by Frank Wilkins
Every once in a while a movie comes along that catches you off guard with a quirky little script, a surprising twist or some kind of heartwarming message. You go in not expecting much and you come out pleasantly surprised. Kangaroo Jack is not one of these movies! My expectations were lower than the land down under itself yet I still had them set too high.
While it had its funny moments, they were few and far between and very much on the juvenile side. While Anthony Anderson as Louis Booker steals the show in every scene he's in, it’s the CGI, hip-hop rapping kangaroo that becomes the best part of the movie, but unfortunately has the least screen time.
As punishment for bungling a previous "mob delivery", Charlie (Jerry O' Connel, the chubby kid from Stand By Me) and Louis, friends since childhood, must deliver a bag of money to Mr. Smith, a mysterious man in the Australian outback. En route to the money drop, they hit a Kangaroo, turning it into wallaby roadkill – so they think! Louis dresses the kangaroo up with his jacket and sunglasses, snaps a few photos and names him "Jackie Leggs" after a mobster back home in Brooklyn. The kangaroo suddenly awakens and takes off, hopping off into the distance with Louise's jacket containing the $50,000.
The remainder of the movie is spent in a Three Stooges-like fashion, chasing the kangaroo on foot, in airplanes, and on the backs of flatulent camels, all the while being chased themselves by the Brooklyn mob and the mysterious Mr. Smith. Along the way they meet the gorgeous Jessie (Estella Warren), a wildlife conservationist whom they offer $2000 to help them catch the kangaroo.
Kangaroo Jack is marketed towards the teen and pre-teen audience with a thin plot, flatulence humor, car chase sequences, juvenile jokes, and an unlikely, overly beautiful love interest. It almost never rises above kid entertainment, save for the performance of Anthony Anderson. I found myself actually enjoying his over-the-top antics and facial expressions much in the same way I do Eddie Murphy. The performances of O'Connel and Warren are non-notable except for Warren's obvious lack of talent. She often looked like the token athlete or celebrity-turned actor who delivers her lines with a robotic stiff-lipped cadence, you know, much in the same way as Keanu Reeves. Christopher Walken does make an appearance early on as an unbalanced mob boss but he is not on the screen very long and much like in The Country Bears, he seems way out of place in this movie.
I can't recommend Kangaroo Jack except for those with children, and even then there are a few questionable scenes. While there is no real on-screen violence, we see instances of mobsters threatening others with knives, drinking contests in a pub, and in one scene Charlie grabs at Jessie's breasts thinking she is a mirage. Kangaroo Jack is not really appropriate for Disney aged children, yet kids over the age of thirteen might not be interested either.
Frank Wilkins
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Kangaroo Jack (2003)
