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BY DANIEL BAIG | Warner
Brothers held no press screenings for their movie which opened today,
The Adventures of Pluto Nash. I saw the film this morning,
and frankly, I am mystified by their decision. Usually when a studio
doesnt show their product to critics before the day its
released its because its a real dog.
But The Adventures of Pluto Nash is anything but a dog.
It actually is a lot of fun. Its not a bad movie by any stretch
of the imagination. On the contrary, its funny, quite clever
occasionally, and has a lot of eye candy to look at too. I think
Warners was afraid for nothing.
Youve probably seen the trailers and commercials and so know Pluto
Nashs story: in 2080, the moon has cities (or at least
city, plus one separate casino city) on it (under, of course,
big clear domes). Pluto Nash, played by Eddie Murphy, is the owner
of a popular nightclub. Actually, the movie starts before he owned
the nightclub. We see how he gets his start. Then, after 7
successful years, he gets threatened, and then targeted, by lunar casino
interests. Complications, as they say, ensue.
And its all quite well done. Nobody was slumming here.
Certainly Eddie wasnt. Hes good; its a very
likeable performance.
And there are plenty of other good ones as well. Randy Quaid is
just brilliant playing Plutos rather outdated robot bodyguard.
His voice appears to have been souped up a bit, and every time he speaks
its funny.
There are a number of small parts played winningly by some big names.
One of them isnt billed, but hes very good in his cameo
Alec Baldwin, playing a cartoonish organized crime boss!
Illeana Douglas, almost always a welcome presence in a movie, has a good
couple of scenes. Ditto Luis Guzman. John Cleese is
used to very good effect in a funny role. And Coffy/Jackie Brown
herself, Pam Grier, shows up as Eddies mother and proves shes
still got it. She is somewhat underutilized, though.
Oh, and Jay Mohr, looking very good with dark hair, demonstrates that
hes actually not a bad singer! He plays a futuristic Frank
Sinatra/Tony Bennett/Dean Martin kind of an entertainer, and you can almost
believe he could be a headliner at a big casino, which is what he is in
The Adventures of Pluto Nash.
Youre helped to accept him as such by the fantastic show room
set that he performs his act in. Rows of tables elegantly platform
up to the real wall of the hall, a giant clear window showing the lunar
landscape behind it.
The Adventures of Pluto Nash has a lot of nice sets, especially
all the casino ones.
A great deal of thought was clearly given to making clever little visual
jokes and touches all over the place. In some of the larger city
shots, every where you look, theres something to capture your attention,
like a sign on a highway noting the Neil Armstrong monument is coming
up in 14 km. There are well thought out future ideas
like the new style of club dancing. And, of course, the Hillary
Clinton currency.
There are nice little salutes to science fiction films of the past, including
the very first one, Georges Milihs 100-year old Le
Voyage Dans La Lune (A Trip to the Moon).
The special effects are not the most impressive youve ever seen,
but theyre fine. The low gravity scenes on the lunar surface
look a tad unrealistic, but then, its a silly movie, not meant
to be taken seriously for a minute, anyway.
Things like the highway and then tunnel connecting the main lunar city
with Moon Beach, the location of the Lunar Grand casino, are executed
well.
The movie moves. Its well paced, with something funny
or exciting happening regularly. Its tight, not too long,
not too short, and you wont get bored by it.
The storys not going to get any awards for breaking new ground,
but it makes sense, doesnt have gaping plot holes, etc. And
theres even a good surprise near the end.
It struck me that The Adventures of Pluto Nash has an 80s
feel to it. I dont mean that in a bad way, just that this
kind of movie would have fit right in in the 80s, when big, special
effects-heavy high concept action comedies were all the
rage. They offered no justification for themselves as anything other
than light entertainment they didnt have anything to say
to or about society, but they didnt have any pretenses to.
Pluto Nash is like that.
This includes its occasional overly familiar plot elements, like the
upteenth But which one is he? That one, or that one?
Im me!! Shoot him! No,
no, shoot him! Im me! scene, which weve
even seen before in a sci-fi setting, in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered
Country. It also includes the colorful ethnic character
coming to the rescue in a van playing (very catchy) salsa music, which
leads into a funny sight gag involving clothes Pluto and his love interest
(Rosario Dawson) have to borrow.
I dont mean to imply its stupid, though. Its
not. Neil Cuthberts screenplay even has the occasional bit
of smart dialogue, like when Pluto, whos lived on the moon all
his life, tells love interest girl that the one time he visited Earth
he didnt like it it had bugs, and it rained, etc.
with one exception. And she correctly guesses what the one thing
he liked was being able to look up and see the moon at night.
Now thats nice writing.
And the direction by Ron Underwood is fine as well. There is nothing
about this movie that screams, or even whispers, BOMB.
I thoroughly enjoyed it. Its a fun trip. And its
way more entertaining than Signs.
Grade: A-/B+
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