My great friend Joe

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Movie
German title My great friend Joe
Original title Mighty Joe Young
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1998
length 114 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Ron Underwood
script Lawrence Konner
Mark Rosenthal
production Ted Hartley
Tom Jacobson
music James Horner
camera Donald Peterman
Oliver Wood
cut Paul Hirsch
occupation

My Big Friend, Joe, is a 1998 Ron Underwood fantasy adventure film . It is a remake of the 1949 film Panic For King Kong .

action

The famous primatologist Ruth Young lives with her daughter Jill in Africa, where she researches the life of the gorillas, for whose preservation she is fiercely fighting. Her daughter notices the unusual size of the gorilla boy Joe.

One night the poachers led by Andrei Strasser attacked the gorillas in the reserve. Kweli, Young's friend, who seems to be a kind of father to Jill, warns Ruth and Ruth goes out with Kweli to stop the poachers. Strasser shoots Joe's mother. Young tries to get Joe to safety and is also shot by Strasser, whereupon Joe bites off his thumb and forefinger. The poachers are withdrawing. Jill promises her dying mother to take care of Joe. Ruth is buried with a ceremony with great sympathy.

Years later, Jill is a beautiful young woman and Joe is a 2,000 pound, several feet tall gorilla. While Jill makes enemies of poachers whom she regards as murderers, the legend of the "holy guardian" who supposedly protects the mountain on which Joe lives has developed around Joe Dir. One day the zoologist Prof. Gregory "Gregg" O'Hara arrives in the region. Gregg is looking for new animals and works for a Los Angeles zoo that specializes in wildlife conservation. When Gregg and his men capture a leopard, they are attacked by Joe, who frees the leopard and pursues them. After this incident, Gregg is so fascinated by the discovery that he sets off alone to the mountain in search of the monkey. In the encounter he is injured, but rescued by Jill. Kweli takes care of Gregg and Gregg tells him everything. Then he goes back to Jill and Joe when they are playing hide and seek and explains to Jill that after the confrontation it is only a matter of time before Joe is discovered and hunted. He tells her about his job and offers to come with him and bring Joe to safety in the park, but she firmly refuses. Kweli speaks to Jill's conscience. He makes it clear to her that the danger for Jill and Joe increases every day. Since other gorillas would not accept Joe, he asks them to consider Gregg's offer. Concerned about Joe, she accepts Gregg's offer. Joe is taken to the park in Los Angeles, where he arouses great journalistic interest. Jill meets Harry, the park manager, and the zoologist Dr. Cecily Banks, who later explains the giant stature of the gorillas with a gene that becomes active every five generations. Jill finds it difficult to settle in there at first, but when Joe wants to play hide and seek with Harry in his large, natural enclosure, it becomes clear that he likes it there, which in turn makes Jill very happy.

Andrei Strasser officially runs a reservation in Botswana, but is in fact still a poacher and sells animal organs illegally on the black market. When his colleague Pindi, who led Gregg to the area in Africa, told him about Joe, he didn't believe a word he said, but when he and his squat Garth saw Joe and Jill on the news, he wanted to kill Joe and sell his organs, probably also out of revenge for the bitten off fingers.

