A film review by Mark O'Hara Copyright © 1999 Mark O'Hara

It's difficult to name more than a few successful live-action adaptations of cartoons.

Try it. If you said "The Flintstones" or "Dick Tracy," try again. They may have brought in the change at the box office, but they are not good movies. Don't even think about "Mr. Magoo" or "Dennis the Menace."

Hugh Wilson's "Dudley Do-Right" belongs on the long-list of mediocre film fare, a mostly failed and random collection of hopeful plot turns and clichés. Because of the premise, which is the inane exploits of Jay Ward's dull-witted Canadian Mountie, the story is lightly entertaining. And in a few places we get to belly laugh at twists that have finally gone over the top.

The lonesome mounted policeman (Brendan Fraser) is sure his love, Nell Fenwick, will never return. So Dudley busies himself with his duties. One night he spots his childhood companion and nemesis, Snidely Whiplash (Alfred Molina). Snidely is "salting" rocks with gold dust loaded into shotgun shells. Why? Well, because he wants to create a fake gold rush to this part of northern Canada, of course.

Meanwhile, Nell (Sarah Jessica Parker) has returned with her multiple graduate degrees. It seems she and Dudley will resume their relationship, until Snidely captures her attention. This seems all wrong, of course; as a watcher of the original in my childhood, I was expecting Snidely to be nothing but the bad guy - a sentiment Snidely himself mentions several times in self-reflexive asides. (I also wanted Nell to kiss Horse, Dudley's mount, but no luck!) What's more odd is that Hugh Wilson shows us an opening sequence in which the three main characters assume their roles in childhood, Snidely as a boy wearing a black cape and stovepipe hat, already sniping at Dudley for Nell's affections.

It turns out that Snidely is successful in his quest for prospectors: Semi-Happy Valley is flooded with their money, and in a wink at marketing savvy, we see all types of merchandise with Snidely's image -- a self-hype that dives to the depths of money-grubbing. What will stop Snidely's taking over the town -- which is redubbed "Whiplash City"? Certainly not Dudley, as he has been drummed out of the service by his idol,Inspector Fenwick (Robert Prosky). We really have no idea why Dudley loses his job, except that Snidely has connections in Ottawa, and the Inspector never had much use for the square-jawed boob anyway.

Enter Eric Idle as a grimy prospector, only slightly removed from a grungy Gumby character on "Monty Python." Kim Darling prospects for gold and finds a sizable nugget planted by Snidely. Although he is catapulted into the front of the news about the gold discoveries, Darling serves as a sort of goofy mentor to Dudley, training him in the proper ways to fight Snidely's brand of evil. What is original here is that Dudley attempts to be good by being bad - namely, by stealing gold from the thieves employed by Snidely! Will our hero prevail in his circuitous search for good?

The acting in "Dudley Do-Right" is superior to the plot. Brendan Fraser is passable as the title character, but he was better in Jay Ward's "George of the Jungle." This actor is good at looking surprised and duped, another feat he pulled off rather well in Wilson's "Blast From the Past." (I would add that his role in "The Mummy" this past May did not particularly distinguish him as an action hero; he was much better as the gardener tempted by the fictionalized version of director James Whale in "Gods and Monsters.") Although Fraser's hair should have been died to resemble the cartoon character's frizzy locks, he turns in a passing performance.

Underused is a good word to describe the roles of a few other characters. First, Robert Prosky is an old pro who is woefully absent from the film. He appears but briefly and speaks in a British accent, his white mustache obscuring the British curve of his lips. What a missed opportunity, having such a veteran actor on the set and using him merely as decoration!

Sarah Jessica Parker's part is also underwritten. She could appear in more scenes, although she does a fine job in the ones that made the final cut.

Eric Idle is the one indispensable presence here. He knows instinctively just how much exaggeration to give a comic support role. His Kim Darling is a hilarious blend of silliness and incongruity, especially at the end when he meets a sublime fate.

Some of the more pleasurable moments of viewing involve the actual cartoon short "The Phox, the Box, and the Lox." It's a fractured fairy tale, a lot like the olds ones narrated by the ivory-voiced Edward Everett Horton. The tale of a wise-cracking, greedy fox and his quest for treasure, the story shows some of the same twisted moralizing as its 1960's precursors - except that the originals were more comically arch.

On the whole, it would be better to rent "Dudley Do-Right," except if no better offerings were available on the weekend for the kiddies. The self-aware jokes - that trademark of Jay Ward's post-modern sense of humor - are present to a small degree, and the ending is much more promising than what leads to it. Now, let's hope that Ward's main success, the ingenious 'The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle," falls into the hands of a more wildly creative producer.

	Running Time: ?? Min | Rated PG | US Release: August 27th | More >>

Related 'Dudley Do-Right' Links:

• Official Site
• Dudley Do-Right's Emporium
• Upcomingmovies.com: Dudley Do-Right
• bcmovies.com: Production Profile: Dudley Do-right

From the creator of "George of the Jungle" comes a new kind of hero.