Review of Crocodile Dundee (1986) by Patrick L — 20 Aug 2012

Boo to all the "tomato heads" below who wouldn't know how to write a good movie review! This first film in the Crocodile series still has "legs" and still is as funny and moving as it was when it originally came out. This was my introduction to Australia, I believe, and it is a film that hasn't been matched nor "approached" by any other film, filmmaker.

A woman journalist travels to Australia and sends back word to her paper of what she has discovered there, especially a story of a man surviving a crocodile attack and crawling alone back to "civilization" through the Outback. She meets him and finds out that tall stories are something of a habit in the outback of Australia and they go off together to see where the attack occurred. He rescues her from a crocodile and then at the end of her time there, she invites him to New York (his first time there or on a plane).

It's a "fish out of water" story, yes, for those of you who prefer a five word (or less) description but it is so much more than that too. It's a gorgeous advertisement and travel advisory for the country of Australia as well as a critical look at the city of New York and the greed of upper class Americans who may or may not perceive themselves as something like royalty. We see the snobbery of the rich towards those who are different (and poorer) than they are but we also see that their snobbery is a symptom of their inability to correctly perceive themselves as well as others.

Although this movie ends without any "crying need" for a sequel, we do get two very different and (if possible) increasingly improved films that follow this one. For the first time in movie history, the two sequels match, if not succeed, the first film in terms of enjoyment and plot improvement and character development. 10/10.