Mighty Joe Young *** (1998, Bill Paxton, Charlize Theron) – Classic Movie Review 1744

Poor old gorilla! – this time he’s snatched from the jungle to live in a California zoo, run by kindly keeper David Paymer. He goes rampaging in LA a bit – causing havoc on Hollywood Boulevard and in a theme park – but not much, when targeted for money-making by nasty foreigners Rade Serbedzija and Peter Firth.

Director’s Ron Underwood’s very tolerable, quite palatable 1998 Disney remake of director Ernest B Schoedsack and producer Merian C Cooper’s 1949 fantasy adventure is tame but good-natured, though it has some tough-toned bits so it’s not for younger children.

Bill Paxton makes a stalwart hero as Professor Gregg O’Hara, the zoologist who befriends the feisty heroine Jill (Charlize Theron) and her legendary 15ft, 2,000lb mountain gorilla named Joe. They take Joe to Harry Ruben (Paymer)’s animal sanctuary, but alas he’s still not safe and old enemies come to hunt him down.

As before, the story is enjoyable but still seems very sub-King Kong, similar to it but without any of its power, myth or magic. But the advantage this time is that the film has performances of considerable charm from Paxton, Theron and David Paymer. Also there are cameos from 1949 special effects wizard Ray Harryhausen, original star Terry Moore (as the Elegant Woman at Party) and Dina Merrill.

The special effects under wizard special makeup effects artist Rick Baker are extremely impressive for their time, even if the ape seems to vary in size quite a bit and isn’t particularly mobile or appealing. Indeed, Mighty Joe Young is awesome for its state-of-the-art effects of the day, stretching the talents and artists of the time. The visual effects were Oscar nominated.

Joe is created through the mixture of practical and digital effects. For most of the film, he is portrayed by creature suit performer John Alexander, who wore a radio-controlled animatronic gorilla suit created by Rick Baker and his crew at Cinovation Studios. Joe as an infant is performed by the 2′ 8″ Verne Troyer (Mini-Me). For digital Joe, DreamQuest Images and Industrial, Light & Magic worked on different scenes using the same model provided by Baker.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1744

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com/