I’m not sure what Disney saw in the 1994 French comedy “Little Indian, Big City” that convinced them the story could be remade as a Tim Allen vehicle, but they should’ve spent a little more time at the drawing board. Or at least in the writer’s room.
Allen stars as Michael Cromwell, a New York stock broker who travels to the Amazon to finalize his divorce, which has apparently been in limbo for 15 years. There, his ex-wife reveals that he actually has a son (Sam Huntington) who she has raised in the jungle. The boy, named Mimi-Siku (which translates to “cat piss”, if you’re wondering what level of humor we’re dealing with) has been charged by his village elder to travel to New York City and bring back the fire from the Statue of Liberty. So back to the big city go Michael and his son, where they will of course experience many Important Bonding Moments and Learning Experiences. There is also a subplot featuring Michael’s partner (Martin Short) attempting to sell tanking coffee stocks to a Russian mobster (David Ogden Stiers).
God, is this movie bad. In “The Santa Clause”, the filmmakers wisely kept Allen’s cynical and lazy humor to a minimum. Here, he is permitted to beat us over the head with his dated shtick ad nauseam. The early scenes in the Amazon are excruciating in this regard. Arriving at the village via canoe, Michael exclaims: “She left me for Gilligan’s Island!” And that’s one of the more clever jokes in the movie.
It’s only in the later passages, when the plot dictates that Michael must now undergo a change of heart and accept fatherhood, that the movie gives us some actual scenes of humanity, however unearned they are. Sam Huntington gives a better performance than this movie deserves, and it’s a testament to his talent that he manages to wring some genuine pathos out of Allen in their scenes together.
I didn’t enjoy this one when I saw it years ago, and it’s only gotten worse.
1/2 star
Mike's Movies 