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  		April 2002                                                       SITE MAP   SEARCH
Crocodile Dundee In Los Angeles
 cast: Paul Hogan, Linda Kozlowski

director: Simon Wincer

92 minutes (PG) 2001
widescreen aspect ratio 1.85:1
Universal
DVD Region 2 retail

RATING: 5/10
 reviewed by Christopher Geary
Paul Hogan, now more leathery-faced than ever, returns in this belated sequel as Mick 'Crocodile' Dundee, the canny Australian bushman with an engaging sense of humour about his own absurdly macho antics in the wilderness territory where aborigines raised him. In this third movie, Mick has been domesticated by living with American blonde Sue (Kozlowski), and has an impressionable young son, Mikey, so he's cautious about the family's trip to Hollywood, where former journalist Sue is offered a bureau position on her father's newspaper.
   In the business-jungle environs of tinsel town, our straight-arrow hero finds he can work at the film studios training animals for comedy pictures. But, when Sue uncovers evidence of a transatlantic smuggling racket involving location shooting in the Balkans, Mick's snooping around for clues at his day job soon lands them all in danger...
   The essential conceit here, as in the previous films, is a clever variation on the Tarzan story; wherein survival proficiency learned in the inhospitable outback translates into a remarkable ability to cope with the stresses and problems of life in a modern city. At the core of this roughneck charm is the relationship between aged Mick and nine-year-old Mikey. Always conscious of his son's need for strong parental guidance, Mick worries constantly about revealing his own ignorance of sophisticated LA, while casually taming lions and disarming muggers with ease.
   Without any serious attention to detail, this coasts along tiredly on the back of its star's faded charisma, a scattering of bland one-liners, and a handful of weakly amusing wildlife sketches.
   DVD extras: exclusive behind-the-scenes footage (20 minutes), a trailer, Dolby digital 5.1 sound, and subtitles in five languages.
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