Furry Vengeance (2010)
Directed by Roger Kumble
Written by Michael Karnes, Josh Gilbert
Starring Brendan Fraser, Brooke Shields, Ken Jeong
Release Date April 30th, 2010
Published April 29th, 2010
Brenden Fraser is a terrific goofball. He's been one of Hollywood's best golf balls since his breakthrough role as the caveman teenager in "Encino Man." Guileless, earnest and most of all highly committed to whatever the role calls for, that's been the hallmark of Brendan Fraser's career. Whether he is tumbling down hills, getting punched in the face, or chased by Mummies, Scorpions or Dinosaurs, Fraser's winning goofball-ness never seems to fail.
Until now that is. On the surface, "Furry Vengeance," with its anthropomorphized animals and heavy reliance on slapstick, would seem right up Fraser's alley. Surfaces can be quite deceiving. Even with Fraser giving his sincere best, "Furry Vengeance" is a bitterly ugly family comedy dedicated to bizarre innuendo and below the belt humor that even Mr. Fraser can't save with that goofy mug of his.
In "Furry Vengeance" Brenden Fraser is Dan Sanders, a family man from Chicago who has uprooted his family, wife Tammy (Brook Shields) and son Tyler (Matt Prokop), to a forest area where he is to oversee the development of new suburban homes. Unfortunately for Dan, there are already residents in this neighborhood and they don't take kindly to strangers. These residents are a scrappy group of rodents and other woodland creature friends who are sentient enough to know when they are being threatened and savvy enough to fight back.
Soon, poor Dan is being kept up at night by birds and attacked during the day by skunks, all under the leadership of a crafty raccoon. In what is likely a nod to classic Looney Tunes shorts of the 50's, only Dan knows the animals are out to get him while everyone else, including his wife and son, just think he's going crazy.
The allusion to Looney Tunes is the only humor to be wrung from “Furry Vengeance.” I managed to kill several minutes of this belligerent farce by going back in my mind to the classic cartoon frog who sang opera but only to one poor schmoe and never in front of a crowd. The poor guy would repeatedly hear the frog perform beautiful arias and then attempt to show others only to have the frog act like a typical frog. That anecdote has only a passing connection to "Furry Vengeance." Apparently just writing about this movie inspires me to seek distraction.
Among the main oddities of "Furry Vengeance" is a propensity toward gags in the script that kids won't get or, depending on their age, should not get. The screenplay has an odd tendency toward sexual innuendo outside of a sexual situation. The credit sequence is easily the most jarring of the inappropriate humor in "Furry Vengeance" as the cast, kids included, sings along to a Kidz Bop-esque remix of Cypress Hill "Insane in the Membrane." This is wrong on so many levels that I cannot begin to number them in this space.
That said, allow me to address those who are already typing their complaint; I know this is a kids movie and not meant for someone like me. I don't have kids. That said, I feel that if I had children, no matter how much they whine, I would not bring them to see "Furry Vengeance."
Regardless of whether the film is pitched to the juvenile sense of humor, I demand something more mentally nutritious for my fictional child. "Furry Vengeance" arrives at a time when the brilliant "How to Train Your Dragon" is still in theaters. Anyone who chooses "Furry Vengeance" over the thrills, chuckles and honest to goodness, wisdom of "How to Train Your Dragon" needs their head examined.
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