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BRUCE ALMIGHTY by Rachel Deahl Review Film Critic Click for the Official Site Putting a familiar spin on the 'be careful what you wish for' saying, Jim Carrey's new comedy serves up a respectable helping of laughs with a side dish of feel-good schlock. "It's a Wonderful Life" by way of "Oh God You Devil," "Bruce Almighty" Disneyfies its comedy just enough to make room for its pat Christian morality play: the best prayers are unselfish ones. Aside from the obnoxious fortune cookie musings and religious postulates, the whole affair plays a lot like Carrey's last family-friendly hit, "Liar, Liar"--innocuous, if not memorable. As a sweet but self-absorbed Buffalo newsman, Carrey's Bruce is obsessed with the standstill he's reached in his career. At 40, he is no longer satisfied doing the small, quirky stories he's always dispatched to cover. Nonplussed to be reporting about Buffalo's biggest cookie and other such events, Bruce is vying for the anchor job at his station. Of course not all things are meant to be and, when the job goes to his obnoxious co-worker, he loses it on live TV. Sent out to do a fluff piece on an annual event at Niagara Falls, Bruce becomes unraveled on-air and ends up getting fired. What's a spurned newsman to do? Curse God, of course. Enraged at the fact he lost his promotion and his job, Bruce winds up driving his car out into the rainy night and crashing it. Unharmed, he gets out of the vehicle and declares, among other things, that he could do the Almighty's job better than Him. And how does God get in touch with you when he wants you? Apparently via pager. After being paged several times and compelled by a personally tailored voicemail message, Bruce shows up at an empty warehouse in downtown Buffalo, with directions go to the seventh floor.
Once inside, Morgan Freeman is waiting for him and, after some magic tricks and banter, an offer is made. If Bruce thinks he can do God's job better than God, it's his. Blessed with the powers of the omnipotent, Bruce leaves to toy with his newfound skills. Testing his abilities in a local diner, this hokey Joe decides to pull his own miracle by parting the sea that is his tomato soup. (Har har.) Bruce is now ready to focus on what's important: himself. From the small victories (like enlarging his girlfriend's breasts) to the big (finally winning the anchor spot at the news station), chaos ensues when Bruce forgets that God has the irksome task of paying attention to all the other people asking for his help. Reminding us of an old cliché and a Garth Brooks song, "Bruce Almighty" proffers that we never know what we have until it's gone, and sometimes we should thank God for unanswered prayers. Sending Buffalo into an all-out riot by simply saying yes to the millions of prayers that come to him (thousands become enraged after winning miniscule prize money in the lottery), Bruce quickly realizes that life as a dopey color man with a great girlfriend (Jennifer Aniston) is far superior to being God and getting on the anchor desk. Who knew? I guess, in the end, we should all look to the Heavens (or is it the box office) to thank Hollywood for reminding us of what's truly important. Grade: B FINDING NEMO Click for the Official Site After solving the untold mysteries of our toys - how they always seemed to shift positions in our absence - those lovable eggheads at Pixar have moved on to conquer one of the other great enigmas of our time: what those creature in the fish tank are actually thinking. The young animation studio behind the affectionately brilliant "Toy Story" films and less winning, but enjoyable fare like, "Monsters Inc." top all previous efforts with their latest aquatic odyssey, "Finding Nemo." A delightful, at points hilarious, tale that chronicles the pains of parenthood and adolescence, this sweet fable set under the sea will entertain the kids while unquestionably winning over the adults. Albert Brooks stars vocally as an overprotective Clown Fish who's only son, Nemo, is about to start school. After losing his hundred-plus offspring (and wife) to a predatory creature of the sea, Marlin (Brooks) keeps an-all-too-tight leash on his only egg to survive the slaughter. Of course the prodigal son, sweet as he is, longs to free himself of his father's watchful eye and, in an act of defiance, gets caught by fishermen. Carted off to a dentist office fish tank in Sydney, young Nemo meets a sweet group of fellow captives while his father embarks on a wild adventure in the sea to save him. Split between its two storylines - in the sea and the dentist's office - "Finding Nemo" captures that same quirky, irreverent humor that made "Toy Story" such a surprisingly smart film. And, much like "Toy Story," what "Finding Nemo" does best is capture the idiocy of those other dumb creatures on this planet, human beings.
In the tank scenes, Nemo finds a new surrogate family with the motley crew of sea creatures who have also been marooned there. Comforted by, among others, a funny Blowfish (Brad Garrett), a maternal starfish (Allison Janney) and a defiant, war-weary, patriarchal fish from the sea (Willem Dafoe), Nemo is immediately welcomed into his new home. Led by Gill (Dafoe), Nemo is fed theories and stories about escaping back to the sea. And, with his long scar and deep voice, Gill quickly convinces Nemo to become an essential component in the tank's latest attempt at freedom. Back in the sea Marlin endures a series of uncharacteristically daring adventures in order to find Nemo, as he narrowly escapes a band of sharks (who are in a support group to clean up their image and avoid eating fish) and hitches a ride with a group of stoner-dude sea turtles. Accompanied by a quirky blue fish named Dory (Ellen Degeneres) with no short-term memory, Marlin and his unlikely companion head for Sydney after deciphering an address off of the goggles which fall from the boat that steals Nemo. Delightful for Ellen Degeneres' hilarious banter alone, in which the adorable Dory constantly repeating things and forgets who her companion is and why she's following him, "Finding Nemo" is a witty and epic adventure packed in unlikely wrapping. With its perfectly cast stable of voices, from the war-weary father figure that Dafoe embodies to the nebbishy clown fish (who can't even tell a good joke) that Brooks plays, the "casting" is impeccably doneŠespecially for cartoons. The stunning animation matched with the brilliant storytelling make "Finding Nemo" much more than just another cute cartoon for kids. Grade: A
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