Dudley Do Right
for mild comic action violence, and for brief language and innuendo.
Reviewed by: Dave and Rebecca Kinder
GUEST REVIEWERS
| Moral Rating: | Good |
| Moviemaking Quality: |
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| Primary Audience: | Children |
| Genre: | Comedy |
| Length: | 1 hr. 15 min. |
| Year of Release: | 1999 |
| USA Release: |
| Featuring | Brendan Fraser, Alfred Molina, Sarah Jessica Parker, Robert Prosky, Jack Kehler |
| Director |
Hugh Wilson |
| Producer | John Davis, Joseph Singer, J. Todd Harris |
| Distributor |
A wonderful exception to the countless “live” action and animated films today that call themselves family friendly, but are not, is “Dudley Do Right”. Not since “Princess Bride” have we been able to honestly say “we enjoyed the movie, and so will the kids.”
The perhaps now classic cartoon hero, Dudley Do-Right, is wonderfully brought to life. Dudley (Brendan Fraser) is a bumbling and yet heroic Canadian mountie who, along with his comical and sometimes flatulent horse, “Horse”, fights his arch nemesis, Snidely Whiplash (Alfred Molina). All the while competing for the love of classic damsel-in-distress Nell Fenwick (Sarah Jessica Parker).
Director and writer Hugh Wilson, of “George of the Jungle” fame, does an excellent job bringing Jay Ward’s cartoon creations to life. From Dudley’s uniform and clumsy misfortunes to Nell’s “damsel in distress” attire (complete with bonnet) and Snidley’s villainous mustache and top hat. The acting is believeable and fun for a family movie. In fact, the movie could have been rated G except for a few loud actions scenes which may scare very young children.
The story opens with the characters being introduced as children, which immediately appeals to the younger audience. It is not long before the evil plot of the fully grown Snidely Whiplash summons Dudley to the rescue. The once peaceful town of Semi-Happy Valley is in danger!
“Dudley Do Right” is fun from start to finish with action and humor targeted at children, but equally fun for adults.
From a Christian perspective we didn’t notice any profanity or the all-too-common sexual innuendos that pervade so much of “family” films today. As to why this did not earn a “5” in the Moral Rating, it was not a Christian film. The values taught were simply that good guys win and bad guys lose. It even implied that sometimes good and evil are not always easy to tell apart, but good will win in the end.
The change comes when Dudley, after suffering loss of everything he holds dear, finally concludes that the only way to win is to become the bad guy himself and put Snidely in the “weak” position of being the good guy. He adopts a black dress code, which thoroughly excites the formerly bored Nell, races a motorcycle around, blasting things with a machine gun. He steals what doesn’t belong to him—for the greater good, of course—and wins Nell’s affections by becoming a “stud” (their word, not mine). The reviewers may call it a great movie for the kids because there was no cursing (though I consider the Indian’s language cursing) or nudity or sexual innuendo, but verbally it was over the heads of any children that would enjoy the sight gags, and the faithless characters leave much to be desired. It’s actually hard to like the “good guys” in this movie.
Nell is shallow and “easy”, her father kicks Dudley out of office heartlessly, and even the horse takes off and doesn’t return till the last scenes. And in the end, they win! Jesus used stories all the time to teach Kingdom principles and show people the heart of His Father. I consider story-telling an excellent tool for teaching morality and truth. And stories are fun, especially when they are funny. But when a story this poorly told wins our approval simply because it’s missing certain objectionable elements, I believe we have lost something valuable. I appreciate your reviewers taking the time to see and evaluate these movies, but I truly disagree with this review. It may not have been a “bad” movie, but I think it was a poor one.