Jill and Joe are settling in well in LA over the next few days. Gregg fell in love with Jill and they both went on a beach date that saw them grow closer. When they return, Joe is a little excited because Strasser and Garth have already irritated him, but Jill calms him down by singing the song "Imba Wimbo" for him. The next day she meets Strasser, whom she does not recognize. Strasser offers to bring Joe to his reservation in Botswana because he needs more space. Jill thinks about it. In the evening there is a GALA in the park about species protection, where Harry gives a speech to his superiors and everyone else present. Strasser and Garth intend to motivate Joe to attack so that he can be brought to Strasser's reservation and killed there. They irritate the monkey again and their plan seems to work: Joe goes completely crazy and attacks the GALA, where he is stunned by Gregg and the security guards. After this incident, Joe is locked in a security enclosure. Jill tries desperately to make it clear to Harry that Joe is completely beside him and needs to be taken away, but there is nothing Harry can do for her because "no zoo in the world accepts a 2,000-pound killer gorilla". Then Jill frees Joe along with Gregg and Cecily. Harry now struggles to help them by opening the gate to the outside, for which Jill is very grateful. Joe is now to be taken away by truck and into Strasser's reservation, with Jill going with Strasser and Garth. When two park employees show Harry what irritated Joe, Gregg realizes with horror that the two are poachers, as such things are used by poachers. When he is alerted, he immediately takes up the chase by car. Jill chats with Strasser during the drive, and Strasser mentions that her mother made many enemies with her concern for the gorillas. During the conversation, Jill discovers Strasser's broken hand and after further statements on his part, she recognizes her mother's murderer. Jill angrily frees herself from the truck, and Joe is also alerted. She gets into Gregg's car and makes serious accusations. She realizes the danger Joe is in and calls out to him to jump out. When Joe goes nuts in the cargo hold of the truck, an accident occurs and Joe frees himself. Now he triggers a panic, walks through the city and is wanted by the police SWAT units. When Joe sees the lights of an amusement park in the distance, he mistakes them for Jill's flashlight and follows them there. Jill, Gregg, the police and the poachers arrive there too. Strasser wants to shoot Jill because she could blow his company. Garth tries to stop him, wanting nothing to do with a murder, but Strasser accidentally shoots a headlight. This causes a large fire to spread in the amusement park. While the rides are being evacuated with Gregg's help, Strasser tries to kill Jill again, but is thrown into a power line by Joe himself, killing him. Joe finally discovers that not all of the people have been evacuated, but that a little boy named Jason is stuck in the gondola of a ferris wheel, fearfully calling for his mother. Joe climbs up the Ferris wheel to save Jason. When Jill notices this, she informs the police chief, who then orders the SWAT members to lower their weapons. Gregg notices that the heat causes the ferris wheel's metal to move, causing it to collapse. The people withdraw. Joe manages to get the boy out of the gondola, but then the Ferris wheel falls over. Jason survives the fall unscathed, but Joe remains motionless on the ground. Since he doesn't move, Jill thinks he's dead and hugs her great friend, crying. But, much to Jill and Gregg's delight, Joe survived. Now Gregg wants to buy a place, a place where Joe can be safe and free.

The rescued boy returns the favor and donates for Joe. The police chief, the fire fighters and many other people follow his example. Gregg and Jill use the donations to buy a large area in Africa. The "Joe Young Wildlife Park" is finally opened with Kwelis and many other people's sympathy, with which Jill can finally keep the promise she once made to her mother. Joe is taken there and happily runs into his new home.

background

The film was shot in Los Angeles , Long Beach and Hawaii . It cost 90 million dollars and brought in US cinemas USD 50.6 million and in the British cinema 4.3 million pounds sterling . In Germany there were almost 320 thousand cinema viewers.

Animation technician Ray Harryhausen and actress Terry Moore , who worked on the original 1949 film, took on cameo appearances as party guests.

Reviews

James Berardinelli wrote on ReelViews that the first 1949 film would be compared to King Kong and the White Woman , while that film took over some elements from King Kong . The film is a masterpiece of special effects. Berardinelli praised Bill Paxton and Charlize Theron.

Roger Ebert certified the film in the Chicago Sun-Times of December 25, 1998, warmth and humor. He praised the special effects in the close-ups of Joe.

The lexicon of the international film wrote: "Technically brilliant, sometimes a bit bumpy family film, which gives the relationship between humans and animals a lot, but is not suitable for children in the design of several hunting and action scenes."

Awards

  • 1999: Nomination for an Oscar for best visual special effects
  • 1999: Nomination for the Saturn Award for the best special effects and for Charlize Theron
  • 1999: Genesis Award

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Filming locations for Mighty Joe Young , accessed October 6, 2008.
  2. ^ Box office / business for Mighty Joe Young , accessed October 6, 2008.
  3. ^ Review by James Berardinelli on reelviews.net
  4. ^ Review by Roger Ebert on suntimes.com
  5. ↑ My great friend Joe in the Lexicon of International FilmsTemplate: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used , accessed October 6, 2008.