OHHLA

I know. I hear you out there. You're screaming "SETH ROGEN ISN'T FUNNY!" And until this movie, I would have agreed with you. He seemed to play the same lovable (and probably brain fried) dope in every film, and it was such a one note song I was ready for someone to pop the CD out and snap it in two. SURPRISE - this is a movie where Seth Rogen's comedic sensibility actually makes SENSE. He's the spoiled little rich kid who always hated his daddy, who by the grace of bad legal advice (seriously who would leave a publishing empire to their spoiled brat with no strings attached) winds up with a fortune. What to do with unlimited money and craploads of free time? At first he gets even with daddy dearest. Then he decides getting even with REAL bad guys is much more fun. And that's the key to "The Green Hornet" circa 2011 - it's an unapologetic unbridled romp through fun. It's a movie full of gadgets that would make even Q of James Bond fame blush, packed with drug pushing, gun-toting baddies who get their deserved comeuppance despite Britt's relative ineptitude - all thanks to his faithful sidekick Kato. Along the way though Britt discoveries his humanity, regrets his selfish ways, and does so in a way that thankfully DOESN'T come across as preachy condescending Hollywood moralistic crap. Just when you think this movie is going to run out of gas and/or laughs, the big swerve leaves you punch drunk and enthusiastically cheering for the good guys. I was disappointed when there was no bonus scene after the credits - I stayed until the end hoping for one more scene with Britt and Kato hamming it up. That to me is as good an endorsement for why to see this film as you can get.

When this movie popped up on MojoHD I went into it with an open mind since I've always been a huge fan of "Time Bandits," which also happens to be one of the first movies I threw a fit about as a kid when someone accidentally taped over it. Needless to say I've had that film burned into my brain ever since, bought it on DVD as soon as I could, and have professed my love of it repeatedly to friends who watched with me and either "didn't get it" or thought the end was weird and depressing.

Those same friends would probably appreciate Baron Munchausen more since it does have an unambiguous feel-good ending, but at over two hours long I felt the movie had a tendency to drag on. In a day and age where every video at Ye Locale Box Store is "UNRELEASED DIRECTOR'S CUT WITH ADDITIONAL FOOTAGE" I simply can't imagine this movie being any longer. There are plenty of times when you wish they'd cut to the point, as even a dunce can figure out what's going to happen when Baron and the Sultan make a bet with a treasury payoff of "as much as the strongest man can carry." Given the chance I also would have sacked the entire segment with the Baron and Venus. I was positively bored to tears by the whole thing and Uma Thurman was much more attractive in Pulp Fiction.

The movie is visually stunning, especially given the quality of special effects at the time it was filmed, and Robin Williams was an unexpected and pleasant surprise as the King of the Moon. Regardless I repeatedly found myself wondering if Terry Gilliam was in command of all his faculties directing this film, as the kind of zany he espouses is best done in shotgun Monty Python fashion. They say no one expects the Spanish Inquisition, but expect to settle in with more than one box of popcorn and several (caffeinated) beverages for Baron Munchausen - a movie I'd have happily rated one to two notches higher if they had kept all of the same actors and special effects but trimmed out more of that fat.