Kazaam is a 1996 comedy film that stars Shaquille O'Neal as the title character, a genie, who appears from a magic boombox to grant a boy three wishes. The film was shot in Brooklyn and Los Angeles.[citation needed]
Plot
The film begins with a wrecking ball destroying an abandoned building. The impact knocks over a magic lamp inside of the building, causing it to land on a boombox. The genie inside decides to make residence inside the boombox from there on in. Meanwhile, a schoolboy named Max is confronted and chased down by a group of bullies through the city of New Bronslin. Max is chased into the abandoned building, where he discovers the boombox and accidentely unleashes the genie inside. The genie, who introduces himself as Kazaam (Shaquille O'Neal), tells Max that he is now Max's genie and proves it to him by demonstrating his powers, which results in Kazaam disappearing off the face of the earth. Max returns home to find that his mother is marrying a fireman. It is also revealed that his mother lied to him about his real father's whereabouts, and that he is actually located in the city. Max set out to search for his father in the hopes of rekindling some sort of bond between them. He suddenly encounters Kazaam during his travels, who pesters Max into making a wish. Max eventually finds his father, only to learn that he is a musical talent agent who specializes in pirated music.
Max goes to his personal secret hideout and tells Kazaam about his father. They decide to have a bike race through Max's hideout, during which Kazaam shows off his powers. Kazaam finally convinces Max to make his first wish, which consists of junk food raining from the sky. While eating all of this, Max suddenly realizes that he owns Kazaam until he makes his last two wishes. Max and Kazaam go out to see Max's father again. After getting past an intimidating bodyguard, Max is introduced by his father to the other employees of the agency and invited to a nightclub. An employee of the nightclub shows interest in Kazaam upon the realization that he is a genie, and hopes to control Kazaam through Max's father. The next day, Kazaam stays in Max's home and passes himself off as Max's tutor. Max confesses to Kazaam that he and his father aren't really connecting, though Kazaam attempts to shirk the issue with some rapping. Later that day, Max witnesses his father being assaulted by the nightclub employee and goes to Kazaam for help. However, Kazaam just received a record deal as a professional rapper and is unable to help Max out. Max is kidnapped by the nightclub employee and takes possession of Kazaam's boombox.
After disposing of Max, the nightclub employee summons Kazaam in the hopes that he will do his bidding. While Kazaam is initially powerless against his master, he soon breaks free from his opression and defeats the nightclub employee and his minions, transforming the employee into a basketball and slam-dunking him into a garbage disposal. Unfortunately, Kazaam discovers that Max is dead and becomes despondent. However, Kazaam decides to sacrifice his genie powers to revive Max and reunite him with his father. Kazaam, now human, is forced to get a job by his relatively new girlfriend.
Cast
Fun Fact: Bill Paxton was originally approached to play the lead role. Paxton was even considering turning down his lead role in the disaster movie Twister (1996).
Geography Error
Even though the movie is based in Brooklyn, while Max is talking with his father in the car, a bus with red and orange stripes drives by. Buses in New York have blue stripes. Red and orange were the colors of the Metro buses in Los Angeles in the mid-90s.[1]
Reception
The film received very negative reviews. It currently holds a 4% on Rotten Tomatoes[2] and a 24 out of 100 on Metacritic.[3].
The Nostalgia Critic created a negative review of this film on his site. Heavily criticizing the rapping of Shaq, the fact that it indirectly portrayed slavery, and dialing 911 whenever a suggestive scene occurred between Max and Kazaam in the movie.
The film Scary Movie references of the negative reception for Kazaam. When Drew (Carmen Electra) is asked, "What is your favorite scary movie?" she answers Kazaam. After being told that Kazaam is not a horror movie Drew answers that the person has never seen Shaquille O'Neal act
See also
References
External links
