Customer Reviews

Disney's Flubber

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I am opposed to remakes in general. Rarely are they as good as the original. I have thought, and continue to think, that remakes are a way to admit that filmmakers are not as creative as they once were, and a remake begins with a completed product. Having said all that, I did like this movie. The movie has problems, but I managed to ignore the problems and have a few good laughs.

Professor Philip Brainard (Robin Williams) is a science genius. Professor Brainard has enough inventions in his house to keep a fleet of patent agents and attorneys busy for years. However, the movie ignores such trivialities to focus on Professor Brainard's need to develop a cheap source of power. The story has Brainard focusing on his pursuit of cheap power to the exclusion of his fiancée Dr. Sara Jean Reynolds (Marcia Gay Harden) and his impending marriage to her. Brainard also seems to be oblivious that Wilson Croft is out to steal his girl, his inventions and sink the college at which they are employed, all at the same time.

Robin Williams is in good form, providing laughs throughout the film. While Fred MacMurray had an air of absent-minded innocence that Williams fails to achieve, Williams brings his own style to the role and does a good job. Marcia Gay Harden almost seems unnecessary to the film though I did like her character. Williams's frenetic characterization of Brainard makes everyone else seem mundane in comparison.

Two of the biggest stars in this movie are special effects, the flubber and a flying robot. The flubber sings and dances and squeaks like a mouse. The robot watches too many soap operas and movies and is jealous of Sara Jean. The robot works diligently to keep the wedding from happening.

This movie does ignore a lot of things in order to keep the plot moving along. I kept wondering how Brainard created an intelligent flying robot the size of a football. Brainard also ignores the need for nuclear elements to power his flubber, with the attendant problems associated with nuclear materials. The missing of the wedding seemed an excessive plot detail, and I found that portion of the plot distracting.

I think the original "Absent-Minded Professor" movie remains superior to the remake. However, if you ignore that this movie is a remake and you are able to ignore the inconsistencies, the movie has a number of very funny moments. I would consider this movie for a family library, though some of the action is quite violent and I would probably limit watching to children ages 7 or 8 and above. Good luck!

In Disney's 1997 remake of its own "The Absent Minded Professor," "Flubber" shows itself to be different, yet just as good, as its 1961 predecessor. Robin Williams is just right as the scatterbrained Prof. Phillip Brainard. He brings a class to the character hardly any other actor could have. This film has the irresistable momentum of a bullet train. There is rarely a low moment. As if the superb special effects and pleasant performances weren't enough, composer Danny Elfman turns in one heck of an enjoyable mamba-tinged score. Overall, this movie can be enjoyed by adults as well as children. If you're expecting a deep cerebral experience, don't even bother. This movie is just pure fun!

Recently I went to a theater showing the Disney remake, Flubber, starring Robin Williams. Although I still prefer the original The Absent Minded Professor, Flubber was a whole lot of fun.

Robin Williams plays a science professor looking for a new form of energy. As the film opens, Williams is already in danger of missing his own wedding for the third time. But while guests wait patiently Williams discovers the semi-intelligent Flubber. Much of the rest of the film is spent trying to win back the heart of his fiance and subsequently save the collage from bankruptcy and closure. Williams is aided in his endeavors by two robots. The first is an exceptionally capable housekeeping robot. The second is a levitating, self-aware intelligence with full emotions. While fun companions movie-wise, the technical aspects of these robots would be more than enough for Williams to save the college. In the End Williams wins back his fiancé, defeats the bad guys trying to close the college and finds a future for Flubber.

While Flubber is very enjoyable it seems like the writers added details for the sake of cuteness without thinking about the implications. Williams is looking for a new energy source yet he has a robot that can defy gravity and powered by simple electricity. He needs a discovery worth money yet he has two very successful and useful robots, one of them alive. Flubber itself has been made into some kind of life form. This may be good for merchandising but one can only wonder about the source of powdered Flubber or the implications of flight resulting from intentionally causing the organism's decay. Selling the rights to flying cars to Ford made for a funny scene but now there can potentially be millions of semi-responsible drivers flying through the country's airlanes while carrying radioactive materials. Additionally, a few scenes were changed from the original and are now less plausible. For instance, in the original, the fiancé calls the professor when he is late for the wedding again.

So if you are looking for fun then this is your movie. However, if you tend to rebel at inconsistencies and like your plots to make sense, then you might want to avoid this one. It's up to you.

This question may occur to the more cynical audience members as they watch "Flubber," since the movie's hero succeeds in forgetting his wedding day three times in a row. In this remake of the 1961 hit, Robin Williams plays the absent-minded professor who accidentally invents flubber ("Flying rubber! Flubber!") and saves his college, his career and his romance.

Flubber is a substance that somehow magnifies energy, allowing objects to bounce faster and higher than they should. Barely drop some, and it rebounds crazily off the walls.

"Flubber" the movie seems to be made out of anti-flubber; you drop it, and it stays on the floor. Although the movie may appeal to kids in the lower grades, it's pretty slow, flat and dumb.

