Mr. Magoo (1997)

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

A Masterpiece!

I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.

The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

Back in the day, Mr. Magoo was very well popular during his time. The running gag in the cartoon was that Mr. Magoo couldn't see well and always ended up colliding into all kinds of mayhem. As for this film, which is live-action, director Stanley Tong did a good job keeping the realism of the cartoon the same. Mr. Magoo still goes up, down, left and right in this film like he was on an invisible roller coaster. What surprised me the most about this film was that Disney sponsored it.Starring as the infamous Mr. Magoo is Leslie Nielsen. What's neat, is that in beginning you actually get to see the transition from cartoon life into real life. Of course not many people will notice at first, but cartoon Magoo doesn't have hair but when Leslie Nielsen is on screen, he does have hair. Even I didn't notice until much later, so my question remains, who forgot to make this cartoon look as accurate as possible? Its not really a big deal because Disney made the same mistake two years later when Inspector Gadget (1999) was made and they had Dr. Claw right out in the open; oh well. The other thing that's sort of ridiculous about the film are the physics behind certain scenes. Again, this is a cartoon adaptation so things are kept unrealistic but still some scenes come off as being almost impossible.This whole movie is made to look like everyone is idiotic. I must say that it was done well because everyone in this movie are idiots, but they are funny idiots. Nielsen is good at making it look like he knows whom he's talking to even though he doesn't. The two spies played by Ernie Hudson and Stephen Tobolowsky are funny to watch too. They either end up knocking each other over just to see who can get to the finish line first or they end up knocking each other out altogether. Nick Chinlund who plays another doofus named Bob Morgan tries to get his hands on Mr. Magoo. What a wreck that guy was.Miguel Ferrer, from RoboCop (1987), plays the main villain in this film. His character is called Ortega Peru and although he's a mean villain, he doesn't impose himself as a bad guy. I guess that's what you get for being bad guy in a silly Disney comedy. The music is good too; it has a giddy jumpiness to it, which goes well with what Mr. Magoo does in this film. Not every scene will have big laughs but it's a cute, goofy, and fun filled movie for the family. Kids will definitely love it.Disney took a chance and although they failed to impress critics and the majority of Magoo fans, it still has a little charm to it. The movie is silly fun that makes Magoo look like he can handle anything that's placed or thrown in his way, even though he can't which makes it all the more unrealistic for a live-action cartoon.

Mr Magoo is as wealthy as he is short-sighted and it is this combination that sees him trapped in the museum he is patron of late one night, when a robbery occurs. The CCTV footage makes him look like he was in on it and the FBI/CIA investigation focuses on him as they try to locate a stolen diamond while keeping the robbery on the low-down. Meanwhile, as he fishes, Magoo manages to have the stolen jewel dropped into his fishing box (best not to ask how) and thus is unwittingly pursued by thieves and cops.OK. This is based on a old cartoon character so I tried to ignore the modern PC outrage over this film by disabled groups protesting the depiction of partial blindness. According to IMDb it was this that saw the film sliding into video obscurity however I beg to differ. I was outraged by this film – but not for the reasons of objecting to the fact that it gets laughs out of a disability, but rather the fact that it totally fails to get laughs out of a disability. I'd love to pretend to be politically correct and sensitive but there we go! No, the main problem I had with the film is that it is simply not funny. Obviously the gags are all pretty obvious and can be seen coming from miles off but it still surprised me by how lazy it all was.The plot makes no sense but this was perhaps to be expected, however the total delivery is poor. A constantly "wacky" score is forced upon us in a desperate attempt to make us believe that it is hilarious when it is not. Nielsen was a great choice for the lead but even he can do nothing with this rot and in failing to improve it he just becomes part of the problem. The support cast features turns from Garner, Hudson, Tobolowsky, Lynch, Ferrer and McDowell all of whom are either wasted, look embarrassed or both. As director Tong seems to worry that the jokes will surprise his audience and, I assume, fearing injury from split sides, makes sure that we all get a chance to see each and every gag coming from quite a distance.Overall then, a film that will appeal to few audience demographics outside of children and those currently drunk. The jokes are obvious and lazy and all that is left is a terrible plot that (perhaps correctly) assumes the audience has the IQ of a basket and just hopes that a man stumbling around is enough to make it – for me personally, it wasn't.

Now, I don't think this is a good movie. There are more bad parts in this movie than good, most definitely. I just don't understand why everybody is giving this movie a 1. I laughed once in a while. (Nothing big, mind you, just short giggles.) I did not expect anything good out of this movie at all, so I didn't walk out of the theater that disappointed. I guess if I can love Escanaba in da Moonlight, I can tolerate Mr. Magoo. The two movies have similar types of humor, it's just that, well, Leslie Nielsen was not born to be in movies. It seems that goes for most of the other people in this movie's cast (except Malcolm McDowell and, perhaps, Jennifer Garner. 5/10

if you're expecting a comedy in the caliber of Naked Gun then you'll definately be disapponted. if your looking for something light and silly then this may be the film for you. Has the feel of some of the 60's disney films...simple plot, cartoonish villains, etc.Nielsen's portrayal of Magoo is more than adequate, and he was given ample room for comic buffoonary. everything else is just filler.I loved the tattoo he drew on himself for the hot tub scene.5/10 (as a family film)