Anaconda (1997)

Number Rolled: 77

Movie Name/Year: Anaconda (1997)

Genre: Action & Adventure

Length: 89 minutes

Rating: PG-13

Director: Luis Llosa

Writer: Hans Bauer, Jim Cash, Jack Epps Jr.

Actors: Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Jon Voight, Eric Stoltz, Owen Wilson, Kari Wuhrer, Vincent Castellanos, Danny Trejo, Frank Welker

Terri is a documentary director hired by an anthropologist named Dr. Cale to travel the rainforest in search of a lost tribe. Along the way, they happen upon a shipwrecked man and take him aboard. It isn’t long before the crew of filmmakers realizes that their guest is a bit shady. It isn’t until one of them goes missing that they are introduced to the theory of a man-eating snake.

Anaconda is one of those movies I can watch pretty often without getting sick of it. Don’t take that to mean it’s good; it’s actually closer to a really bad movie that has a lot of good cheese to offer.

Let’s be fair, the actors were mostly good. Jon Voight plays insane psychotic better than most in the game and Ice Cube fit his part like a glove. I hate Owen Wilson in general, so I’ll refrain from offering my bias opinion on his job, but Jennifer Lopez was pretty believable despite my general dislike for her. The script itself also wasn’t too bad. The story, however, pretty much belonged to Jaws or any other water-based creature feature that came after it.

Everything that had a good side in this movie also had a bad side. The snake looked really good, but it screamed. I had friends, growing up, that were snake breeders. I have to admit, I’ve never heard a snake scream. Deep down I know they added it for extra horrific value, but I think it took away believability. In a cheese movie that’s normally fine, but this movie was trying to be serious. Aside from that they did great with the sounds from the jungle, but the few times they had animals other than the snake involved, they looked like bad puppets.

When you take into account the good and the bad pushing against each other in “Anaconda,” you’re left with nothing more than a mediocre film. I know this, and yet, it’s still a guilty pleasure of mine. I rarely change the channel when it’s on. For the life me, I couldn’t tell you why. If you figure it out, let me know.

Overall Opinion – 2.5/5