Main Cast: Brendan Fraser, Sarah Jessica Parker, Alfred Molina, Eric Idle, Robert Prosky
Release Year: 1999
Country: US
Run Time: 77 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
After giving George of the Jungle human form, Brendan Fraser returns to cartoon-land with another live-action update of an animated TV classic. Set in the peaceful village of Semi-Happy Valley high in the Canadian Rockies, our story focuses on Dudley Do-Right (Fraser), a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who never lets his lack of intelligence get in the way of his dedication and determination to get his man. Dudley's superior, Inspector Fenwick (Robert Prosky), displays a bemused tolerance towards Dudley's enthusiastic ineptitude, and Dudley is beguiled by the Inspector's daughter, Nell (Sarah Jessica Parker), who has made a home in Seattle after traveling the world, but is now paying her father an extended visit. Before Dudley can make much of a (positive) impression on Nell, the evil Snidely Whiplash (Alfred Molina) enters the picture. Determined to take Semi-Happy Valley for everything it's worth, Snidely sends Dudley in search of vampires hiding in the woods, and, while he's away, plants gold nuggets in a nearby stream. When a prospector (Eric Idle) happens upon them, word gets out that Semi-Happy Valley is gold country. Quickly opening a string of businesses to cater to the flood of would-be gold miners, Snidely becomes the town's richest citizen, and Semi-Happy Valley is even renamed Whiplash City. Snidely's fame and wealth gain Nell's attention, while Dudley's search for vampires causes the Inspector to fire him. However, in time, Dudley realizes that something is afoot, and he is determined to expose Snidely Whiplash and bring him to justice. Director Hugh Wilson wrote and directed the first film in the Police Academy series; Dudley Do-Right was his second directorial credit of 1999 with Brendan Fraser, after they worked together on Blast From the Past. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Alex Rocco - The Chief; Corey Burton - The Announcer; Jack Kehler - Howard; Louis Mustillo - Standing Room Only; Regis Philbin - himself; Kathie Lee Gifford - herself; Don Yesso - Kenneth; C. Ernst Harth - Shane; Jed Rees - Lavar
Credit
Helen Veronica Jarvis - Art Director, Kathy Zimmer - Associate Producer, Denise Chamian - Casting, Adam Shankman - Choreography, Mary Kane - Co-producer, Louis D'Esposito - First Assistant Director, Hugh Wilson - Director, Don Brochu - Editor, Hugh Wilson - Executive Producer, Steve Dorff - Composer (Music Score), Steve Tyrell - Musical Direction/Supervision, Bob Ziembicki - Production Designer, Donald Thorin - Cinematographer, John Davis - Producer, J. Todd Harris - Producer, Joseph M. Singer - Producer, Shirley Inget - Set Designer, Martin Fossum - Sound/Sound Designer, Hugh Wilson - Screenwriter
The story begins with three children and a horse. These are young versions of Dudley Do-Right, Nell Fenwick and Snidely Whiplash and Horse. The three talk of there aspirations. Dudley believes he is destined to be a royal Canadian mountie while Nell wishes to see the world. Snidely wishes to be the "bad guy". Years later, both Dudley and Snidely have fulfilled their dreams. Snidely and his gang of 999 rob a bank and Snidely forces the bank president of Semi-Happy Valley to make him the head banker and owner of "everything". Snidely quickly becomes owner of the entire village, renaming it "Whiplash City". Whiplash then performs a seemingly bizarre ritual of shooting golden bullets into places such as mines and rivers. He also confronts Dudley for the first time and persuades him he is hunting vampires,scaring Dudley into hiding in his cabin. Dudley makes a statement to his horse, Horse that "Nell will never come back and you will never leave me". Then ironically, that happens. When Nell does return to visit Dudley, the two go to see a show put on by a group of South Brooklyn Indians called the Kamkwats. Due to Snidely's taking over of the city, the local residents leave (they also leave because of Dudley saying that their forests are infested by vampires). One night, a hobo prospecter named Kim J. Darling discovers Snidely's gold. This attracts millions of people to Whiplash City. Dudley reveals to Whiplash at his favourite golf course that he knows the truth. Snidely planned to plant gold in order to create a fake gold rush and because he owns everything he stands to make a great fortune. Snidely gets his right hand man, Homer to kill Dudley by blowing his cabin/office up. This fails as Dudley and the Chief of the Kamkwats have left to try reveal Snidely's "evil scheme". When Dudley is fired from the Mountie service due to his attempt at outing the owner of Whiplash City. Nell also becomes infatuated with Snidely. Dudley goes to live with the Prospecter. The Prospecter reveals how Snidely keeps the gold coming. The Prospecter then trains Dudley in a Karate-style way how to become "danger". Dudley then destroys the gold supply and wins back Nell. Snidely then makes a final attempt to prevent Dudley from doing "really fun bad guy stuff" by trying to get the citizens of Whiplash city to turn on him. This fails so Snidely uses his large number of goons to attack the Kamkwat village where Nell and Dudley are staying. The Kamkwats flee and throw rocks at Snidely's goons. By a stroke of luck, Horse and the royal Canadian mounties arrive to stop Snidely's forces. Snidely and Homer then get into tanks and make one last effort to kill Dudley, but it results with them blowing each others tank up. The narrorator/announcer states that the Prospecter had found his long lost wife just as she was made prime minister of Canada and she called upon the cavalry. The head of the mounties (Nell's father) Inspecter Fenwick reinstates Dudley as a mountie, while the soot covered Snidely is taken to prison and Fenwick states, "That's the last we'll see of them for a very long time" to which Snidely remarks, "Don't count on it, Totembreath!". The Announcer then concludes, "Dudley had everything a mountie could desire, his horse, his girl and a neat collection of fluffy pillows".
Film's Performance
The film was disappointing at the box office. According to the Box Office Mojo website (http://www.boxofficemojo.com), the movie had an opening weekend gross (domestically) of $3,018,345, which then went on to have a "domestic total gross" of $9,974,410. According to the website, the movie was made on a budget of $70 million. The film currently has a rating of 14% at Rotten Tomatoes.
