Mighty Joe Young (1998)

A legendary fifteen-foot tall mountain gorilla named Joe is taken to an animal sanctuary in California by a zoologist and a young woman whom he grew up with. A poacher from the past returns to seek vengeance on him.

Director:

Ron Underwood

Writers:

Merian C. Cooper (story), Ruth Rose (earlier screenplay)

Stars:

Bill Paxton, Charlize Theron, Rade Serbedzija

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Charlize Theron	...	Jill Young
Bill Paxton	...	Gregg O'Hara
Rade Serbedzija	...	Strasser
Peter Firth	...	Garth
David Paymer	...	Harry Ruben
Regina King	...	Cecily Banks
Robert Wisdom	...	Kweli
Naveen Andrews	...	Pindi
Lawrence Pressman	...	Dr. Baker
Linda Purl	...	Dr. Ruth Young
Mika Boorem	...	Young Jill Young
Geoffrey Blake	...	Vern
Christian Clemenson	...	Jack
Cory Buck	...	Jason
Liz Georges	...	Jason's Mother

Storyline

The baby gorilla left in her care grows up to become a hugely tall and broad specimen by the name of Joe, living in the mountains as a mostly unseen legend among people who live there. Along comes an eco-minded emissary from a California sanctuary, who talks the jungle girl into providing safe haven for Joe at the L.A. facility. The transition is not without discomfort, but everything is aggravated via a conspiracy of poachers to get Joe into their own greedy hands!

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Plot Keywords:

gorilla | jungle | environmentalism | hollywood california | giant ape | 

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Taglines:

Survival is an instinct.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Family | Fantasy | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for some menacing action violence and mild language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English Swahili

Release Date:

25 December 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Store Joe Young

Filming Locations:

Hawaii, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$90,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$10,602,042, 27 December 1998, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$50,632,037

Company Credits

Production Co:

RKO Pictures, Walt Disney Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Since Gorillas in the Mist (1988), (Rick Baker) stated that he would not do any more projects that involved creating animatronic apes. Baker had to break that statement when he did Baby's Day Out (1994), in which a scene features a gorilla. After that film, he once again stated that he would not do any more ape projects, but when he got called to work on this film, he changed his mind. It was because of Baker's love for King Kong, and the original film, that changed his mind. This would be his last film that Baker created an animatronic gorilla suit. He added Planet of the Apes (2001) starring Mark Wahlberg to his ape centric resume.

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Goofs

Part of the film is set in California. In Los Angeles and at the carnival near the beach, there are police cars with their colored lights on. All the police cars are missing a steady red light in the front. By the California vehicle code, all emergency and law enforcement vehicles are required to have a steady red light facing forward.

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Quotes

Greg O'Hara: [Joe is holding him in the air by his leg] You think you could you get him to put me down?
Jill Young: Joe, drop him.
[Joe drops him roughly and Greg passes out]

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Alternate Versions

German video and DVD versions are edited for violence (capturing of the gorilla, transport of the gorilla in the city, escape of the gorilla, explosion of the ferris wheel) to get a more family friendly "Not under 6" rating. The uncut version (rated "Not under 12") was shown several times on pay-TV channel Premiere World (now Sky Germany).

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Connections

References Armageddon (1998)

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Soundtracks

Beautiful Dreamer
Written by Stephen Foster
Performed by Jay Richardson

User Reviews

Fantasic effects that are very realistic

This update of "Mighty Joe Young" features incredible visual effects. They are so seemlessly blended into the picture that Joe seems more than real.

Bill Paxton is great as usual. In fact, most of the cast is pretty good. Charlize Theron is both tough and sexy. She worked better with Paxton than the contrived relationship he had with Helen Hunt in "Twister".

I watched this movie with my kids and they loved it too. Definately a thumbs-up as a family movie. I recommend it.