Customer Reviews

Kangaroo Jack (Mini-DVD)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Kangaroo Jack(released Jan/03)is a funny and ultimately satisfying romp set,for the most part,in the Australian outback.
The story starts by giving us its two main protagonists Charlie(Jerry O'Connell) and Louis(Anthony(Anderson) in their pre-teen days.Charlie's Mom falls in love and marries a local mobster Salvatore Maggio(Christopher Walken).While at the beach a jealous protoge' of Salvatores by the name of Frankie(Michael Shannon)throws a long ball into the water for Charlie to catch but he is unable to swim.Near drowning Louis,out scanning the sand with a metal detector,sees the situation and runs in to save his life.
Fast forward 20 years and Charlie has his own beauty salon courtesy of his step father and a hanger on of a friend Louis,who always seems to be getting him into trouble.This day Louis asks Charlie to accompany him to unload some hot TVs in a large van.Of course things go awry and along the way they are pursued by the law.They reach their destination and to Charlies surprise it is a warehouse run by Salvatores men.Just at this moment the cops show up and all are busted.Through some wrangling by Salvatore Charlie,Louis et al are all released.Salvatore gives them a total dressing down and then gives Charlie and Louis a job to do for him in Australia.They are to deliver $50,000 to a Mr Smith(Martin Csokas)as a pay off of some kind;the details are a little vague.
When they arrive they head out for their destination near Alice Springs in the interior.Along the way they inadvertantly hit a kangaroo.Thinking they have killed it,they get out and Charlie attempts to drag it off the road.Ala Weekend at Bernies,Louis thinks there's something funny about Charlie and the Kangaroo and starts to take some gag pictures.They even put Louis' "lucky" red Brooklyn jacket on it.At this moment the kangaroo comes back to the living and hops away;not before knocking poor Charlie on his keester.
Both start laughing but then Louis realizes something.The $50,000 is in the pocket of the jacket that is now hip hopping its way around the outback.From here on the two set out to retrieve the money.At a bar they meet two people which will come to be helpful to them both.One is a wildlife preservationist called Jessie(Estella Warren) who gives Louis a tranquilizer dart to subdue the "roo".The other is a rough and tumble airplane pilot called Blue(Bill Hunter) who will take them into the air to suss out the errant kangaroo.They take off and soon after they find their prey as hoped for.Just as Louis fires the gun the airplane shifts.They look down to see the animal still hopping but back in the plane we see the dart embedded in poor Blue's neck.The inevitable eventually occurs as the trio crash land and Louis and Charlie are forced to hike in the desert to the nearest town for help.
Meanwhile back in the States Salvatore has learned from Mr.Smith that the two have not shown up with the money as promised.Salvatore sends Frankie out to take care of the problem personally.Frankie and some thugs arrive in Australia and start to track the pair down.Louis and Charlie meanwhile are near death in the desert heat and Charlie has already hallucinated due to lack of water.When Jessie happens to show up on a camel with her gear Charlie thinks it's a very cool mirage and with a smile touches Jessie's breasts.The next thing he knows he is waking up on the ground.On their way to find the kangaroo Mr Smith and his men catch up to the trio and demand the money.To buy time Jessie offers to take Mr Smith to where she thinks the kangaroo/money may be,while Louis and Charlie are led off to be killed.They escape and when they find and rescue Jessie are themselves set upon by Frankie who has finally caught up with them.
A fire fight ensues between Mr Smith and Frankie.When Louis,Charlie and Jessie try to escape during the ruckus Louis ends up over a cliffs edge hanging precariously onto the camel reigns.Charlie rushes over and barely saves Louis from certain death.After this commotion the kangaroo strangely comes by and Charlie is able to secure the jacket and money from it.The two men are now even(both have saved one anothers lives) and they finally have the money to turn over.Frankie nor Salvatore it seems cares about the money at all.They learn that they were in essence sent to Australia to pay for their own execution by Mr Smith;which they couldn't even do properly.As he is about to pull the trigger the local police arrive to arrest the bad guys.
Fast forward a year later and Salvatore is behind bars,thanks to Charlie and Louis.Also Charlie and Louis are now rich thanks to some berries they discovered in Australia along their travels that they have turned into hair care products;Jessie of course is at Charlies side.The movie fades out aboard Charlies luxury yacht.
The movie moves along quite well although the introduction of characters tends to slightly bog down here and there.The movie works on two levels;as a comedy and as the bond between two good friends.The comedy doesn't ramp up until they hit down under but when it does it is always there ready to surface at any time.When the movie starts out Louis is definitely the hangar on in Charlies life due to the fact he had saved him years before and just seems to be milking it for all it is worth.As the movie progresses though the characters bond we find is deeper than the shallow apparition it first appeared to be.By the end all has come full circle and we find that Charlie needed Louis as much as Louis needed Charlie and their bond is now stronger than ever;bff for sure.
The CGI here is also worth mentioning as the kangaroo in the title is for the most part all digital in creation;but very,very real looking and acting.I could not find even a voice credit for Kanagroo Jack in the credits.As an FYI Blue is played by Australian actor Bill Hunter who you may recall was Muriels father in "Muriels Wedding".
As far as the technical department is concerned the film has been transferred nicely to its widescreen a/r and everything looks clear and crisp.There are a plethora of extras:Casting Sessions as actors try out for animal auditions,gags and outtakes,learn how to dance like the kangaroo,a look at the camel flatulence scenes,a featurette narrated by the kangaroo,audio commentaries and the trailer.There are also some computer DVD extras.
All in all a nice and fun comedy romp played nicely by all concerned especially the two leads of Jerry O'Connell and Anthony Anderson.Anderson really plays his part well and is Jerry's perfect foil.It is a comedy for sure but the concurrent running under toe of bonding between two life long friends makes it rise above the more mundane comedies of this type.Recommended.