Mighty Joe Young (1998)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Ron Underwood

Writers (WGA):

Merian C. Cooper (story)
Ruth Rose (earlier screenplay)

Release Date:

25 December 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Family | Fantasy | Thriller

Tagline:

Survival is an instinct.

Plot:

After Mighty Joe Young is brought to America for safety reasons, he escapes and rampages through Hollywood, spurred by tormentors out for revenge.

Plot Keywords:

Gorilla | Poacher | Rampage | California | Hunter

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Bill Paxton	...	Professor Gregory "Gregg" O'Hara
Charlize Theron	...	Jill Young
Rade Serbedzija	...	Andrei Strasser
Regina King	...	Cecily Banks
Peter Firth	...	Garth
Naveen Andrews	...	Pindi
David Paymer	...	Harry Ruben
Robert Wisdom	...	Kweli
Christian Clemenson	...	Jack
Geoffrey Blake	...	Vern
Lawrence Pressman	...	Dr. Elliot Baker
Linda Purl	...	Dr. Ruth Young
Mika Boorem	...	Young Jill Young
Cory Buck	...	Jason
Liz Georges	...	Jason's Mother

Also Known As:

Mighty Joe (UK)

MPAA:

Rated PG for some menacing action violence and mild language.

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Swahili

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:L | South Korea:All | Peru:PT | Finland:K-10 | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Chile:TE | France:U | Germany:12 (w) | Portugal:M/6 | Spain:T | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | USA:PG | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Hawaii, USA

Company:

RKO Pictures

Trivia:

On July 2, 1997, during filming in the San Fernando Valley, director of photography Donald Peterman and camera operator Ray De La Motte were injured after the Panther Pegasus camera crane they were riding on snapped, causing them to fall 25 feet to the ground. Peterman suffered a broken leg, broken ribs and minor head injuries, and De La Motte received minor chest and back injuries. Production was halted for two days, and Peterman was replaced by Oliver Wood. In 2000, Peterman sued Panther, as well as Shotmaker Company, the crane's supplier, and won a $5 million settlement.

Quotes:

Greg O'Hara: [Joe is holding him in the air by his leg] You think you could you get him to put me down?
Jill Young: Joe, drop him.
[Joe drops him roughly and Greg passes out]

Movie Connections:

Featured in Scorcher (2002/I)

Soundtrack:

Calliope Music

Endearing movie, way better than expected

King Kong must be one of the greatest animals ever to grace to silver screen, he sure is the biggest primate to do this. But there is a good runner up: Joe. Once before filmed in 1956 also as `Mighty Joe Young', this story of a gorilla with a defect in his genes which causes him to grow out of proportions into a 2000 lbs primate, is a great one.

The story begins with little Jill Young and her mother as they are in the jungle observing a group of gorilla's. Little Jill instantly bonds with Little Joe, a baby gorilla. At night the group of gorilla's is attacked by poachers and Jill and her mother go out there to the jungle to protect them. To no avail, because in the end both Jill's and Joe's mother are killed. Twelve years later Jill (Theron) is still with Joe and Joe has grown into this enormous gorilla weighing over 2000 lbs. Paxton comes to the jungle to investigate a myth of a giant primate protecting the area of the mountain where Joe lives. Joe and Paxton meet, poachers come to hunt him down and Paxton and Jill decide to take Joe to a preserve in California so he can have a more quiet life. But danger is not gone, even in California old enemies come to hunt him down, and Joe ultimately has to undertake a very brave action...

This is the outline of a very well crafted piece of cinema, family entertainment at its best. The script is very well written, the characters are likable and convincing. You have the hero and the heroine, the villain and luckily the moronic sidekicks have been left at home this time. Joe is a lovely character, although a lot of him has been done with CGI, he is still very convincing. A lot of work has gone into creating the right facial expressions to give him a human touch. The story unfolds at rollercoaster speed, never lets off steam and constantly plunges the audiences into new surprises and endearing situations.

Ron Underwood did a great job at recreating this story on screen. The performances are way above average, even Theron is good for once. Paxton is his Paxton self. The art direction is fine as well. The sets are well designed, if somewhat "Disney" at times. The special effects were awesome and state-of-the-art. Although some of the scenes could be recognized as being CGI, this was not very bothersome, there have been worse attempts at this genre.

A lovely picture for the family, if maybe not for the smallest of the family, some of the scenes can be quite frightening for some. One must be a very big cynical grown-up not be moved by the final scenes at the fairground.

9/10