Après lui, le déluge

Proving that the Disney studios didn't become cash-mongers solely in the Michael Eisner era, this sequel to 1961's "The Absent Minded Professor" is nothing more than repackaged goods. Lamebrained slapstick has Fred MacMurray returning to role of small town inventor who attempts to save the local high school from ruin. There are a few funny digs at the advertising business but, as with the original, MacMurray's romance problems and his run-ins with the law are dull. Terrific supporting cast (Jack Albertson, Joanna Moore, Paul Lynde, William Demarest) looks like a who's-who of suburban comedies, and the movie is fairly easy to sit through if you don't mind completely innocuous fare, but even the special effects are mechanical. ** from ****

I first saw 1997's "Flubber", starring Robin Williams, not long after it was released on video, and never knew it was a remake at the time, but found that out around the time I watched the movie again many years later. That was how I later got around to watching the original 1961 film, "The AbsentMinded Professor", starring Fred MacMurray. It's been nearly a year and a half since I watched that film, but I still remember thinking it was better than the lacklustre remake. "Son of Flubber" is the 1963 sequel to the 1961 live action Disney movie, so I was bound to end up watching it eventually. As with most sequels, I was expecting this one to be downhill from the original, and I think it is (just slightly), but it's definitely still better than the 1997 movie.

Professor Ned Brainard has introduced his invention of Flubber to the U.S. military, but when he goes to get paid for his amazing invention, he learns that the Pentagon has decided that the substance must be kept top secret, and they can't give the professor his payment for it yet. This doesn't help the fact that the future of Medfield College is once again in jeopardy due to financial problems, and that Ned and his wife, Betsy are broke and get a huge tax bill. However, the absent-minded physical chemistry professor has a new discovery which he hasn't unleashed upon the world yet. It's called Flubber gas, and it can change the weather! He believes this new gas can end his current troubles, and Biff Hawk plans to use it to help the college football team win a game. However, as Ned experiments with this Flubber gas, he ends up causing trouble which he is unaware of, and he also finds that his marriage is in trouble.

This sequel didn't seem that interesting to me at first when I got around to watching it, but that soon changed. As a comedy, "Son of Flubber" certainly isn't hilarious, but the gags are often funny, even if there are no huge laughs. Memorable ones include the scenes with a certain Medfield College football player's uniform filled with Flubber gas, Ned making it rain inside with his new invisible substance and the way the dog reacts to it, and the professor not realizing that the Flubber gas is making glass shatter all over town, with people not knowing how it's happening! However, there also may be times when it gets a little too silly, and I wouldn't say most of the film is really that funny. Still, at least I can say I laughed at times, definitely more often than I did when I last watched "Flubber", the 1997 film. Aside from the humour, the story isn't exactly great, but it was enough to hold my interest, at least somewhat, though it did seem a tad overlong to me. I also think the cast is mostly good here, including Fred MacMurray.

Since I waited quite a while to watch this sequel after watching "The AbsentMinded Professor" early last year, they're not as easy for me to compare as they would be if I had watched one just after the other. However, I clearly remember that I wasn't amazed by the 1961 Disney film, but still thought it was pretty good family fare, and unsurprisingly a case where the original is superior to the remake. This 1963 sequel isn't as popular as its predecessor, and even though I watched it a while after the original, I guess I can understand that, but it does come close in quality. Neither is an absolute classic (many animated Disney films that Walt Disney was around to produce are superior to these two live action ones made only several years before his death), but they still have their charm decades after they were originally released in the early 60's, even if this one was more of a cash-in and didn't have much new to offer after the original.

this sequel to The Absent Minded Professor is actually a better movie.i found it funnier,more entertaining and it had a better story.the character were expanded a bit more,which makes sense,since it is a sequel.unlike Professor,this one doesn't have any slow or boring moments.it's much better paced.i like the fact that the wife had more to do in this one.the movie is just as silly,but it's meant to be,and if you keep that in mind going in,you'll probably enjoy it more.it's not high art or anything,but it will keep you entertained for 102 minutes or so.and it's fun for the whole family.my vote for The Son of Flubber:6.5/10

By the time Son of Flubber was released by Walt Disney in 1963, Fred MacMurray was firmly established in the third phase of his career as star of G-rated Disney films and television situation comedies. MacMurray was able to do this because of a unique clause he had written into his contract with CBS which produced the My Three Sons show that he starred in for a dozen or so years. All of MacMurray's scenes in all episodes were filmed at the beginning of the cycle so as to allow him to do those Disney films as well. It worked out great for him.

Disney took virtually the entire cast of The Absent Minded Professor and added several new faces as well. In the previous film, MacMurray revolutionizes rubber by making a substance that bounces higher with each bounce than lower. That film ends with MacMurray flying to Washington in his Model T (you read it right) to give flubber for the defense of the free world.

But Washington, DC red tape being what it is MacMurray and his new bride Nancy Olson aren't seeing any money any time soon. But not to worry, Fred's found a byproduct of flubber that he calls flubber gas. A lighter than air substance that really makes anything fly.

In the first film, MacMurray used his college's basketball team as a test for flubber. In Son of Flubber, flubber gas is tested during a football game with the same hilarious results. In fact more so because in this film Paul Lynde is the stressed and harried play by play announcer of the college football game. For me he's the highlight of the film.

In Son of Flubber, Disney gives us an entertaining and worthy successor to the Absent Minded Professor that after almost fifty years will still appeal to anyone not made of stone.

Perhaps it's just the vivid memories from my childhood, but this is a far underrated Disney film from the 60s. Is it moving? Not really. Is it groundbreaking? Not really. Is it the best Disney film ever made? Not even close. But something about this film entertains me even as an adult.

There are a few sequences in this film that are comedy gold. I laughed hysterically as a kid. But even now that I'm a grown man, I can't help but find these sequences still hilarious.

It's a really whacky film with whacky characters and whacky scenes. But you know what? It's also a unique film. It's a snapshot of 1960s Americana that's very, very special, in my opinion, and even better than the first installment The Absent Minded Professor.