It has been 25 years or more since I last saw Anaconda from 1997 and with a sequel/reboot on the horizon, I thought I would take another look at it. A documentary film crew board a small boat to trek down the Amazon in search of the Shirishamas, a long lost indigenous Amazonian tribe. The group consists of director Terri Flores (Jennifer Lopez), cameraman Danny Rich (Ice Cube), production manager Denise Kalberg (Kari Wuhrer), Denise’s boyfriend and sound engineer Gary Dixon (Owen Wilson), narrator Warren Westridge (Jonathan Hyde), anthropologist Professor Steven Cale (Eric Stoltz), and boat skipper Mateo (Vincent Castellanos). Not long after setting sail they rescue stranded Paraguayan snake hunter Paul Serone (Jon Voight), who persuades them that he can help them find the tribe, but is instead after a giant green anaconda.
There was much I could not remember about this film, such as the order that the crew are despatched and who, apart from the obvious survives. But my memory that it was a gloriously silly and hugely entertaining creature feature turned out to be correct. Chris Broodryk’s funny screenplay and Luis Llosa’s direction keep the action moving and I did not mind that the snake effects were iffy at best. Voight is terrific, probably for the last time on or off screen, as the evil, sneering hunter. It does feel like a product of its time though, with Wuhrer largely there for decorative reasons.
The meta new version of Anaconda (2025) has been written by Tom Gormican and Kevin Etten, and directed by Gormican. Doug (Jack Black) and Griff (Paul Rudd), seeking to recapture their youth, travel to the Amazon to film an amateur remake of the 1997 film. Their project unravels when a real giant anaconda emerges.
Whilst the earlier film was fun throughout, Gormican’s movie is much more uneven. The set up to get Doug and Griff, plus their old friends, Claire (Thandie Newton), Griff’s co star, and cinematographer Kenny (Steve Zahn) into the jungle is fine, even if, approaching their 60s, Rudd and Black are too old for their parts. However, there is a definite lull as filming starts. Selton Mello’s snake handler comes across as a pale imitation of Paul Serone, and his love of his anaconda is quite tiresome. There is also a terrible scene about head butting that felt like it would never end.
But, Diana Melchior’s boat skipper is a better character, even if a subplot about gold is very perfunctory, and, as the film progresses, it gets better, and crucially funnier. I was laughing out loud to the aftermath of Doug being bitten by a spider, and when he has a wild boar strapped to him. There is also an amusing cameo by Ice Cube as himself.
The snake effects have not really improved over the years, and it appears surprisingly sparingly, and the numerous plugs for Sony get annoying. But it is pretty entertaining, certainly more so than the sequels that followed the original film.
Ratings out of 10:
Anaconda (1997): 7.5
Anaconda (2025): 6