SYNOPSIS:
Sometimes, four legs are better than two. Dan just moved his
wife and son to the woods to take a new job with a supposedly
eco-friendly housing development. But the fur and Dan's temper
is sure to fly when the local critters learn of the bleak plans
for their forest home and stop at nothing to halt construction.
MOVIE REVIEW:
What’s
with Hollywood constant obsession with animals? Dogs, cats,
raccoon, skunk, hamster, you name it, they have it. Thus for
the umpteenth time, we are treated to another run-out-of-mill
comedy starring Brendan Fraser and yes a bunch of critters
from the woods.
Fraser
looking all aged and chubby, a great departure from his heyday
in "George of the Jungle" plays a real estate developer,
Dan Sanders. Sanders are tasked by his boss Neal Lyman (Ken
Jeong from "The Hangover") to oversee a proposed
housing development plan in the wilderness. This encroachment
on nature forces a band of animals led by a raccoon to fight
against Sanders in a war between animals and man. You know,
the end mesage is protect the animals and wilderness that
sort of thing. Yes we do get it.
Someone
seems to conveniently lift the basic plotting of "Furry
Vengeance" from the 2006 DreamWorks’ animation,
"Over the Hedge" where forest animals invade the
suburban for food. Then again, Hollywood is not really a place
where creativity dwells. Thus instead of talking animals in
the form of those seen in "Dr Dolittle", we have
bubbles of thoughts, sort of similar to a comic strip attached
to the animals. This might seem a novelty at first yet again
this is not a cartoon short we are talking about.
For
¾ of the running time, we are bombarded by some dumb
humour courtesy of Brendan Fraser. His Dan Sanders character
gets pee by the raccoon, poked by a crow, sprays by a skunk,
chased by a vulture, sting by bees and trapped in a portable
toilet by a grizzly bear. It’s embarrassing to see the
sometimes serious actor (see "Crash", "The
Quiet American") resorting to a tirade of slapstick trauma
to entertain the crowds. And did I say he even squeezed himself
into a pair of tight pink tracksuit and white undies just
to generate further laughter. Seriously the younger audience
might have a field time spotting the various animal species
than seeing Fraser and his unbearable antics.
The
in-demand comedian Ken Jeong appears as the ruthless Lyman
though it’s obvious he is trying hard to improvise/recycle
whatever gibberish is written on his part into something watchable.
The gorgeous Brooke Shields plays Mrs Sanders and to her credit,
easier on the eyes than Fraser.
Partially
funded by Summit Entertainment, the company behind a certain
wildly successful vampire franchise, "Furry Vengeance"
is one huge lame excuse for an ecological message, one that
is too long even for a mere 87 minutes. On hindsight, Summit
should just spend the $35 million budget to clean up some
oil spill or protect some Amazon forestry than on this dreadful
mess.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
There
is a whole lot of Interviews With Cast & Crew.
It’s painful to see them waxing lyrical on a movie like
this but then again, they are being paid to do so.
Behind
The Scenes of FURRY VENGEANCE lasts 19 minutes and
it’s a much more rewarding experience watching the animal
wranglers hard at work than Fraser and Jeong goofing off.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Colours
are bright and natural for this DVD transfer though at times
it brings out the inadequacies of the CG. Audio is presented
in Dolby Digital 2.0 and even that, Fraser and the furry critters
can be a tad noisy.
MOVIE RATING:
 
DVD
RATING :
Review
by Linus Tee
Posted
on 28 September 2010
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