Mr. Magoo

This film is inspired by an old cartoon character, Mr. Magoo, a nice old man who refuses to wear glasses even though he is myopic and who, because of that, gets involved in comic confusions from which he always leaves unharmed (mostly by pure luck). The plot revolves around the theft of a huge ruby. Of course, given the comic and stereotyped kind of film and characters, I didn't expect a lot of verisimilitude on this plot, so I wasn't disappointed by it, but I understand those who has something to say on this. The lead character is played by Leslie Neilsen, an actor who has become a synonym for comedy and doesn't leave us disappointed. He is great at his work and manages to bring charm and joy to the character, making him enjoyable. Jokes are generally good but, after some time, we have already guessed what will happen. The rest of the cast does a fairly decent supporting job but doesn't have room for do much more. Villains are usually as clumsy as Magoo except for Luanne, a cunning and seductive villain played by Kelly Lynch.

The big problem with this movie is that it ends up being a guilty pleasure. We're laughing at a blind man, a handicapped person, and that makes us feel a little guilty and angry at the movie. The truth is that today it's fashionable to be politically correct, and I cannot think of a more politically incorrect character than Mr. Magoo, as lovely as he can be. The film itself seems to have this awareness, allowing the audience to guess the jokes before they happen and avoiding discomfort. Its super funny and has quality, but was punished by the public due to this feeling of guilt.

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.

Ha! Ha! Ha! I laughed all the movie. Leslie Nielsen knows how to make "stupid" movies. It's not the comedy of the year but it's great for family and friends who want to take a break from BIG BANG movies.

My Vote: 6/10

I don't mind watching Leslie Neilsen as he is quite funny at times. This movie is really aimed at very young children who will find the slapstick gags extremely funny and not so lame as the rest of us think! The gags are pretty lame and repetetive, but, oddly enough, I liked the movie. It had a charm and a nice warmness that made me enjoy it!

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.