Cast: Brendan Fraser, Brooke Shields, Matt Prokop; Director: Roger Kumble; Producers: Keith Goldberg, Robert Simonds; Screenwriters: Michael Carnes, Josh Gilbert; Music: Ed Shearmur; Editor: Lawrence Jordan; Genre: Comedy/ Family: Cinematography: Peter Lyons Collister; Distributor: Pioneer Fims; Location: USA; Running Time: 92 mins.;Technical Assessment: 2.5
Moral Assessment: 3
CINEMA Rating: For viewers 14 and above
Construction supervisor Dan Sanders (Brendan Fraser) uproots his Chicago-based family—wife Tammy (Brooke Shields) and teen son Tyler (Matt Prokop)—to move to the woodlands of Oregon and supervise the creation of an environment-friendly housing development. A sulking son and an unwilling wife are no match for Sanders’ scheming boss Neal Lyman (Ken Jeong) who, with an irresistible double-your-salary package, ensnares Sanders in spite of his better judgment. Insensitive to his son’s resentment of his situation and to his wife’s half-hearted cooperation, Sanders naively thinks they will see his point when the eco-friendly paradise that the subdivision is envisioned to be is finally inaugurated. His family is not alone, however, against the project. Work and life soon become unbearable for Sanders due to the forest creatures that conspire to put stumbling blocks on his path one after the other until Sanders is suspected of being—you guess it right—mentally ill.
Furry Vengeance is one of those movies that promise a lot but deliver so little. While it tries to say that it’s important to preserve flora and fauna in their natural state, it projects fauna as mean critters who will do everything to defend their habitat. Like urinating in the mouth of a person and catapulting boulders to destroy incoming cars. Skunks, raccoons, and other furry animals are so way-over-the-top smart that they make a moron out of Sanders. It’s a wonder Sanders survives the furry vengeance. But then again, all that nincompoopery must have been the reason behind Fraser’s flat acting. And speaking of flat acting—maybe Brooke Shields shouldn’t have accepted such an unchallenging role, unless, of course, that’s what she has really become after all those years of glamorous living: a nondescript suburban housewife. Assessing her character, the viewer might say, “Is that what has become of Pretty Baby?” Oh well, maybe it’s the story’s fault—it makes everybody dull beside the furry avengers.
Time to give Furry Vengeance the benefit of the doubt. It may have been clumsily delivered, but the message in this unfunny comedy is: put family and nature before anything else. Which is not quite a bad message these days when family is increasingly becoming “endangered species” as people pursue careers that sap all their energy. Forgive the predictable ending, as long as the father is converted from ambitious and materialistic career guy to nurturing father—thanks to the raccoon. Forget about the corny dialogue as long as they freeze the bulldozers and punish the greedy housing developers. There’s another noteworthy element in Furry Vengeance: a teen pair’s first kiss is treated with restraint, as though to say it’s not just an impulse to be taken for granted. The boy’s mother has done a good job after all. Despite its technical shortcomings and scatological humor, Furry Vengeance gets passing grades for its good intentions. --TRT
