{"id":6054,"date":"2024-10-15T00:09:44","date_gmt":"2024-10-15T04:09:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=6054"},"modified":"2024-10-15T00:09:44","modified_gmt":"2024-10-15T04:09:44","slug":"dudley-do-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/10\/15\/dudley-do-right\/","title":{"rendered":"Dudley Do-Right"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Dudley Do-Right <\/strong>(1999)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Universal\/Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 77 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (mild comic action violence, brief language and innuendo)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Hugh Wilson\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Hugh Wilson\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Steve Dorff\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Donald E. Thorin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: August 27, 1999 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Brendan Fraser, Sarah Jessica Parker, Alfred Molina, Eric Idle, Robert Prosky, Alex Rocco, Jack Kehler, Louis Mustillo, Don Yesso, Jed Rees, Brant von Hoffman, Corey Burton (narrator), Dyllan Christopher, Ashley Yarman, Jeremy Bergman.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $9.9M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: *<\/p>\n

\u00a0No, Dudley Done-Wrong, VERY wrong! It might be corny, but it\u2019s the only way to describe the live-action adaptation of Dudley Do-Right<\/strong>. Brendan Fraser (George of the Jungle), in his second movie based on a Jay Ward cartoon, plays the cheerful and upright but dimwitted Canadian Mountie forever in pursuit of the villainous Snidely Whiplash (Molina, Boogie Nights). I liked the original cartoon shorts which were part of The Rocky & Bullwinkle Show. I don\u2019t like the live-action version. It neither amuses nor entertains. It only reminds us, as if we needed reminding, that not all cartoons should receive the LA treatment. It\u2019s almost as bad as Mr. Magoo.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Nobody can ever accuse Dudley Do-Right<\/strong> of not having a plot. It has one, but it\u2019s crammed into the first 15-20 minutes. For the sake of simplicity, I\u2019ll lay it out for you. Snidely Whiplash creates a creates a false gold rush in order to attract prospectors to \u201cWhiplash City\u201d (formerly Semi-Happy Valley) where he plans to get rich by fleecing the newcomers. That is, after he frightens off the locals with rumors of vampires lurking in the dark. Of course, our hero is dumb enough to believe Snidely\u2019s story.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The next 40-45 minutes of Dudley Do-Right<\/strong> consists of endless scenes of Snidely constantly getting the better of Dudley, both professionally and personally. He gets the Mountie fired after he takes his concerns to a corrupt politician in Snidely\u2019s pocket. They both love the same girl, Nell Fenwick (Parker, Hocus Pocus), who\u2019s back in town after getting an Ivy League education, seeing the world and serving as US Ambassador to Guam. At one point, hero and foe have a literal tug-of-war with fickle Nell in the middle. Then comes the inevitable moment when Dudley turns the tables on Snidely by doing battle on the villain\u2019s own wicked terms. It leads to a final showdown that also involves a group of local natives called \u201cThe Kumquat Tribe\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It could be argued that one star is far too generous a rating for Dudley Do-Right<\/strong>. I wanted to give it a lower rating. Technically, it deserves it. Directed by Hugh Wilson (Police Academy), it strains for laughs without eliciting a single one. It is colossally unfunny. Its attempts at slapstick are clunky and forced. It\u2019s not funny the first time Dudley steps on a loose floorboard and gets slammed in the face let alone the tenth time. The same goes for the many hits our hero receives to the head, groin and other parts of the body. While the original source was never known for its intellectual content, the movie is just plain stupid. It contains none of the wit Jay Ward injected into the cartoons. At only 77 minutes, Dudley Do-Right <\/strong>is dull. While the hero fights the villain on-screen, the viewer fights to stay awake off-screen. However, this is a fight he\/she won\u2019t mind losing.<\/p>\n

\u00a0So why a full star for Dudley Do-Right<\/strong>? It has one or two semi-bright spots. The first is Parker as Nell. She has this wide-eyed charm I find appealing. I could call the makers out for changing her character from a ditzy damsel-in distress to a ditzy liberated woman. I realize such a revision is inevitable in this post-feminist age, but I missed the obligatory scene of Dudley rescuing Nell after Snidely ties her to the railroad tracks. Either way, Parker is the movie\u2019s sole source of appeal. The other not-terrible part is a well-choreographed dance number featuring Dudley and Snidely vying for the attentions of Nell while a group of older locals sings \u201cDid You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind\u201d. It\u2019s the only time when Dudley Do-Right<\/strong> doesn\u2019t trip over itself. The rest is just painful.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Although he tries to bring the same goofy sensibility to Dudley that he did George of the Jungle, Fraser doesn\u2019t quite hit the mark. He spends most of the movie walking around with a big dopey grin on his face. That is, when he\u2019s not falling over something or getting hit with some object. Molina\u2019s portrayal of Snidely Whiplash is forced at best. He looks like he\u2019s pretending to have fun with the role. In reality, he\u2019s probably thinking about firing his agent for allowing him to sign on for this mess (and it IS a mess).<\/p>\n

\u00a0Eric Idle (of Monty Python) is simply wasted here as the poor prospector who first \u201cdiscovers\u201d gold in Semi-Happy Valley. He becomes rich and famous, even appearing on Regis & Kathie Lee. Later, he becomes Jedi Master to Dudley at his lowest point. He\u2019s better than the material deserves. The same can be said of Robert Prosky (Mrs. Doubtfire) who shows up in a few scenes as Dudley\u2019s boss and Nell\u2019s father. As for Dudley\u2019s horse \u201cHorse\u201d at least he had the good sense to run away early on and remain absent for most of the movie. Talk about good old-fashioned horse sense.<\/p>\n

\u00a0More than two decades later, I still can\u2019t believe it cost $70 million to make Dudley Do-Right<\/strong>. Was it really necessary to dump that much money into it? Even worse, it appears to be the victim of post-production cutting as evidenced by its scant running time. The final nail is this DOA comedy\u2019s coffin is the late August release date. Basically, Dudley Do-Right<\/strong> is an expensive dump movie. I\u2019m surprised the studio actually screened it beforehand. I saw it at a prerelease screening and all I got out of it was the sense of loss that comes with wasting a perfectly good Saturday morning that would have been better spent sleeping in. They should have called this one what it is, Dudley Doo-Doo.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dudley Do-Right (1999)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Universal\/Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 77 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (mild comic action violence, brief language and innuendo)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Hugh Wilson\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Hugh Wilson\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Steve Dorff\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Donald E. Thorin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: August 27, 1999 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Brendan Fraser, Sarah Jessica Parker, Alfred Molina, Eric Idle, Robert Prosky, Alex Rocco, Jack Kehler, Louis Mustillo, Don […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6229,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comedies","category-this-sucks-so-bad"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Dudley-Do-Right-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6054"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6231,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6054\/revisions\/6231"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}