Williams stars as Prof. Phillip Brainard, who must be related somehow to Prof. Ned Brainard, the role originally played by Fred MacMurray in "The Absent-Minded Professor" and "Son of Flubber" (1963). He tinkers in his basement laboratory, creating marvelous inventions that are usually stolen by the scheming Wilson Croft (Christopher McDonald), who now wants to steal flubber--and Brainard's fiancee. She's Sara Jean Reynolds (Marcia Gay Harden), president of the university where Brainard teaches. It's a school about to go bankrupt.

Maybe Brainard keeps forgetting his wedding day because he already has all the woman that a techhead like him could possibly want. He's accompanied everywhere by a levitating electronic sidekick named Weebo (voice by Jodi Benson, of "The Little Mermaid" fame), who has a seductive, womanly tone and a pop-up screen that illustrates her comments with clips from old TV shows. She's kind of like a cross between phone sex and an e-mate.

Weebo advises and encourages the professor and keeps his appointment calendar. The movie makes much of how the patent on flubber might save the university, while overlooking the obvious fact that Weebo is the sort of personal digital assistant that would sell millions of units in the first year.

No matter. There's another villain on the scene--the scheming millionaire Chester Hoenicker (Raymond Barry), whose son Bennett (Wil Wheaton) just failed Brainard's class. Chester dispatches two goons named Smith and Wesson (Clancy Brown and Ted Levine) to spy on Brainard, and they observe his great new flying rubber, just before flubber-covered golf and bowling balls bounce off their heads. (The prowlers are clones of the bad guys in the "Home Alone" movies, also scripted by "Flubber" writer John Hughes.) All of this is pretty slow-going. Williams plays Brainard straight and steady, with a few whimsical asides, and the special-effects team has fun with flubber, making it into a malleable green substance that can take any shape, and at one point, forms itself into a song-and-dance number. There's also a flubberized basketball game, and a flubber-powered automobile, which Brainard pilots through the sky without, somehow, creating the magical effect you would expect.

The suspense hinges on whether Brainard can save flubber from Croft, fight off Smith and Wesson, marry the girl, and save the university. Call me perverse, but just once, for sheer novelty value, I'd like one of these movies to end with the hero losing the rights to his invention, while the bad guy marries the girl and the school goes belly-up.

Oh, my gosh this is a fun movie that will make your family tickled pink. And if you don't have a family, this is a great movie to take a date on, because it is the complete opposite of the usual shoot-em-up garbage that is playing at the local theater. And if you can get that special lady/fella to laugh (as they will most certainly do during Flubber), then you are well on your way to a great, great night of romance.

Flubber is the story of Robin Williams inventing Flubber which makes cars fly.

Flubber stands for flying rubber and it does just that in this movie called Flubber. And Robin Williams was born to play the part of the absent-minded professor whose hijinks are utterly charming from the beginning of the movie until the very end. If Flubber came in flavors I would expect it to taste like lime or patchouli!

Children need to believe in magic again, and Flubber embraces the world post-9/11 in an honest and compassionate manner. Plus, Robin Williams is hilarious as a man in this movie (he was also great as a woman in Mrs. Doubtfire!)

You will love Flubber and so will your grandparents. It's flubbing fantastic!

This is a great Disney movie. It is different from the original, but Robin Williams makes it funny in a way where it stands by itself.

Flubber was a very interesting movie. Some scenes were funny, and some scenes were just not. But Robin Williams did a okay job. This movie you should worth seeing once.

The movie is a great escape, with some good humor and energy. After seeing the cool flying robotic assistant and the flying car, it made me enjoy dreaming and innovating. Some of those negative reviews were apparently given by those with the sense of humor of a piece of wood. Robin Williams is great at playing an absent minded professor, with some hillarious statements and events. His fiance was a great companion in the movie, with her sweet disposition.

I purchased this video for my husband for Valentine's Day as a little extra gift. He had been going on and on about how much he loved this movie and wanted to own it. Needless to say he was very excited when he opened his little extra gift that he had wanted so very badly.

Flubber is a remake of a 60's movie called the Absent-Minded Professor.

Robin Williams is the professor. When the movie opens we meet Professor Phillip Brainard (Williams). It is his wedding day. He is marrying his school's president named Sara Jean Reyonalds (Marcia Gay Harden). The only problem is that Brainard can't remember his wedding.

This is the 3rd time for the couple. And the 1st two that Brainard forgot. When Brainard gets an idea. He gets to work. While that Reynolds is the church waiting for him. Brainard invents Flubber. And the next morning, at 6:30 Brainard remembers his wedding.

But he is supposed to get married Friday night. His has a computer machine named Weebo (voice of Jodi Benson) that keeps his caldendar. So he drops by Sara's office and she is ticked off at him. He tries to tell her that Flubber can save the college. And tries to prove it buy going out the window, fall to the ground and come up unharmed. But while he is doing it the Flubber leaves his pocket.

There is aslo a boy that refues to go to sleep because he is afaird of monstars coming in his window. So that night, Braindard fixes is car to have him fly. And decides to park at Sara's house. But once thier Sara doesn't see him. She is in the middle of a date with Braindard's rival (Christopher McDonald).

Phillip overhears a bet. That if Meyfield wins, that she will buy Brainard's rival dinner or go up to the mountains for the weekend. Will Meifield win? Will Brainard and Sara finnlay get married? Watch to find out.