Kazaam (1996)

A troubled kid inadvertently releases a genie, who must grant him any three wishes he requests.

Director:

Paul Michael Glaser (as Paul M. Glaser)

Writers:

Paul Michael Glaser (story) (as Paul M. Glaser), Christian Ford (screenplay)

Stars:

Shaquille O'Neal, Francis Capra, Ally Walker

Bottom Rated Movies #30 | 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Shaquille O'Neal	...	Kazaam
Francis Capra	...	Maxwell 'Max' Connor
Ally Walker	...	Alice Connor
James Acheson	...	Nick
John Costelloe	...	Travis
Marshall Manesh	...	Malik
Fawn Reed	...	Asia Moon
Mother Love	...	Mrs. Duke (as JoAnne Hart)
Brandon Durand	...	Vasquez
Wade Robson	...	Elito (as Wade J. Robson)
Jake Glaser	...	Jake
Efren Ramirez	...	Carlos
Jonathan Carrasco	...	Z-Dog
Jesse Perez	...	Vasquez's Sidekick
Todd Sible	...	Engineer Ed

Storyline

Being a lone young boy in the 'hood" is dangerous and unpleasant. This is what Max experiences when he fools a gang of local toughs who cornered him at school. The gang finds out that the key he gave them is of no value in committing a robbery, and they chase him through the streets of his neighborhood, bent on revenge. He tries to escape by slipping into the open door of an old warehouse, but they follow him there, too. While running from them through aisles filled with all kinds of stuff, he bumps into an old boom box. By doing that, he manages to release Kazaam, a genie who has been held captive for thousands of years. In order to stay free, Kazaam must give Max three wishes.

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Plot Keywords:

rapping | boy | nightclub | warehouse | boom box | 

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Taglines:

The world's most powerful genie has just met his match.

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Genres:

Comedy | Family | Fantasy | Musical

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for action violence and language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 July 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

Kazaam - Der Geist aus der Flasche

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$7,131,000, 21 July 1996, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$18,876,581, 3 November 1996

Company Credits

Production Co:

Interscope Communications, Polygram Filmed Entertainment, Touchstone Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Despite the fact that this film was a critical and financial disaster, Shaquille O'Neal has not expressed regret for his involvement. He said in a 2012 interview, "I was a medium-level juvenile delinquent from Newark who always dreamed about doing a movie. Someone said, 'Hey, here's $7 million, come in and do this genie movie.' What am I going to say, no? So I did it."

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Goofs

When Kazaam is singing the song "We genie" with Max, if you look closely, when he raps the part, "...and we was in Hades 'cause we moved with the Harem of the Prince of Akabrem..." His mouth is still moving for that split second after he finishes the line, but before they show Max's Face.

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Quotes

Alice Connor: That's right, it's poisoned. I figured if I ended your suffering, mine would end too.

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Connections

Spoofs King Kong (1933)

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Soundtracks

Groovin
Written by Felix Cavaliere (uncredited) and Edward Brigati (uncredited)
Performed by Pato Banton

User Reviews

A perfect example of a movie that I loved as a child, hate as an adult...

Well, adolescent really(19). Like Howard the Duck, Kazaam was a movie I loved as a child but looking back on it I was shocked at how low my taste buds were as a kid. Granted, there are some funny moments specifically the ones with the flying toasts and the bicycle race. And it is not the worst movie of 1996, Ed and especially Bio Dome are worse. However, the special effects are really quite substandard, and the rest of the production values are of direct to video quality and shoddy ones at that. The story is predictable with only a few worthwhile scenes to favour, the sight gags suffer from poor comic timing and the script is childish and simplistic. The characters I really dislike here, the kid is annoying, the villain is one of the lamest I have seen in a long time while Shaquille O'Neal's Genie with his awful rapping(then again I dislike rap intensely, and that is the least problematic of his performance) grated on me fast. The acting doesn't fare much better either, while the direction is literally non-existent and the soundtrack is only tolerable if on mute. This is of course my opinion, disagree all you want, I guess I just didn't like it. 2/10 Bethany Cox