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Mighty Joe Young Movie Evaluation
This is an evaluation of the movie Mighty Joe Young.
Look out King Kong because here comes Mighty Joe Young! Just as big but much more cuddly, Mighty Joe Young delivers a grand display of computer-generated images, animatronics, and explosive action scenes with a little bit of romance and comedy mixed in for good measure. Like any great Disney flick, Mighty Joe Young entices kids and kids-at-heart to come join in the adventure that takes the big gorilla named Joe from the mysterious jungles of Africa to the crowded, busy streets of L.A.
Mighty Joe Young opens with an introduction to the zoologist Ruth Young and her daughter Jill who reside in Africa for research on gorillas. On one dark, starless night Ruth Young goes out into the jungle to stop a band of poachers, and her daughter follows along even after being told to stay home. That night the poachers take the lives of Ruth Young and also the mother of a gorilla named Joe. But before Ruth Young passes away, she asks her daughter to promise to take care of Joe. Twelve years later, Jill Young is struggling to keep the 2,000 pound gorilla named Joe Young safe from the poachers that roam the mountains around her village. Because of the increasingly unsafe surroundings for Joe, Jill travels with a man named Greg O’Hara to L.A. to the California Animal Preserve. Joe Young’s appearance in California creates TV and newspaper publicity that inadvertently attract the poachers responsible for both Joe’s and Jill’s mothers’ deaths.
Mighty Joe Young’s Disney storyline was the first part of the film to draw me in, but along with the storyline came sequences of suspense and action. When the movie fast forwards twelve years into the future, the first time we see Joe is when he is setting loose a cheetah from a cage. After he does this, the shaky yet confident catchers of the cheetah jump into their jeeps and chase after Joe. The mighty gorilla uses intelligence and brute strength to throw them off his trail. Some of the jeeps are pushed over by Joe’s immense arms, and another jeep is dragged by a chain along with Joe as he runs for the cover of the jungle. When Joe Young escapes into the city of Los Angeles, he encounters two helicopters that fly after him, policemen with guns, cars on the interstate swerving to miss him, and a Ferris wheel whose supports break and send Joe crashing to the ground.
Although rarely mentioned when Mighty Joe Young is spoken of, another memorable piece of this movie is the music of the African drums, the flute, and the violin mixed in with Jill Young’s African lullaby. The opening credits of the movie pull in the viewers as they listen to the rich beat of African drums. During the introduction to the character of Greg O’Hara, the African drums beat with an energy depicting the strength of the land as the camera sweeps across the overwhelming horizon of the jungle. Vocalists singing in the languages of Africa help to pull the viewers deep into the mysteries of the African legend of N’Gai Zamo. And finally the sweet, flowing melody of the flute and violin enchant Jill Young’s voice as she sings the Imbo Wimbo lullaby to Joe. With just the simple beat of a drum leading, the music portrays the stunning and exotic culture of Africa.
“Despite not being daring in style or story, Mighty Joe Young is nevertheless a charming and enjoyable adventure,” said James Berardinelli in his review of the gorilla-filled Disney flick. Mighty Joe Young is indeed a very fun-filled adventure with action, comedy, and even romance, but the storyline is quite predictable and introduces no new elements into Hollywood’s playing field. The three stars out of five that Berardinelli gave this film fit the bill. The big gorilla known as Joe may not be the wild King Kong, but he still delivers a storyline worth watching. And for those who love the Disney flicks, no matter how predictable or absurd from reality, this movie is most certainly worth viewing again and again.
