ANACONDA (SONY) (2025)

Genre: Adventure/ Comedy/ Horror
Director: Tom Gormican
Cast: Jack Black, Paul Rudd, Steve Zahn, Thandiwe Newton, Daniela Melchior, Selton Mello
Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence and Coarse Language)
Released By: Sony
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 25 December 2025

Synopsis: Doug (Jack Black) and Griff (Paul Rudd) have been best friends since they were kids, and have always dreamed of remaking their all-time favorite movie: the cinematic "classic" Anaconda. When a midlife crisis pushes them to finally go for it, they head deep into the Amazon to start filming. But things get real when an actual giant anaconda appears, turning their comically chaotic movie set into a deadly situation. The movie they’re dying to make? It might just get them killed......

Movie Review:

As much as we enjoyed the notoriously insipid B-creature thriller ‘Anaconda’ that starred a veritable cast including Ice Cube, Jennifer Lopez, Eric Stoltz and Jon Voight, we cannot say that we were looking forward to a reboot of the movie, and certainly not one destined for the big-screen. We guess the Sony executives who had pondered whether there was any cash left in this cow were probably faced with the same dilemma; and regardless of how they came to the idea of this meta re-do starring a new but equally veritable cast comprising Jack Black, Paul Rudd, Steve Zahn and Thandiwe Newton, we must admit that it was a pretty smart conceit.

Continuing with the meta-streak he started with the clever Nicolas Cage self-parody vehicle ‘The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent’, director and co-writer Tom Gormican has an inexperienced gang of amateur filmmakers go on a quest to the Amazon rainforest to fulfil their childhood dream of updating their favourite cinematic classic – that is, the original ‘Anaconda’. Instead of Ice Cube and Lopez’s documentary crew, the new crew this time round comprises of Griff (Rudd), a struggling actor who moved out to Hollywood from Buffalo only to languish in bit parts on TV series, and Doug (Black), who’s stuck back in Buffalo trying to make unconventional wedding films for couples who only want cheesy wedding videos.

In tow are their two other school pals, Trent (Zahn), a burnt-out who was fired by Doug for an alcohol addiction that led to him crashing into a wedding cake, and Claire (Newton), Griff’s childhood sweetheart who so happens to be in the middle of a divorce from her philandering husband. It is Trent who lands the quartet with a dubious snake trainer Santiago (Selton Mello), whose pet anaconda ends up being spliced by the blades of their boat after an unfortunate filming accident while along the Amazon River. And oh, like Ice Cube and Lopez do, this new crew also lands up in bad company, notably with a crew of illegal gold miners who seem to be in pursuit of their boat captain Ana (Daniela Melchior).

But of course, the ultimate bad company they encounter is the bad-ass titular anaconda which they stumble upon after setting out to find another snake to replace the one Griff accidentally mutilated. “We came here to make Anaconda and, now, we’re in it,” freaks out Doug, and can we say we totally laughed out loud at that. Indeed, nothing here is to be taken seriously, not least when Griff, Trent and Claire decide to fix a supposedly dead boar on the back of a supposedly dead Doug in order to throw the anaconda off their tail.

It is for this same reason that we do not begrudge the somewhat haphazard nature of the entire plotting, which cannot decide whether it wants to be a reboot, a reimagining or a “spiritual sequel” to the 1997 original and ends up being all of the above in a slapdash way. Black and Rudd are irresistible company together, and seeing them here together makes you wonder why it took them so long to be paired up; no wonder then that Ice Cube has decided to pop in for a cameo near the end, and Lopez right before the end credits to invite them to make a legit sequel to the 1997 original.

We admit we went in with little expectation, and were pleasantly surprised by how much fun we had out of this meta-redo that abandons the horror and leans full into the comedy cum satire. Like we said, it begs itself not to be taken seriously, and even manages to riff on what an otherwise serious reboot would probably try to do (“themes”, anyone?). But most of all, we wanted to have a good time at the movies with Black and Rudd, and ‘Anaconda’ is that perfect counter-programming to make you go ‘ho-ho-ho’ and even ‘HA-HA-HA’.

Movie Rating:

(Who cares about the snake when you have Jack Black and Paul Rudd for company?)

Review by Gabriel Chong