Harry and the Hendersons

It's hard to find a good "all around" family movie. If it's something the kid will like, best bet, the parents will hate it. And if it's something mom and dad like, the kids will hate it. Harry and the Hendersons is one of the few family movies that the entire family enjoys! With a PG rating, the movie has just enough action, drama, suspense, and comedy to keep each member of the family interested. An interesting fact: The only character who curses in the entire film is the little boy? Except for hearing the word sh*t two or three times, the rest of the movie is clean for the whole family to enjoy.

The Henderson family of Seattle and I say that because this film was shot in Washington State are on a camping trip and heading home when John Lithgow hits something. Turns out to be a sasquatch, a really big Big Foot. They do exist.

What to do but the Hendersons bring him home quite unconscious. Since nobody has any history of dealing with them it takes awhile but Lithgow, Melinda Dillon, Margaret Langrick, and Joshua Rudoy;.all develop some rapport with Harry as they've taken to calling him.

Big as he is he's also not exactly house broken. The neighbors are bad enough, but the Hendersons also have to deal with a professional hunter in David Suchet. They get help from a retired scientist in Don Ameche.

Harry And The Hendersons is a nice if somewhat unbelievable fantasy. If Big Foot is out there I doubt he'll run into any of our species as nice as the Henderson family.

7'4" Kevin Peter Hall plays Harry and the makeup job they did on him earned an Oscar for the film. With all that makeup Hall gives a great performance with the camera catching differing expressions with his eyes. It's a great performance, better than the other players playing to an animated creation for instance.

Harry And The Hendersons is a nice fantasy and holds up well after 30 years.

You will fall in love with Harry and wish that Bigfoot / Sasquatch was real. A funny, endearing movie! There are several messages along the way: 1) Some humans are more beastly than animals; 2) Forgiveness is a powerful healer; and 3) Protect the wilderness, for it contains many wonderful things that are not always apparent to us. This movie is a family favorite!

This film clearly was inspired by the success of "ET" and "Alf" (which debuted just a year earlier). The stories are so similar...except that the nice creature is HUGE.

A family is on vacation and dad is out shooting critters with his young son. On their way home, they hit a Sasquatch! They think he's dead and tie him on the roof...which makes no sense because you see his legs sticking out and EVERY cop within 100 miles would soon stop them. But they don't and they take him home...where he wakes up and becomes like a member of the family who destroys almost everything. But since it's a movie, the family apparently doesn't mind all that destruction. In the meantime, an evil hunter (way overplayed by David Suchet) is looking to kill 'Harry'.

"Harry and the Hendersons" is an odd movie. While it's clearly intended for kids, the film has a lot of objectionable language. No f-bombs...but pretty much everything else. This really surprised me and while I wasn't offended (hey, I'm a big boy!), I wouldn't want young kids hearing that. And, when I say intended for kids, you can tell this is the case because some of the acting is incredibly over the top...like stuff you'd see on a Disney Channel or Nickelodeon show. Overall, I wasn't fond of the film but for older kids it's okay.

Also, I have no idea why, but I felt bad for the actress playing the daughter. She was incredibly nasty and impossible to like...and it was a thankless role for Margaret Langrick. Additionally, gun enthusiasts (especially hunters) might really want to think twice about seeing this one, as gun owners and hunters are mostly pretty terrible people in the movie.

I've been looking for this movie forever on DVD, my copy on tape is long gone and I hate watching the cut version when it is shown on TV. I was so addicted to this movie as a kid, when our TV broke, I plugged headphones into the VCR so I could hear it. Whats sad is I watched it so many times that I didn't mind that there was no picture, I still knew what was happening because I watched it a least 60 times beforehand. I'm so happy its finally coming out on DVD because I have a kiddo on the way and I can't wait till they are old enough to watch it with me. If you have kids and want to watch a movie everyone will like this is a definite buy. It will be watched over and over and your kids will never get tired of it, which could possibly be a bad thing. I hope this was helpful, I tried not to mention anything about the plot because it best to watch it and form your own opinion.