4.5/5
Review by John P. Harvey.
In high school, Doug (Jack Black), Ron (Paul Rudd), Claire (Thandiwe Newton), and Kenny (Steve Zahn) were keen moviemakers and actors and produced one movie that made them proud. Doug wrote and directed; Ron and Claire starred; Kenny filmed.
Having mostly cast their moviemaking dreams aside in the decades following, the four friends decide to revive their lifetime dream and make the movie they always wanted to remake: Anaconda. The original Anaconda, released in 1997, featured Jon Voight, Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, and Owen Wilson. The version that Doug has reimagined will feature… Ron, Claire, and a snake handler none of them has ever met.
So, on a microscopic budget and with little wilderness preparation, they set off for the Amazon jungle, and quickly find themselves over their heads, facing ruthless gunmen and at various times imminent death by the digestive juices of enormous snakes.
Anaconda deserves a wide reception. With likeable, largely believable characters; a good story with plenty of plot twists; great cinematography and visual effects; and listenable modern songs complementing a gorgeous score by composer David Fleming (who scored the 2025 comedy Eternity and, with John Murphy, 2025’s Superman), this rollicking adventure will entertain viewers of all ages. Parts could give young people a morbid fear of man-eating snakes, with several jump scares as an anaconda gobbles the odd human victim. Despite this, the movie maintains a lighthearted feel, and many scenes are laugh-out-loud funny. Great holiday fun.