Mighty Joe Young (1998)

Simply A Masterpiece

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

As a young adult, I would look back at some of my favorite childhood movies that I've overlooked. Especially those with positive reviews and mixed reviews and this movie is one of them. Now, before I begin this review, I would like to say that I never saw the original Mighty Joe Young this remake was based on because I guess there weren't any 1940s movies for me to watch, but looking back at this as a child when it was first released at the late 90s, I simply loved it as much as anyone else. Sure, it's not a masterpiece due to it's formulaic storyline and cartoony characters, but I think it's an underrated childhood favorite of mine and I still love it ever since.The story, although formulaic, is actually faithful to the original storyline of the original Mighty Joe Young, but made some changes to the present time while being helped by the extraordinary special effects. The characters, on the whole, are a mixed bag. Charlize Theron did great as Jill Young and Bill Paxton did a good job as Professor Gregg O' Hara (I also liked the relationship between them), but the rest of the actors ranged from decent to so-so. There were some hilarious moments (despite it's dark and intense beginning) and some tear-jerking moments especially the ending scene where Joe, the gorilla, dies and comes back alive after saving a kid from a burning ferris wheel. It also has a lovely music score from James Horner and it's his best solid music score as a composer.The film did become a box office bomb when it first came out in 1998, but that doesn't mean it could not be recommended to others because this is an underrated tear-jerking movie that I loved as a kid and I still love it as a young adult now. My advice: If you're looking for a movie that could leave you teary eyed, check this one out.

I remember seeing this family film at least three times when I was younger, I obviously wouldn't realise back then and I only found out in adulthood that it is a remake of the 1949 film, from director Ron Underwood (Tremors, City Slickers, Pluto Nash). Basically in the African jungle, young Jill Young (Mika Boorem) witnesses her mother Ruth Young (Linda Purl) die, and the same night baby silver back gorilla Joe witnesses his mother killed by poachers, one of whom has his thumb and forefinger bitten off. Twelve years later, eco-minded Professor Gregory 'Gregg' O'Hara (Bill Paxton) is in the same jungle, and stumbles upon the grown up Jill Young (Charlize Theron) and genetically abnormally large Joe the gorilla living relatively peacefully. Gregg is suggesting Joe would be safer from poaching if Jill agrees to come with him with her large friend back to Hollywood, California and live in a refuge with plenty of food and space. Eventually she does agree, and they do go to the United States, and to everyone's amazement Joe does like this safe haven, and the occasional visitors, including fellow eco scientists see his good progress. But then the leader of the poachers Andrei Strasser (Rade Serbedzija) with the missing thumb and finger turns up at the sanctuary and caused the gorilla to get angry and violent, and everyone is mistaken into thinking he cannot cope with his life in L.A. With this in mind preparation are made to have Joe go back to the jungle, but he somehow escapes and ends up following a light he mistakes as a signal from Jill, and when she and Gregg catch up to him they find him, and Strasser, in a carnival. Disaster strikes when the ferris wheel breaks down, and after the villain is killed Joe is the only one who can a little boy trapped near a fire surrounding it. In the end it looks like the child is safe but Joe is dead from the fall, but thankfully he is fine and is taken back to Africa to roam free in a large bit of land with donations coming in for Jill and Gregg. Also starring Peter Firth as Garth, Quiz Show's David Paymer as Harry Ruben, Jerry Maguire's Regina King as Cecily Banks, Robert Wisdom as Kweli, Lost's Naveen Andrews as Pindi and Verne Troyer as Baby Joe. Theron is obviously gorgeous, and Paxton as usual is reliable, the gorilla does steal the show, being both cuddly and sweet, and aggressive and angry, with moments reminiscent of King Kong it is an easy to follow story that will have the kids and the adults near enough hooked, a fun fantasy adventure. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Visual Effects. Worth watching!

My Take: Fine special effects and decent performances make for a passable remake. A toned-down remake of the 1949 monster movie (not that the original was violent or so) by Disney, MIGHTY JOE YOUNG is enjoyably pleasant nonetheless. There's a lot of enjoyable moments here to entice kids and adults alike. It's fun, without being too loud, too lumbering and too overproduced unlike other summer affair of the time. It could use more, but enough just seems to be enough. There's a good dosage of fine adventure movie elements. There's action, adventure, humor and even romance.The romance is created between two of the lead characters. Bill Paxton as an explorer named Gregg O'Hara and a Charlize Theron as Jill Young, a daughter of a late famous Jane Goodall-inspired scientist. There's chemistry between those two, even if it's not entirely developed. It's also a simple boy-likes-the-girl chemistry, but it works well and I bought it. Ask for the adventure, there are numerous action scenes which takes place both in the jungle in even in the city, which shows a scenes directly derived but not entirely similarly to the scene from KING KONG. The special effects by Rick Baker, who actually started doing apes in a somewhat cheesy outcome during the 70's remake of KING KONG, are fine here in the film. There's a convincing use of blue screen and the typical man-in-a-suit technique that actually is less evident here.Director Ron Underwood (TREMORS) brings a lot of excitement in this familiar territory. The film cannot escape the multitudes of clichés that marred this old genre to the ground. Some things about MIGHTY JOE YOUNG are familiar, as a toned-down kids flick. I've learned the lesson before, there's no one that harshly gets hurt in this film, except the bad guys who must get their just desserts in the end. But the film is lively and enjoyable enough for me to recommend. This is decent family entertainment.Rating: *** out of 5.

Sweet, and faithful to the 1949 original Mighty Joe Young, this is one of the better remakes I have seen. While the original movie about a girl and her giant gorilla friend remains entertaining enough to stand on its own, this remake strives to do it justice, and succeeds. The two movies complement each other almost perfectly!A fairly faithful, straightforward update of the original plot (which itself is something of an upbeat remake of King Kong), someone definitely did their homework in re-creating Mighty Joe. The computer effects and animatronics are believable, but the facial expressions and primate mannerisms are what make him so absolutely convincing.(spoilers):While the "giant-gorilla-on-the-loose-in-the-big-city" scenes don't compare to their truly outrageous counterparts in the original MJY (real, live African lions being catapulted about the Coconut Grove!), they're entertaining enough for audiences of all ages.The remake also felt some politically-correct need to add bad guys that weren't necessary in the original, but by introducing poachers that leave the girl and Joe orphaned, they also seem to offer an ironic apology for what almost certainly happened in acquiring the baby gorilla for the original movie.