Review of Dudley Do-Right

To criticize Dudley Do-Right on the basis of its story, characters, or plot would be a waste of time as the movie's self aware narrator voiced by veteran voice actor Corey Burton(who scores a decent share of what little humor there is to be had) often glibly and sardonically comments on the proceedings of titular Dudley Do-Right(played by a confused looking Brenden Fraser) and transparently evil mustached villain Snidely Whiplash(played by Alfred Molina and scoring some chuckles here and there). The marketing that unashamedly said "From the creator of George of the Jungle...and the star of George of the Jungle...and the acclaimed director who saw George of the Jungle..." gives an idea of what motivated the production of this film. Despite the tongue in cheek approach to the material, the movies sedate pacing in which 80% of the gags limp across screen longer than they should make this film a chore to sit through even at a brisk running time of about 70 minutes not including credits. Hugh Wilson worked with Brenden Fraser on the comparatively decent Blast from the Past(though admittedly I was not a fan) and even did the first Police Academy film which despite some hiccups I still feel holds up, everyone involved in this movie has done good work before and while this isn't an embarrassing misfire, it still is surprising given the talent involved. If anyone remembers the old Rocky and Bullwinkle show from which the character of Dudley Do-Right originated, the show was more or less a parody of melodramas from the silent film era like The Perils of Pauline. They varied in length from about 5-7 minutes but they were never the draw for the show as a whole as segments like Fractured Fairy Tales, the serialized Rocky & Bullwinkle stories, and Aesop and Son's Fables offered more variety and types of humor than the rather repetitive formula of Dudley Do-Right that while pleasant enough never really offered much in the way of variety. Dudley Do-Right is bland, inoffensive, and mostly harmless, but it's also not nearly as funny asit wants to be with humor free dry patches of choreographed dance sequences, vehicular stunts, and boring dialogue heavy scenes which have fart noises and cartoon whizzes and wooshes painfully shoehorned in a vain attempt to make the movie seem zanier than it is. SIDE NOTE: the budget for this movie was supposedly $70 Million but it looks cheap and ugly and at no point can you see that money on the screen. This movie belongs in the same category as films like Inspector Gadget and Mr. Magoo, taking cartoons that never had much substance to begin with and stretching them out so what little charm and appeal they had in the first place are no longer visible.