busey. But even then, he seems to be phoning in a lot of his dialogue. I suspect that he felt defeated by being in this low-budget foreign (to him) production, and decided to quickly get through his scenes without working at making his role REALLY memorable and campy. I suspect that even kids who watch this movie will notice this, and the movie's other problems.

This 1999 remake of a 1970's film was much better than the original. Gary Busey puts in (as usual) a great performance. The supporting cast of Ice-T, Mark McKinney and Miranda Richardson all give equally good performances. The kids in the movie give marginal performances but are acceptable.

The plot involves a young boy who gets hit on the head and finds himself in court where he is sentenced to slime island, a place where the hooded fang imprisons children for such offenses.

It also has a heart warming ending that teaches a moral lesson. Not bad for a kid flick these days!

If you liked Nightmare before Christmas or James and the Giant Peach, this one has that same Burtonesque feel to it.

Your kids under 8 will thoroughly enjoy this one. You may not. Look at it this way -- kids adore the purple dinosaur and the blue dog, but wouldn't you just like to beat the snot out of both of them? Bottom line is that if you watch it with your kids you'll enjoy it but if you took your saturday night date to the theater to see it, you will probably want to write a vicious, myopic review on IMDB.