Dudley Do-Right

For the second time in his career, Brendan Fraser plays a cartoon character brought to live-action on the silver screen. The first was George of the Jungle, a movie most regard as a success.

Now Fraser has the lead role in Dudley Do-Right, which as memory serves me was a five minute segment on the old "Rocky and Bullwinkle" cartoon series. Dudley Do-Right is a doofus Canadian Mountie with a horse named Horse. His girl is Nell, who always gets tied down onto the railroad tracks by the villain, Snidely Whiplash.

I always wondered how the original producer, Jay Ward, could squeeze out a 5 minute segment each week on such a flimsy premise. Now the big question is how some bigwig executive thought they could squeeze out an 80 minute movie on the same idea.

The result is a film that kids will laugh at, that is, the parts that don’t fly over their little heads. Those satirical bits might bring a chuckle or two from the parents.

Just like the movie version of "The Little Rascals" from several years ago, you’ll wonder how the main actors can remain in character surrounded by perfectly normal people in the present. Fraser can only roll his eyes so many times when he’s hit in the head before you scream, "Enough, already!"

You’ll also wonder why he’s attracted to the homely Nell (Sarah Jessica Parker) when there are lots of more attractive women walking around. Snidely Whiplash (Alfred Molina) is a real estate swindler with an Art Fern accent and an eye for Nell. This would have been a perfect role for Donald Trump to play instead.

The final verdict: Dudley Do-Right is a notch or two better than the wretched Mr. Magoo feature from two years ago, but comes nowhere close to topping George of the Jungle.