Perhaps you remember the first of the modern-day giant ape movies, the predecessor to Peter Jackson's celebrated modern-day retelling of King Kong, 1998's Mighty Joe Young, itself a faithful reinterpretation of the original King Kong story, with an animal lover, tree-hugger twist and a happy ending.
I saw this in the theaters, and it was a beautiful, amazing experience. It's a pity that Disney put very little promotion behind its live-action movies at this point, for with a good promotion this would have been a well-remembered blockbuster, but I suppose to get its due on home video, streaming, and television rebroadcast over the years is perfectly okay, after all that's how we all experienced The Secret of NIMH.
This was a movie with heart and joy and a good tree-hugger, animal-loving message, with a spectacular climax. Above all, a movie with innocence and lots and lots of heart.
There were two great character performances that were the emotional heart of the movie, two marvelously realized characters with lots of heart stranded in a big, strange world.
One of them is the marvelous Charlize Theorn as Jill Young, in a performance worthy of Lara Dern's performance in the original Jurassic Park or a classic Meg Ryan performance.
The other is Joe Young himself, in the most moving character performance realized through special effects since Steven Spielberg gave us E.T.
Joe not only looks spectacular, but has real heart as a character, and moves like a real gorilla.
It is absolutely stunning to see a spectacular 2,000-pound cinematic gorilla move so much like a real gorilla in the wild. The special effects in this movie in realizing Joe Young are nothing short of spectacular.
But the most spectacular part of it is Joe Young as a character with real heart.
The reason that the human characters, with the exception of Charlize Theron's Jill Young, look so wooden and two-dimensional is that they are set against the magnificent big heart of Joe Young. But this is an intentional move on the part of director Ron Underwood.
We are supposed to identify with Joe Young and Jill Young as the heart and soul of the movie, as two lost souls stranded in a big, strange world, and making them far more fully realized characters than the other humans around them is a fundamental part of that.
This pushes home the animal-lover, tree-hugger message and heart of the movie, and makes the relationship between Charlize Theron's Jill Young and the giant gorilla Joe Young the emotional heart of the movie.
The movie belongs to the two of them.
The way in which the climax of the movie sets Jill Young and Joe Young as mother and child against an actual mother whose child has just been rescued by Joe Young is simply marvelous.
This is a movie with innocence and heart, which the critics dropped the ball on because they expect jaded cynicism.
The way in which the movie and the actors Rade Serbedzija and Peter Firth give the movie effective villains without breaking the marvelous emotional heart of the movie that comes from making Joe Young and Jill Young far more fully realized characters than the humans around them deserves high praise.
The emotional magic of the movie comes from Joe Young the giant gorilla and Jill Young, Charlize Theron's character, being far more fully realized characters surrounded by an only superficially felt strange modern human world around them, this is the emotional heart of the movie, and giving the movies villains who are effective and drive the plot well without breaking this spell is a marvelous achievement.
For this movie belongs to Joe and Jill Young, and none of the other humans are allowed to break the spell of their magic.
A great movie, and one whose incredible special effects made Peter Jackson's famed King Kong possible.
A movie that deserves as much love from the critics as it has gotten over the years from its loyal home video, television and streaming fanbase who were never allowed to get to know the movie in the original theatrical release because Disney did not have enough faith in their live-action movies to promote it.
My take, and why I think this movie deserves a reevaluation by critics. Because a lot of us sure love it on home video and streaming!
God loves you!
Sincerely,
David S. Annderson
P.S. I don't expect a reevaluation by critics anytime soon. This is a movie of heart and innocence, and the critics don't like heart and innocence. The critics prefer paranoid fear and jaded cynicism. I'll take heart and innocence any day. Part of the marvelous film era that gave us Lord of the Rings, The Prince of Egypt and Finding Nemo, the great age that began with Titanic and Good Will Hunting, to climax in the magical year for cinema of 2001, the year of Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Shrek and Monster's Inc.