Film Reviews

Furry Vengeance

• Rating:
• Director: Roger Kumble
• Starring: Brendan Fraser
• Details: US/UAE / 92mins (PG).

Some day in the future, movie producers will remember that Brendan Fraser has enough charisma and charm to star in adult-orientated movies, but until that day comes, he's stuck in kid movie limbo. Furry Vengeance might bore the adult dragged along to tears but the kids will be whooping along to this Funny Man Who Falls Over A Lot Vs Crafty Animals romp.
Dan Sanders (Fraser) has been kidding himself: he's a real estate agent who believes that he works for a 'green company', a housing developing corporation who have turned their attention to a beautiful forest in Oregon. Sanders is overseeing the project, moving his disgruntled city-loving family - teenager Prokop and teacher wife Shields - to the back of beyond for one year. They aren't the only ones who are peeved: a team of forest animals, headed up by a particularly crafty racoon, don't take the destruction of their home lying down and are determined to make Dan's life a misery. Not only that, lunatic boss Lyman (Jeong) is extending Dan's contract to another four years in the wilderness.
Thankfully, we're spared the superfluous celebrity voices - the animals here are reduced to gurgles, wurbles, squeaks and some very Teletubby-sounding skunks. The kids should delight in the hoops they make Fraser jump through. The eco message Furry Vengeance tries so hard to get across is sometimes in danger of being lost in all the antics, but this broad children's comedy should do the one thing it wants to - make children laugh. Try as they might to take the movie away from the lead, the CGI animals find that Fraser has too much charm to let that happen. His acting talents may extend to only falling over a lot and reacting to skunks unleashing their 'natural weapons' in his face, but Fraser is always watchable.
The plot is wafer thin even at ninety-two minutes so writers Michael Carnes and Josh Gilbert, toning down after their Mr. Woodcock script, look around for something to buff it up and find two subplots in Prokop's attraction to schoolgirl/environmental activist Skyler Samuels, and Shield's organising of the school's Forest Project. Director Kumble has toned himself down too after Cruel Intentions and vastly underrated comedy Just Friends - it seems everyone here has proved they can do better than they are allowed.

Review by Gavin Burke