‘Crocodile Dundee’
film lacks humor of original
 By
Jeff Cantwell
Staff Writer
Yes, he still has a big knife. Yes, he can still
wiggle his fingers and control the animal world. Yes, he can still instantly
vanish into the woods.
And yes, he drives a Subaru Outback.
"Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles" serves as a public
service announcement to moviegoers that Mick Dundee, despite being gone
for 10 years, is still up to the same old tricks.
My feelings before seeing this movie are best summed
up by what my friend said to me as we sat down in the near-empty theater.
"Crocodile Dundee has lost so much respect in the
past few years, that the fact this movie is coming to theaters and not
straight to video says something for it."
With that glimmer of hope, I sat through a series
of random events that make Dundee feel "out of place" in Los Angeles.
The plot is about a movie studio that is smuggling
art, but don't worry, it's not important.
What is important, is that Dundee (Paul Hogan)
is "out of place" in Los Angeles. Dundee stops traffic on a Los Angeles
highway because his son sees a dog, which turns out to be a skunk. He
also joins up on the set of a movie and tries unsuccessfully to "act."
Dundee whips out his pocketknife to dispatch an attacking anaconda —
on the Paramount movie tour ride.
"Crocodile Dundee" has some genuine comic
moments that make me think about how much I enjoyed the original film.
But there are also times when the laughter is just directed at the film;
I found myself laughing as the scene faded out because I couldn't fathom
how the director put the film together.
"Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles" is
not by any means a good movie, but its "out of place" humor
still succeeds to make me laugh almost half the time. Two stars is a
generous rating, but Dundee is a generous guy.
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