Anaconda Review: Jack Black & Paul Rudd Are Delightfully Dumb In This Silly Little Reboot
by Ethan Anderton · /FilmIn 1997, "Anaconda" was a PG-13 survival thriller that followed Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Jon Voight, and Eric Stoltz as they squared off with the titular jungle snake of impressive size but disappointing realism. It's a cult favorite today, largely because it takes itself so seriously but ends up being a bit of a joke.
In 2025, "Anaconda" is a PG-13 send-up of show business that follows Doug (Jack Black), Griff (Paul Rudd), Kenny (Steve Zahn), and Claire (Thandiwe Newton) as they travel to the Amazon to film an amateur, independent remake of the original 1997 thriller. Unlike its predecessor, this is a straight-up action comedy from director Tom Gormican ("The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent"), who also co-wrote the script with Kevin Etten, that doesn't take itself seriously at all. The result is a satisfyingly silly and funny reboot that manages to deliver plenty of laughs, despite being only a PG-13 movie.
Doug is a once-ambitious cinephile stuck in a small-time wedding video business, whereas Griff is an actor struggling to make a name for himself in Los Angeles. The two previously had childhood dreams of heading off to Hollywood as teens to make films together after shooting their own makeshift movies as kids, but Doug made the decision to start a more practical life while Griff took the risk. In the present-day, they both find themselves merely treading water and having a mid-life crisis of sorts.
But when Griff comes back to their home town of Buffalo for Doug's birthday, he brings an old VHS tape with one of the homemade movies of their youth, a monster flick called "The Squatch," and it creates a new spark of ambition. Somehow, Griff has secured the rights to remake "Anaconda," and he wants Doug to direct, with their wealthy friend Claire helping to finance and co-starring alongside Griff, and their troublesome, not-entirely-reliable friend Kenny shooting it, despite him having gotten himself fired from the same wedding video company that Doug works for.
And so begins a wild adventure with a lot of poor decisions by the characters that fuel the broad comedy.
Anaconda lands the laughs but squanders the thrills
However, making a low budget remake of "Anaconda" with just four people isn't the only challenge Doug, Griff, Claire, and Kenny have to face. In arranging their transportation for their three-week production schedule, they get caught up with a mysterious woman named Ana (Daniela Melchior), who is (unknown to them) on the run from some dangerous, gun-toting men. Ana hides out by pretending to be their boat captain as they traverse the Amazon, but she knows the dangers of the jungle all too well.
Also joining the crew is Santiago (Selton Mello), a snake handler who has a sizable, real snake that will be used for the "Anaconda" remake. He's very protective and loyal to his snake, which makes it all the more painful when the snake ends up accidentally being shredded by the boat propellers. (That's not a spoiler, as it's in the film's trailer.) Mello's role is a stealth MVP, and he ends up being just as funny as Jack Black or Paul Rudd.
Without a snake, the gang is forced to head out into the jungle to find a replacement, and they certainly find one. But it's definitely not trained for film production, and the massive creature is more concerned with eating every person it can find.
While the new "Anaconda" tries to build genuine thrills around the snake action, the computer generated imagery used to bring it to life basically makes any true suspense impossible. It's not quite as bad as the animatronic snake used in the original "Anaconda," but it's certainly not scary either.
Instead, most of the entertainment comes from Rudd's fear and Black's panic as we watch these four friends deal with a terrifying situation, along with the process of remaking "Anaconda" on a shoestring budget. Steve Zahn also shines, tapping back into the kind of zany performance that made him so good in "Saving Silverman," but Thandiwe Newton feels underutilized, though she does the best she can with what she's given.
Anaconda plays like Bowfinger mixed with Tropic Thunder
The front half of "Anaconda" is loaded with plenty of amusing jabs and send-ups at the expense of the entertainment industry, especially when it comes to the writing process touching upon the all-important THEMES. However, I can't help but feel like they might resonate more if they were in an independent comedy rather than a big studio movie. It's not enough to completely derail the film's comedic approach, but it does make it feel a little less sharp.
Regardless, the second half gets even funnier, working like a blend of "Bowfinger" and "Tropic Thunder" (both hilarious movies about making movies). There are even some surprises that haven't been ruined by the marketing. In fact, one of the movie's bigger gags seen in the trailer — which shows a presumed dead Jack Black waking up to find a dead pig tied to his back as bait for the snake — actually gets an additional layer of hilarity, ensuring that the entire bit isn't totally stale by the time the movie gets around to it. On top of that, there are a couple big story twists that take the meta nature of the comedic reboot to another level. Without spoiling anything, there are plenty of other details that fans of the original "Anaconda" will enjoy.
While "Anaconda" might not be quite as clever as other show business comedies of its ilk, it taps into a kind of comedy that has largely died out. When R-rated comedies became all the rage thanks to filmmakers like Judd Apatow and Adam McKay, silly, perfectly decent PG-13 comedies fell by the wayside, and today, they're almost non-existent. But "Anaconda" taps into a sweet spot that's just edgy enough to make adults laugh and just family friendly enough to let kids have a good time with their parents too. It's hilarious, harmless, and puts a fun spin on a familiar formula, even if the snake still looks fake as hell.
/Film Rating: 7 out of 10