Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Don't Believe the Hype

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

RELEASED IN 2003 and directed by David McNally, "Kangaroo Jack" is a family-friendly adventure/comedy about two Brooklyn friends (Jerry O'Connell and Anthony Anderson) who are commissioned by a mob boss (Christopher Walken) to deliver $50,000 to a shady character in the Outback. The operation goes awry when a kangaroo inadvertently runs off with one of the guys' jacket... and the money. Michael Shannon is on hand as a mob heavy.This is a likable, amusing adventure flick with the typical eye-rolling kid humor (e.g. fart jokes). It's fun, harmless hokum highlighted by spectacular Australian cinematography and the beautiful Estella Warren as an Outback preservationist. The humorous camaraderie of the protagonists is another highpoint. But the story isn't as compelling as I hoped it would be and the camera never really captures Estella's beauty beyond her lovely face and pulchritude.THE FILM RUNS 1 hour, 29 minutes and was shot in Australia and Brooklyn with reshoots done in Los Angeles.GRADE: C+

When I was a kid I used to own this film thinking it was about a talking kangaroo that teams up with two dimwitted guys and the kangaroo is the big star. But sadly this wasn't the case. Instead its a mafia kids movie about two childhood friends(Jerry O Connell,and Antony Anderson) who travel to Australia with A lot of cash as O Connells stepfather(Christopher Walken) gave them the money. So when the two bfs end up in Australia with the money they find a kangaroo who took their money and now the two have to get it back,with O Connell falling for a beautiful woman who's a kangaroo hunter. Question is what is the money that Christopher Walken gave O Connell. Overall this film shouldn't be a kids movie. The marketing sucked,the film is boring and has nothing to do with the main star in the film. Do yourselves a favour and skip this film. Watch Snow Dogs instead. At least the poster makes sense unlike the poster for this film. 1/10

I was fooled by the packaging. I expected the movie to be about a kangaroo. It was - but just barely. I even thought it would be about a talking kangaroo. It was - but only for a moment. It was advertised as fodder for kids. Well, it tends to remain in the general audience vein with brief strays into light-hearted sexual innuendo. No, here the kangaroo is simply incidental to the actual story which isn't that compelling to start with. It is mostly a CGI kangaroo and not always a very good one. When the animal is actually on the screen it tends to almost be annoying because it tends to come across as a commercial. Sort of like .... meanwhile, here is what the kangaroo is doing. It breaks up the storyline with somewhat lame attempts at the kangaroo trying to be funny. Completely unnecessary. As for the story - it could have actually been a good Mafia-lite film in a way. The resulting revelation about the purpose of the kangaroo hijacked envelope of money was the most interesting part of the film. There are some amusing sequences but nearly none have anything to do with the kangaroo. Why was the kangaroo billed as the star? I don't know. Even as the film ends the kangaroo soliloquies that he is the star and finally gets to performing in the way I originally thought the film was going to convey. By the end of the film I felt somewhat betrayed. I was waiting for a kangaroo that never really happened.

I know...ten stars seems excessive, but this is one of the funniest movies that I've ever seen. Top five. I'm watching this movie as I write this. I've seen it a couple of times, and I swear it gets better every time I see it. It only got one star out of four, which is the worst it can possibly get, and I understand that...really, it is not the most intelligent movie in the world. However, if you feel like kicking back and relaxing, you feel like watching a movie that doesn't provoke thought or discussion, you feel like laughing hysterically, this movie's for you. I'll admit that the entire premise of this movie is dumb, but it's funny, genuinely funny, and I love it.