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JMEC
Reviews
Hulk (2003)
The Hulk definitely NOT family entertainment!
I always enjoyed the TV series of the Incredible Hulk and after having seen and enjoyed Spider Man with the whole family, we went to see the Hulk, hoping for an equally enjoyable experience of a cartoon come to life. Well - this was definitely nothing like Spider man. If it weren't for the good computer animation of the hulk itself, I would have given this movie a 1 instead of a 2. Far too much time was spent in the beginning on shots of cruel animal experiments in science labs to try and provide "scientific" explanations of what causes the changes in the Hulk. A good editor would have cut at least 70% of these scenes. They add next to nothing to the story line and I just found them disturbing, as did my daughter. It doesn't get better from there. You can literally sum the rest of the movie up with: scientist changes into creature, military shooting with all they've got, girl crying, hulk changes back, REPEAT. Completely missing are any of the scenes that made the TV hulk into an endearing creature in spite of his monstrous appearance. The scenes that would have turned this film into a family movie. This is not a children's movie - in fact there is not one kid in the whole movie, except for flashbacks into the childhood memories of the lead characters (Hulk and girlfriend), both of which are awful memories and further disturbing to children.
I can't see how the Hulk would appeal to any more than a very narrow section of the population, namely those that get off on techno-babble, destruction, military gadgets, and computer animation. The idea of giving the film a "comic book feel", by dividing the screen into different sections showing different images at the same time, also doesn't work - it's only confusing. If I hadn't read about that part beforehand, I certainly would have been left wondering what the heck they were up to with the split screens.
My advice - if you're looking for family entertainment don't waste your time and your money on the Hulk. In fact this is not even a movie I would rent.
Unfortunately with this one the producers missed a great opportunity at another hit - too bad, since that's what the Hulk could have been.
My Favorite Martian (1999)
Does not do the Original justice. Not worth spending your time and money on....
We went into this movie because my husband had enjoyed the original version of `My favourite Martian'. We had our 6 year old daughter with us. She wanted to leave halfway through the movie which was fine with both her parents! The parts we did see were only occasionally humorous, mostly either too silly or gross. I would expect that this movie might appeal to kids between 9-12, if that. It's definitely not suited for younger children. From what I've heard the original series was by far superior and if you are going to "relive the past" you'll probably be disappointed.