Buddy (1997)

Director:

Caroline Thompson

Writers (WGA):

Gertrude Davies Lintz (book)
William Joyce (screen story) ...

Release Date:

6 June 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy | Drama | Family

Tagline:

Welcome to a family that will make yours seem tame.

Plot:

Rene Russo plays an eccentric socialite who raises a gorilla as her son.

Plot Keywords:

Gorilla | Socialite | Chimpanzee | Animal | Eccentric

Cast

Rene Russo	...	Mrs. Gertrude 'Trudy' Lintz
Robbie Coltrane	...	Dr. Bill Lintz
Alan Cumming	...	Dick Croner, Trudy's Assistant
Irma P. Hall	...	Emma, Lintz's Maid
Peter Elliott	...	Buddy
Mak Wilson	...	Buddy
Lynn Robertson Bruce	...	Buddy
Mark Sealey	...	Buddy
Robert Tygner	...	Buddy (as Rob Tygner)
Michelan Sisti	...	Buddy
Peter Hurst	...	Buddy
Leif Tilden	...	Buddy
Star Townsend	...	Buddy (as Star Townshend)
Paul Reubens	...	Professor Spatz
John Aylward	...	Mr. Joe Bowman

MPAA:

Rated PG for some threatening animal action.

Runtime:

84 min | Argentina:90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:G (TV rating) | Australia:PG (original rating) | South Korea:All | Argentina:Atp | Chile:TE | France:U | Germany:6 | Portugal:M/6 (video premiere) | Sweden:7 | UK:U (video premiere) | USA:PG (certificate #34791)

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles Zoo, Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

American Zoetrope

Trivia:

Rene Russo came out a month before principal photography started to work to rehearse with each individual chimp.

Quotes:

Emma: It's enough to drive you to the nut house. Of course this place probably already is the nut house.

Soundtrack:

Anchors Aweigh

Good-looking, but mostly hollow.

My Take: More proof that decent special effects and pretty sets can't tell the story.

BUDDY is the film that BABE could have easily been, but while that harmless, little achievement took to a different direction (and succeeded as a great, little film), BUDDY takes off on the wrong track. The story elements are easily predictable, but that's rarely the worst part since the film, despite some imagination and style which went into the production design, the story drags on. It's dully paced and slow-moving, it's pretty hard to care for a somewhat interesting character (a domesticated ape, no less).

Rene Russo plays, and is actually fine as, eccentric wealthy animal lover Gertrude Lintz, who adopts all sorts of animals, chimpanzees mostly, and grooms them into civilized beings, dressing them up and teaches them to walk upright and eat on a table (with a spoon and fork, no less). Alongside her and her menagerie of trained (and well-dressed) apes is her husband (Robbie Coltrane), a helpful maid (Irma P. Hall) and her assistant (Alan Cumming). But when she decides to adopt a harmless orphaned gorilla, her confidence is slowly loosing as Buddy, as groomed and as attentive an animal he is, he's still an animal.

Russo and co., thankfully given some decent roles, are actually good, and the ape (cheesy as ape suits are today) is pretty endearing. But unlike BABE, the focus pitched on the animals are pretty tedious. This time, I think, giving the animals the gift of speech is a welcome asset. Director Caroline Thompson seemed to be distracted by the overall look of the film (the production design, from costumes to sets, are spontaneously elaborate) to strongly develop the script. The story lags a long in a drowsy, monotonous pace that could even put a few children to sleep.

What could have been an eagerly acceptable fantasy with touches of engaging tragedy is an elaborate and fancy bore. BUDDY isn't a failure, but it fails more than it succeeds. At best, it's a promise that never really got off the ground.

Rating: **1/2 out of 5.