"Dudley Do-Right"

by Thom Bennett

What is funny about Mounties? What is funny about falling around and getting hit with stuff? If you answered nothing to either or both of these, you had best steer clear of "Dudley Do-Right."

The latest Brendan Fraser - oh the kids just love him - effort is a live action version of the classic cartoon of the same name. Created by Jay Ward, the animator behind- you guessed it - "George of the Jungle", "Dudley Do-Right" shifts the locale from the jungle to the Canadian Rockies. The story goes a little something like this&ldots; Dudley (Brendan Fraser), a well intentioned but hapless Mounted Policeman, discovers that his nemesis Snidely Whiplash (Alfred Molina) has a plot to swindle the land from the locals with a phony gold rush scheme and in the process steal Dudley's girl (Sarah Jessica Parker). This, of course, cannot be allowed and Dudley must save the day.

Okay, I understand that kids like cartoons and even sometimes they like cartoons that are made into movies with actual human beings in them. With the surprise success of "George of the Jungle", we had to see this one coming. It has not yet sunk in yet in Hollywood that some cartoons are cartoons for a reason.

Brendan Fraser, who showed his true acting chops along side Ian Mc Kellen the dark and beautiful "Gods and Monsters", is wasted in the role of Mr. Do-Right. I mean, is it any funnier that it is Brendan Fraser getting hit with boards and sitting on his horse backwards as opposed to anyone else in the world? If it is, I certainly don't see it. It is a shame that a fine actor such as Fraser is quickly becoming a human cartoon who moonlights as an actor. Then again "Gods and Monsters" didn't make a hundred million dollars, so I guess there is some sort of tradeoff here.

The result is a film for people who simply can't get enough of those funny home video shows. Yes, there is something inherently funny about somebody getting hit with something or falling down. However, there is something inherently unfunny about watching it over the course of a feature length film.