Furry Vengeance (2010)

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

The acting in this movie is really good.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Blistering performances.

There are some films that come out of America that are just dull, because they feature the same stencilled in characters, repeating the same story over and over again, just to make a couple of executives money. This is one of them. All of its virtue signalling is completely hollow, because you can tell from the total lack of creativity that it was manufactured quickly for profit by exactly the type of people being cast as the villains. The only new things it brings to the table are the poor quality of the animals, with many looking unnatural due to being digitally copied multiple times, or manipulated with CGI, and an unexpectedly high level of casual racism.

Here is the problem in a nutshell, the reason so many people diss this movie and similar movies. It is because more and more parents, as each year passes, simply do not involve themselves with their children in the manner parents used to be involved. Teaching them how to use tablets and iPhones is not the same thing as playing board games and choosing family movies to watch -- together. There was a time when family movies were recognized as such, and not ridiculed for being such. When we see most reviewers hating movies for being too childish for adults, we know that the time of family viewing is over. Now, Family Guy is what children watch with their parents, if their parents are even in the same room. Yay.

Picture Doctor Doolittle 2 with Eddie Murphy. Now picture the movie without any funny animal dialogue. Now replace all the funny human characters with painfully boring characters. Now amp up the hackneyed, overused plot to be even more cliché. Now walk out of the theater angry and demanding your money back. You've just seen Furry Vengeance. I thought the Egyptian plagues ended with the death of the first born son, so what it the explanation for this garbage? For those of you who think I'm being cruel, let me recap the plot. Some guy wants to tear down a forest, and the animals play pranks on him. That's it. Nothing else. For over an hour. Ugh. Well, as with all things, there is a bright side. Brendan Fraser CAN'T star in a worse film. Once you've hit rock bottom, (and I'm pretty sure this hits the bedrock), there's no place to go but up. The worst is over. At least, until someone tries to make a sequel.. duh duh duuuunnnnn!

I heard about this film at the time it was released in cinemas and on DVD, I knew it was filled with animals and I knew the leading actor, and I could tell it was going to be terrible and rated so by critics, from director Roger Kumble (Cruel Intentions, The Sweetest Thing, Just Friends). Basically in the wilderness of Oregon, real estate land developer Dan Sanders (Brendan Fraser) from Chicago has been given the task by his boss Neal Lyman (Ken Jeong), following Riggs (The Hangover's Rob Riggle) quitting, to oversee a project that will turn the forest into a residential development. Dan's son Tyler (Matt Prokop) objects to this job he has, and his wife Tammy (Brooke Shields) is also unhappy and misses life in Chicago, the animals of Rocky Springs meanwhile, led by the raccoon, are making plans to stop their forest from being destroyed by turning the tables on the human they see as the devil. Dan soon finds himself threatened by interruptions in his progress and humiliation from the woodland animals, they cause all sorts of chaotic mayhem for him in his professional and personal life, and no-one will believe his explanations that the animals are doing it. Following many embarrassing and painful incidents initiated by the creatures he finally gets the forest ranger to capture all of them, and he is able to continue business, but he realises there is no truth in the "eco-friendly" plot to cut down all the trees and build houses and a shopping mall. The raccoon and all the others animals, including the brown bear, various birds and the skunk, get together and destroy the festivities of the fair going on, guests and entertainers run away in panic, and the deal by Lyman is broken. In the end Dan realises the error of his ways, and three months later the animals and their families return to Rocky Springs forest, which becomes a nature reserve, and Dan becomes the park ranger who will fine anyone who tries to violate the area or creatures. Also starring Angela Kinsey as Felder, Skyler Samuels as Amber, Toby Huss as Wilson, Samantha Bee as Principal Baker, Ricky Garcia as Frank, Wallace Shawn as Dr. Christian Burr, Jim Norton as Hank and Patrice O'Neal as Gus. Fraser is annoying being made to look stupid, the casting of Shields and Jeong is a bit pointless, it seems just an excuse to see cute animals being wily and sabotaging things, and the special effects to create the slapstick situations and cartoon like moments is a bit wasted, children may find this film funny, but everyone will find this a terrible numbskull comedy. Adequate!