Kangaroo Jack

I was fooled by the packaging. I expected the movie to be about a kangaroo. It was - but just barely. I even thought it would be about a talking kangaroo. It was - but only for a moment. It was advertised as fodder for kids. Well, it tends to remain in the general audience vein with brief strays into light-hearted sexual innuendo. No, here the kangaroo is simply incidental to the actual story which isn't that compelling to start with. It is mostly a CGI kangaroo and not always a very good one. When the animal is actually on the screen it tends to almost be annoying because it tends to come across as a commercial. Sort of like .... meanwhile, here is what the kangaroo is doing. It breaks up the storyline with somewhat lame attempts at the kangaroo trying to be funny. Completely unnecessary. As for the story - it could have actually been a good Mafia-lite film in a way. The resulting revelation about the purpose of the kangaroo hijacked envelope of money was the most interesting part of the film. There are some amusing sequences but nearly none have anything to do with the kangaroo. Why was the kangaroo billed as the star? I don't know. Even as the film ends the kangaroo soliloquies that he is the star and finally gets to performing in the way I originally thought the film was going to convey. By the end of the film I felt somewhat betrayed. I was waiting for a kangaroo that never really happened.

Two Brooklyn friends (Jerry O'Connell and Anthony Anderson) are commissioned by a mob boss (Christopher Walken) to deliver $50,000 to a shady character in the Outback. The operation goes awry when a kangaroo inadvertently runs off with one of the guys' jacket... and the money. Michael Shannon is on hand as a mob heavy.

"Kangaroo Jack" (2003) is a likable family-friendly adventure/comedy with the typical eye-rolling kid humor (e.g. Fart jokes). It's fun, harmless hokum highlighted by spectacular Australian cinematography and the beautiful Estella Warren as an Outback preservationist. The humorous camaraderie of the protagonists is another highpoint. But the story isn't as compelling as I hoped it would be and the camera never really captures Estella's beauty beyond her lovely face and bosom.

It runs 1 hour, 29 minutes and was shot in Australia and Brooklyn with reshoots done in Los Angeles.

GRADE: C+

Get stoned and watch this movie. You'll laugh a lot for sure! But nevertheless, it does not deserve this much hate? Of course plot holes, corny parts, but damn Anthony Anderson is hilarious, Michael Shannon is always awesome... COME ON!

I am very hard on Movies and will admit that this is a Silly kind of movie but it was easy to follow and was in all honesty, very, very funny. Better than most Adam Sandler movies and minus all the language and sexual content that Sandler and others seem to sneak into movies they try and sell to "kids". This is a typical O'Connell role and he plays it well. Estella Warren spices it up and keeps her integrity as an actress in check. She looks good no matter what she does anyway but the movie does not lower her standards at all. It is a great movie for the adults to laugh with and the kids in the theatre were having a blast. Plus, anytime Movie Critics trash a film, the odds are it will be a weekend Number #1 movie and you will like it. It did $18 million on the open and will clear $40 mil easily. Not bad for the budget it was made with. Good Job Bruck... 6 stars out of 10....

Have a great time and don't be to picky or critical. It is a movie about a Kangaroo after all!!

Seriously, this movie is the best one ever.

It inspired my life dream of traveling to Australia to adopt baby kangaroos. This movie DOES NOT deserve a 4.4/10, it deserves a 14.4/10!!!!!!!! I couldn't love this movie more, it was totally fire and interesting and artistic and amazing and fantastic.

If people can't the artistic genius found in this movie you're nuts! Anyways go and watch this movie. it will be the best decision you will ever have made Get your life together people...Comments like "piss poor directing" and "foully awful acting are out of line.

Keep up the amazing work David McNally