Review of Flubber (1997) by Zaidsheikh94 S — 05 Aug 2009

Tastes and times have changed drastically since 1961 when Fred MacMurray originally introduced the super-elastic stuff called flubber to film audiences in the Walt Disney film THE ABSENT-MINDED PROFESSOR. In the high-tech, 1990â??s Disney remake FLUBBER reinvents itself as an animated, gooey-green, silly putty blob of flying rubber that talks and dances. Actually, flubber resembles a combination of the Pillsbury Doughboy crossed with the shape-shifting water creature in the 1989 James Cameron fantasy thriller THE ABYSS. Inventive, excessive, but tolerably entertaining, the remake of THE ABSENT-MINDED PROFESSOR by director Les Mayfield will captivate both young and absent-minded audiences. Happily, FLUBBER succeeds as a resilient special effects laden tour-de-farce. Sadly, the remake lacks the wit, warmth, subtlety, and comedic irony that distinguished its black & white predecessor. The spectacular morphing effects of George Lucas-owned Industrial Light & Magic Company and the visual wizardry of Peter Crosman, Tom Bertino, and Douglas Hans Smith cannot offset the filmâ??s hopelessly befuddled plot.

The story by John Hughes and the late Bill Walsh follows the zany efforts of a scatterbrained university chemistry professor. Dr. Philip Brainard (Robin Williams of POPEYE) accidentally cooks up a gravity defying concoction called flubber. Generating its own perpetual motion, flubber has uses limited only by the imagination. Unlike the limp lump of flubberâ??in THE ABSENT-MINDED PROFESSOR, the flubber in FLUBBER radiates a mischievous personality, but the filmmakers never solidify its amorphous character. Not only will Brainard flubber rescue Medfield College from bankruptcy and closure, but flubber will also redeem him in the eyes of the long-suffering sweetheart that he wants to wed: Medfield College President Sara Jean Reynolds (Marcia Gay Harden.).

Brainard heads up Sara Jeanâ??s you-know-what list. Three times in a row he has left her stranded at the altar! If things arenâ??t bad enough, Brainardâ??s old academic nemesis Wilson Croft (Christopher MacDonald of THELMA & LOUISE) lurks in the background. Oil and conniving, Croft plans to pilfer Brainardâ??s fiancée as well as take credit for his flubber formula and the millions of dollars that it is sure to reap. The professorâ??s next bigger enemy is perhaps his worst: corrupt businessman Chester Hoenicker (Raymond J. Barry of MAD CITY). Hoenickerâ??s bratty son Bennett (Will Wheaton of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION) flunked Brainardâ??s class. Consequently, Bennett got suspended from the basketball team. Initially, all that Hoenicker sought was a simple change of grade so Bennett, the top hoopster on the Medfield basketball team, could resume playing. When Hoenicker senior learns more about flubber,he joins forces with the equally avaricious Croft to rip-off Braniardâ??s discovery.

Credit goes to director Les Mayfield for the get-up-and-goo pace of dizzy Disney film. He does a find job of seamlessly integrating the over-the-top special effects with live action, too. FLUBBER is aimless but predictable fun. The villains seem less villainous this time around, and the Christopher MacDonald bad guy appears simply to give flubber something through which to fly. The bowel humor here and there adds little to the humor and seems out of place in a juvenile movie. Parents may find themselves in a curious moral dilemma trying to explain to their kids why Brainardâ??s cheating tactics should be condoned. He applies flubber to the basketball teamâ??s sneakers to help them beat their tall, merciless opponents on the court. The lively music of composer Danny Elfman emphasizes the fast, bouncy pace of FLUBBER and helps the film scoot right along to its inevitable happy ending.