Congo

I remember being only six years old when my older brother and his friends rented this one night. I watched it with them and now that I am seventeen years old, I feel that this was one of my most cherished memories. Of course i fell asleep near the end of it then, but it was still a really good memory, to watch CONGO with them. And now I have viewed this film fairly recently without falling asleep and have read the Michael Crichton(Jurassic Park, The Andromeda Strain) book. I for one find this film to be very entertaining. Of course it goes without saying that this film is not completely accurate to the book. They have added new characters and added more gory death and less technology and actual factual feeling. The creators could have made this film an interesting sci-fi adventure feature, but instead they have made a B movie. Although the film feels like the former, and did when i was six. This film has enough technology and factual feel to be interesting, but not quite believable. And yet, this for once, is not at all a bad thing. The film is pretty convoluted. It is about a primatologist and a friend who have a talking gorilla(via electronic headset) and decide to go to it's birthplace to see what its like and discover what happened to a team that went their a little while earlier to find a treasure in which Tim Curry randomly appears in a fake accent and pretends to be a companion who is searched for by a stereotypical soldier looking dude who turns out not to be a friend and, yeah. I don't really know how to exactly explain the plot, suffice to say that somehow, the gorilla named Amy and her friends, for some reason, must escape from a helicopter because they are shot at and end up in the jungle, not alone, with all of their crew mates and stuff. And from there on, they must try to avoid danger from snakes, hippos, and a wild pack of mutated monkeys that intend to eat their flesh and kill everyone. I know that this film sounds completely ridiculous and stupidly pointless, but that is really part of the fun. Usually movies are either thought provoking and interesting, or entertaining. This film is very entertaining and funny. This film also has a high body count, with a lot of characters meeting their end in gruesome ways. It takes itself seriously, but not seriously enough to make it not fun. I liked this film as a kid because it was funny and fun. It still works for me.

This movie is a great litmus test. It can be used to separate your friends and family into two categories: fun people vs elitist snobs. The type of people that hate this movie are the same ones that want to argue about mise-en-scene in Argento films and the iconography of Bergman.

Congo is a throw back to the days of the drive-in movie. In those simpler times, movies about lost cities, diamonds and killer gorillas were considered fun. Sometimes, movies are just meant to be fun. Tim Curry gets it, why can't you?

OK, this movie is best watched on a rainy day or when you're pretty bored. The fake looking gorillas were obviously not very well-made, whereas the 1993 film Jurassic Park had familiarized audiences with CG dinosaurs. In fact, CGI was originally planned for the grays, but the technology had not yet been developed to the point where realistic hair could be created. While smooth skinned dinosaurs were possible, hairy apes would have looked inappropriately cartooned. Therefore, animatronics, masks and puppetry had to be utilized. So that was kind of a damper on the special effects as well as Tim Curry's bad acting. The movie could have been a lot better, but it was viewable. If you got over the gorilla puppets and Tim Curry's accent, you have a pretty decent movie. I thought the story was good. It's not Jurassic Park, but it's Michael Crichton. Congo wasn't very realistic, but neither was Jurassic Park. It was like that show "Legends of the Hidden Temple" with intelligent gorillas and science. There was action and a plot. So I could sit and watch it. I'll give it (barely) 6 stars.

I can't speak for anyone else but this movie makes me happy. I know the gorillas aren't real but in my head they are.

It has a great cast and even though the acting may be comedic the whole way through I personally think it works to make the movie better than it would be had they pushed for an overly serious tone.

Highly recommended.

What can you say about a movie like "Congo"? Well, it's silly and underdeveloped with some pretty shabby special effects but god help me, I like it.

The plot is somewhat episodic as multiple different characters with wildly different motives converge on the Congo. One is a communications technician (played nicely by Lauara Linney) who is looking for her fiancé. Another is a Romanain nut case (played by the fabulous Tim Curry) who is looking for a mythical, lost diamond mine. And the last is a gorilla expert returning a talking gorilla back to her natural habitat. I swear, I'm NOT making this up.

The cast as a whole is OK. Linney is appealing, Curry turns in a usual fine job, and cameos from Bruce Campbell and Joe Don Baker add to the quirky atmosphere. Special mention should go to Ernie Hudson, who's roguish charm while not as polished as Harrison Ford's, makes a great Clark Gable/Indiana Jones type-explorer.

The special effects are kind of a mixed bag. The gorillas are obviously stunt-men but the hokeyness is kind of fun. The climax in the temple is also silly but still rousing. Topping all this off, the quirky Jerry Goldsmith score adds considerably to the film as a whole.

Although certainly not a classic or even 100% good, "Congo" is a cheesy, yet entertaining jungle adventure movie and is worth seeing.