Have you ever been struck so speechless that you just had to sit there with a really vacant look on your face until you figured out what was going on? I had that experience just the other night, watching “Dudley Do-right” with my husband. We watched “George of the Jungle” together a few weeks ago and laughed our heads off. Although “Dudley” was made in the same format, with the wry announcer, silly slapstick, and the same star, it was nowhere near George’s caliber.
We all recall the old Dudley cartoon from the days of “Rocky and Bullwinkle.” Dudley is a Canadian Mountie, absolutely incapable of doing anything morally wrong. He’s in love with Nell, the daughter of the man in charge of the Mounties, and the wicked villain is Snidely Whiplash, who enjoys tying people to railroad tracks until they promise to do what he says.
As we begin the movie, we find that Nell (Sarah Jessica Parker) has left for parts unknown, leaving Dudley (Brendan Fraser) alone at the Mountie fort with Horse. Snidely Whiplash (Alfred Molina) has come up with yet another dastardly plan – by seeding the rivers with gold, he creates an artificial gold rush, causing people to come from all over to pan for gold. This boosts the economy of the town, and because Snidely now owns all the property (he tied the banker to the railroad tracks until the mortgages were signed over) he’s making a pretty profit.
It takes Dudley a little while to hone in on the fact that something’s going on (he’s not all that bright) but when he does finally figure it out, he’s not sure what to do about it. Meanwhile, Nell has come back, and both Snidely and Dudley want her for themselves, although I don’t know why – her character was very under-developed. Dudley realizes he’s going to have to take some extraordinary measures to stop Snidely and win back Nell – some of which involve riding a motorcycle in a black leather jacket. He and Nell sing a corny love song to each other, and then he does a dance with the local Indian tribe, getting the support of the people of the town.
Unlike “George,” which was so dumb it was hysterical, “Dudley” was just dumb. I think the movie makers were trying too hard to recreate what they had found with George and fell flat on their faces while doing it. Maybe someone should have yelled out, “Watch out for that . . . spin-off.” Oooof!
This film was rated PG.
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