MR MAGOO
US, 1997, 87 minutes, Colour.
Leslie Nielsen, Kelly Lynch, Matt Keeslar, Nick Chinlund, Stephen Tobolowsky, Ernie Hudson, Jennifer Garner, Malcolm Mc Dowell, Miguel Ferrer.
Directed by Stanley Tong.
Mr Magoo was a famous cartoon figure, featured in a number of short films, with the voice of Jim Bacchus giving a characteristic tone to Mr Magoo and a number of phrases, Mr Magoo, you have done it again!
With the decision to make a live-action version of Mr Magoo, the makers have opted for making it a live-action cartoon. Perhaps an obvious choice for Mr Magoo was Leslie Nielsen who made the transition from serious actor to being a regular standby for movie spoofs, Repossessed, Wrongfully Accused, The Naked Gun series. He captures all the characteristics of Mr Magoo and gives credibility to what is basically quite implausible.
One of the wise thing is that the film does is to have the opening credits featuring the cartoon character himself, getting himself into all kinds of bother, a victim of his nearsightedness and his presumption that there is nothing wrong with his eyesight. After the credits, the film makes an easy transition to the live-action. And, to cap it off, the film goes back into animation for the final credits.
The basic plot is a familiar one of a precious jewel put on display with arch criminals determined to steal it, Kelly Lynch, obviously enjoying her role as a femme fatale, unscrupulous, martial arts expert, and Nick Chinlund the victim of all kinds of pratfalls. They are to bring the stolen Stalin jewel to arch-criminal, sculptor and auctioneer to the world’s greatest villains, a brief cameo by Malcolm Mc Dowell.
Mr Magoo is invited to the exhibition and meets a young woman who is in charge of the Kuristan delegation (Jennifer Garner looking, in hindsight, remarkably young) while his young bumbling, destined to be a new Mr Magoo (Matt Keeslar) is immediately infatuated
Mr Magoo makes all kinds of mistakes at the reception, is seen at the scene of the crime (which is quite an elaborate show), bumbling into a closet with a mini exhibit and thinking that a mummy is a patient needing an ambulance. In come the CIA and the FBI in the forms of Ernie Hudson and Stephen Tobolowsky. Hudson is ambitious to solve the case, write a book and become famous. Tobolowsky is a victim, all the way through all kinds of mishaps, mayhem and what is literally, knockabout comedy.
Everything goes wrong at a benefit with operatic excerpts and the femme fatale makes a date to interview Mr Magoo, who, unbeknownst, has the jewel when it fell into his fishing tackle box as the two thieves fought on a ferry. At home, Mr Magoo plays catch with the jewel and his British-looking bulldog. The criminals search his home as do the authorities while Mr Magoo is in the kitchen cooking with the help of a television program and accidentally changes channels with the comic consequences.
In a strange twist, the authorities persuaded Mr Magoo to impersonate a sinister Brazilian criminal who wants the jewel – with Mr Magoo going to Brazil with his nephew, following the femme fatale as well is the bumbling thief, the authorities following on. The episode is a wedding, with Mr Magoo extraordinarily finishing up disguised as the bride and getting the jewel back.
The film is good-natured while being very silly, plenty of slapstick to amuse slapstick lovers, a touch of nostalgia for older audiences who remembers the cartoons from their childhood days.
