Film Review with Robert Mann – Furry Vengeance

9th May 2010

Furry Vengeance *

Poor Brendan Fraser. As a performer he is not without talent, having demonstrated time and time again that he is extremely capable at delivering performances that entertain and amuse and, on a few occasions, he has even shown that he is a pretty decent actor capable of delivering performances that are convincing, but he must have a pretty lowsy agent to get him involved in a film such as Furry Vengeance (not only as the star, but also as an executive producer I might add), which has not only looked truly dire ever since the first trailer was released but has already been universally rejected by the children and families of the United States of America who made well sure that this film tanked badly at the box office there. Not exactly a ringing endoresement for the film and it really isn’t hard to see why audiences there have so unanimously rejected it and why they likely will here too.

Rocky Springs is an idyllic community in the heart of the Oregon forest. But an ambitious developer nicknamed ‘The King Of Green’ (Ken Jeong) plans to rip out the trees and build a shopping mall – “with a forest theme”. Brought in to work on the project, and dragging along his reluctant wife Tammy (Brooke Shields) and son Tyler (Matt Prokop), Dan Sanders (Brendan Fraser) manages to convince himself that destroying the forest is somehow good for the environment, but he reckoned without one crucial factor – the woodland animals! Masterminded by a clever raccoon, the furry creatures aren’t afraid to get their paws dirty and Dan soon finds himself up against bear, bird, squirrel and skunk as they fight back in increasingly ingenious ways. Whether they’re firing giant rocks at him, sabotaging his running machine or stealing his car, the animals will stop at nothing to teach Dan the error of his ways.

If you see Furry Vengeance, and unless you have very undemanding kids I highly doubt you will, it is likely that you may feel as if you have already seen the film before. This is because you may well have seen it before, or should I say the numerous films that it shamelessly rips off, the most obvious candidate being the superior animated feature Open Season but plenty of other films come to mind as well. Ripping off other films wouldn’t be too big a deal, of course, if this film did something a little different with the ideas it was stealing or at the very least proved really entertaining but, alas, it fails on both counts. The writing is dire, bordering on the abysmal, with an obvious and predictable storyline, good but far from original message about looking after the environment, lame dialogue and even lamer gags, with the physical and slapstick humour on display only really offering up a few laugh out loud moments and then ones that only undemanding viewers, i.e. very young kids, will actually laugh out loud to. The film’s sense of humour is completely childish, much of it consisting of Brendan Fraser going from one humiliating situation to the next, further destroying what little credibility he may have had as an actor. And given nothing to work with, every member of the cast just phones it in, with even rising comic star Ken Jeong and the often entertaining Wallace Shawn failing to raise more than a slight titter of laughter. The only positive thing that can really be said is that the animation work on the animals – furry critters of the non talking variety – is pretty good, their appearance, movements and actions seeming pretty realistic. This, however, does not even begin to account for the lack of quality elsewhere. So, all in all, Furry Vengeance is a film that should be avoided. Young children may laugh up a riot and think the film is amazing but anyone who has actually developed a taste in humour is far more likely to leave the cinema seeking some vengeance of their own – against the people who made this film.

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Review by Robert Mann BA (Hons)

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