Bovie Movie

Kids don’t just rule the roost in this amiable comedy, they steal the show. It’s a role-reversal romp in the same vein as Mr Mom, but what it lacks in originality it makes up for in cuteness and verve. Eddie Murphy and Jeff Garlin play sacked advertising executives who decide to set up a children’s day-care centre; cue major mishaps as a house full of angel-faced youngsters turn into marauding monsters — much to the delight of rival childcare provider Miss Harridan (Anjelica Huston), the stern headmistress of a very proper “academy”. This is simplistic, but it works well. Murphy happily lets his pint-sized co-stars take centre stage and his performance is all the more effective for it, while the mix of parental-themed humour and poignant moments never nauseates. The film may be too sweet for mass appeal, but family audiences will be charmed. 

Set in ancient China, this animated musical adventure tells the story of the eponymous heroine, who dons man’s clothing and goes to war to save her family honour, because her father’s health is failing. Some splendid set pieces, the inevitable love between Mulan and her brave captain, and the often uproarious presence of a snappy little dragon (voiced by Eddie Murphy) are the highlights. Aspects of the story go a bit over young children’s heads, but it’s an enthralling narrative for everyone else and there’s plenty of slapstick fun to keep youngsters happy. All in all, a startling addition to the Disney studio’s catalogue. 

This routine reworking of the 1960s Robert Culp/Bill Cosby TV espionage series has US secret agent Alex Scott (Owen Wilson) going undercover as the assistant to boxing champion Kelly Robinson (Eddie Murphy). Scott uses Robinson to get close to a billionaire industrialist (Malcolm McDowell), who is intent on selling an invisible plane to the highest bidder. The laid-back Wilson and the motormouthed Murphy have an engaging on-screen chemistry — the movie is at its best during their obviously improvised bouts of bickering — and there is some fun spy gadgetry on display. However, the likeable twosome are sold short by witless writing, predictable plotting and bog-standard action sequences that fail to spark this action comedy into any sort of life. 

Trading Places apart, Eddie Murphy has never been better than in this, his exhilarating debut, which is still one of the best “buddy” cop thrillers to be made. Murphy plays the con who is sprung from prison by racist cop Nick Nolte in an attempt to track down psychopathic duo James Remar and Sonny Landham, who have escaped from a chain gang and are now back in town. Nolte and Murphy are perfectly paired: the latter all smooth charm and wisecracks, the former the rough, gruff straight man. Murphy’s taming of a redneck bar deserves its place in the cinematic history books, while director Walter Hill also delivers the goods in the action stakes with some beautifully orchestrated shoot-ups and chases. It was followed by an uninspired retread Another 48 HRS in 1990. 

Eddie Murphy continues the fat-suit antics he started in The Nutty Professor in this atrocious and offensive comedy. The star plays three roles: dorky, Afro-sporting Norbit, his gargantuan wife Rasputia and Mr Wong, proprietor of the orphanage where Norbit grew up. The save-the-orphanage plot and 12A certificate suggest a kids movie, but it’s debatable whether parents really want to subject their offspring to ribald gags about oral sex, bikini-line waxing or plans to turn the orphanage into a “titty bar” called Nipplopolis. Most of the jokes come at the expense of Rasputia’s obesity, although the super-skinny frame of Thandie Newton (who co-stars as Norbit’s childhood sweetheart) serves as a stark counter to Rasputia’s wobbling cellulite. Avoid. 

At this stage in his career, Eddie Murphy was certainly the golden boy of Hollywood with hits such as Beverly Hills Cop and 48 HRS under his belt. However, not even he could save this horribly misconceived comedy adventure, in which he is cast rather improbably as a social worker who is asked to track down a Tibetan youngster (the “Golden Child”) who holds the key to the world’s survival. Murphy’s quick-fire quips fall flat and Michael Ritchie’s direction is best described as indifferent, while Charles Dance hams it up as the baddie of the piece. 

Following the goofy slapstick of The Nutty Professor, Eddie Murphy returned to the genre that made him a star with this misfiring action vehicle. It has a harder centre than usual as hostage negotiator Murphy uses his motormouth talents to haggle with hostage takers. However, his persuasive charms are sorely tested when he comes up against psychotic jewel thief Michael Wincott, who remains unconvinced that it is good to talk. The highlight set piece is a car chase involving a runaway tram, but otherwise director Thomas Carter, who cut his teeth on TV series such as Remington Steele and Midnight Caller, displays little flair in the action department. Beverly Hills Cop was more fun. 

Eddie Murphy is back and the set pieces are even more spectacular — shame they forgot about the script. This blockbusting sequel replays the plot of the original — Murphy returns to Los Angeles’s swankiest suburb, this time to foil a gang of designer robbers who have wounded an old colleague. But wit goes largely by the wayside and Murphy’s mugging becomes increasingly irritating. Jürgen Prochnow and Brigitte Nielsen ham it up as the obligatory foreign-accented baddies, but fail to make much impact, and Tony Scott’s direction is flashy but superficial. 

The first two Shrek movies were packed with fairy-tale send-ups and warm humanity, and proved an absolute delight for young and old alike. The third outing shows signs of franchise fatigue as it struggles with a half-baked storyline in which the grumpy green ogre (voiced by Mike Myers) goes in search of a young King Arthur as heir to the throne of Far Far Away. The breathtakingly innovative wit of the earlier films may be lacking, yet there’s still plenty here to enjoy, from Eddie Murphy and Antonio Banderas’s manic double act as Donkey and Puss-in-Boots to some sly, “Once upon a time” in-jokes. But in keeping with the film’s less certain direction, entertaining scenes of adorably cheeky baby ogres are upstaged by a blandly mirthless human teenager in Artie (Justin Timberlake), who appears to have been brainstormed by marketing department suits eager to extend their audience demographics. 

This welcome follow-up is every bit as cute, clever and funny as the original — if less of a surprise, as we expect its technical brilliance this time and are perhaps less dazzled by it. The sequel picks up after the marriage of Shrek (voiced by Mike Myers) and Fiona (Cameron Diaz), and follows their trip to her homeland of Far Far Away. If Fiona’s parents, King Harold (John Cleese) and Queen Lillian (Julie Andrews), are shocked to discover she’s an ogre, that’s nothing compared to Harold’s reaction to her new husband. The king wants Fiona to marry the foppish Prince Charming (Rupert Everett), so he hires assassin Puss-in-Boots (marvellously voiced by Antonio Banderas) to kill his new son-in-law. The parodies, pop references, Disney-baiting and Hollywood send-ups (the kingdom of Far Far Away is etched as a medieval Tinseltown) are hilarious — as is Eddie Murphy, who’s on great form as Donkey — and there’s plenty of subtle satire and double entendres for young and old alike to savour.