Category: Written Reviews

Fun fact for you folks: up until recently, I have never watched Crocodile Dundee In Los Angeles.

I’ve seen the first two movies countless times, but for some reason or another, the stars never aligned and I never got around to seeing that third and final chapter in the Crocodile Dundee trilogy until picking up a Blu-Ray that contained all three films. And so I figured, “why not?”

Released in April 2001 and pretty bombing both commercially and critically, Crocodile Dundee In Los Angeles feels less like a sequel to the previous two films and more like one of those reunion specials where the cast of an old television show get together years later to produce one final get together. Think of all those reunion specials; Get Smart Again, Knight Rider 2000, those Incredible Hulk television movies. That’s pretty much Crocodile Dundee in L.A. Having lived in Australia for over a decade, Mick (Paul Hogan), Sue (Linda Kozlowski in what would be her final film role), and their son Mikey move back to Los Angeles so that Sue can take over her father’s newspaper, which naturally results in Mick and son feeling like fish out of water. We also get a plot involving the former editor of said paper who was murdered, leading Mick to try and solve the case, with some hijinks peppered in along the way.

I’ve heard stories that Paul Hogan had been resistant to the idea of doing another Crocodile Dundee for years, so I have to wonder what compelled him to do this one (that he had no involvement in writing.) My biggest issue with L.A. is pretty much the same issue that I had with Highlander III; it feels too much like a retread of the first movie, but nowhere near as good. Don’t get me wrong; Paul Hogan still has that charm and I do appreciate the digs at the movie industry or the way things have changed since the last time we had a Croc Dundee movie whenever they’re brought up. But we’ve already seen Mick as a fish out of water done well with that first film. What we have here still has moments where I can get a chuckle or two, but it’s not quite as much.

For what it’s worth, I enjoyed Crocodile Dundee In L.A. for what it was; one last get together with old friends going on their zany adventures. Most of it feels like retread and the new stuff doesn’t quite hit, but I didn’t come away feeling like I wasted time watching this. Did we need this movie? No, but I didn’t mind this. I thought it was fine.

There hasn’t been another Croc movie since. The closest you can arguably say we got was that Very Excellent Mr. Dundee, but that’s not even close. As far as I know, they never made another Croc movie nor is anyone really planning on it.

Let’s hope they never do.

1986 saw Crocodile Dundee be a surprise hit and gave Aussie actor/writer Paul Hogan a step in the global movie stage.

Two years later, they produced a sequel that proved to be not quite as successful as its predecessor, both in terms of box office and critical reception. Make no mistake; the film still made money, but not as much as the first time around. And as far as the critical reception is concerned, the general consensus is that it’s not quite as funny (or original) as the first film and by the second film, the novelty that made the first film endearing has mostly worn off.

Personally… I liked the film. Sure, there’s going to be that inevitable feeling of rehashing ideas from the first film, but I honestly don’t mind it because one of the ideas behind rehashed is ol’ Mick Dundee himself because Paul Hogan maintains his wonderful charm that makes the character so endearing, as he attempts to settle in New York while keeping up with old habits and there’s a couple funny bits in there. But that eventually gives way to the main plot involving main squeeze Sue being pursued by a drug lord who wants photos she got from her ex, which eventually leads our heroes to stake their ground in Mick’s home turf of Australia’s Northern territory.

This is where the film slides into almost action schlock, with Mick using home advantage (and some local friends) to pick off the drug crew one by one. There’s some chuckles here and there, but going into what is essentially generic action fare with a quirky hero… I can understand if people see this as the train falling off the rails, but I’m personally engaged in seeing how Mick stays ahead of the bad guys. It’s not sophisticated fare, but it doesn’t have to be. You’ve got a likeable enough hero, you want to see him overcome the odds, and save the day. We saw Mick out of his element in the first film; now we see him in it.

If there’s any fault to be found here, it’s really in the overall pace. Sometimes, you really want to get to the next big scene, but the movie takes its time to get there and rarely during these slower moments do you get anything that can’t be just skipped with a fast-forward or two. Croc I didn’t have these moments; that had better pacing and took better advantage of the central character.

Other than that, though, I could think of worse sequels that didn’t quite live up to the original. Crocodile Dundee II might not be the splendid brilliance of its predecessor, but it’s still a perfectly fine follow-up.

If you grew up in the 80s, you knew about Crocodile Dundee.

Also, if you grew up in the 80s, get ready for the constant stream of reminders that you’re an old fart as many of your favorite 80s properties that you grew up watching, reading, and playing turn 40 in the coming years. Now it’s your turn to tell those kids to get off your goddamned lawn… or pretend you own a lawn, which is the more likely scenario these days, but I digress.

Crocodile Dundee saw release in Australian theaters in April 1986, while the rest of the world would get theirs in September. The story involves American reporter person Sue Charlton going to Australia to do a story on a strange fellow named Mick “Crocodile” Dundee, an individual who lives a rather interesting life in the Outback. So enamored by this strange individual that she invites him back to New York, where he is introduced to all the things we take for granted (circa 1986, of course) and oh boy, how does the strange out-of-towner deal with this zany city folk?

The classic fish out of water story, where some stranger heads into a strange land and is baffled by their surroundings. It’s the kind of tale that we’ve seen told countless times over the years to varying degrees of success. And in the hands of a lesser talent, it would have come across as hokey or mean-spirited, but Paul Hogan (who also wrote the script) plays Mick Dundee with enough charm and innocence that you can’t help but root for the guy as he adapts his new surroundings. He makes a point to never put Mick (or Hogan himself) in a situation that’s beyond his capability. Most importantly, things are played fairly straight and not treated like a hokey joke like most modern comedies would go for. Aussie Wilderness Person goes to New York and tries to fit in… great, go for it. No need to force laughs, the laughs will come naturally.

Honestly, the movie is almost entirely carried on the back of Paul Hogan because none of the other cast match up to him. Not because the acting is bad; it’s just everyone else seems a bit tame and normal in comparison. As such, they’re less interesting. Even Sue (played by Linda Kozlowski) falls into the trap of being smitten with this odd folk hero of sorts and being torn between that and the rich guy she’s dating. Spoiler: she makes the right call.

Crocodile Dundee is a fun movie and even after four decades, still holds up. The jokes and gags land where they should, the dialogue hits the right notes, and the main character sells the whole deal. It’s enough of a strong movie that when Netflix (Canada) took the movie down, I bought the trilogy Blu-Ray off Amazon because yay, I like me some Croc.

In 2025, a new version of the movie dubbed The Encore Cut was released, which removes some of the more “questionable” bits that wouldn’t land well with today’s moral standards. Some people will object to this sort of censorship, but I would suggest looking for old DVD or Blu-Ray releases instead if you want the original cut because they’re going to Lucas this as the standard going forward.

So next week on the blog, we’re going to do a lookback at the Crocodile Dundee trilogy of films in celebration of the first film’s 40th anniversary. But before we do that, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Paul Logan’s more recent attempt to cash in on that legacy in the form of the awkwardly named The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee, which was on the verge of leaving Prime Video and I figured, “Why not?”

Continue reading “MOVIE REVIEW – The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee (2020)”