...if you look at all the scores the IMDb gave his movies, I think you'd come up with an (estimated) average of about 5/10, with only 48 Hours and the first Beverly Hills Cop going past the 7: someone here must really hate the guy...
OK, they're all comedy (or action-comedy) movies (except for Dreamgirls, where he's not the main lead anyway), and comedy movies, we all know, don't win Oscars: for some weird reason, critics everywhere seem to think that the value of a movie is directly proportional to the amount of sadness and tears said movie is able to provoke and/or to the number of philosophy classes the viewer must've taken in order to 'truly' understand the subtext(s) the writer/director so generously intertwined in their masterpiece.
Well, if that's the meter, then I concur, Murphy's movies deserve the abysmal scores they got and keep getting, but if not, I think they should be considered ALSO in light of their intended audience and goals: of what they are. For instance, regarding this movie, as soon as I saw the Nickelodeon logo during the opening titles I just thought "crap!" and then "oh well...". What I mean is that this is obviously intended as a family comedy movie and that it should also be treated as such. I mean, the apex of profanity Murphy is allowed here is "poop"... As someone else already wrote in his review, this is not the Godfather, nor does it presume to be.
I consider Murphy to be one of the most entertaining comedy actors of the 80's, with what I deem milestones of that genre, such as Trading Places, Beverly Hills Cop and Coming to America. After that, I believe his career actually started to go downhill, culminating with movies such as Norbit or Meet Dave. This said, and all things considered, I believe this particular movie deserves a pass grade, a C. OK, as I said, this is not the Murphy from BHC or TP, I think that's clear, that that character, along with those times, are long gone by now; but I believe he delivers a pretty decent acting performance in this unassuming movie, as does his co-lead, the child who plays his daughter. The story offers nothing new or original, and honestly, it's quite silly, the 'message' is the generic "find time to spend with your children and learn to listen to them". However, overall I found the movie to be mildly entertaining, thanks also to the 'fake' native American character, Whitefeather, and his peculiar 'business communication' style. The cinematography is clean and I think I saw no trace of CG whatsoever, which has become quite the remarkable thing in itself these days. So, in the end I wouldn't recommend this to just anybody, but I believe it's a nice little movie to watch with your children, or if you're an Eddie Murphy aficionado. 6/10.
OK, they're all comedy (or action-comedy) movies (except for Dreamgirls, where he's not the main lead anyway), and comedy movies, we all know, don't win Oscars: for some weird reason, critics everywhere seem to think that the value of a movie is directly proportional to the amount of sadness and tears said movie is able to provoke and/or to the number of philosophy classes the viewer must've taken in order to 'truly' understand the subtext(s) the writer/director so generously intertwined in their masterpiece.
Well, if that's the meter, then I concur, Murphy's movies deserve the abysmal scores they got and keep getting, but if not, I think they should be considered ALSO in light of their intended audience and goals: of what they are. For instance, regarding this movie, as soon as I saw the Nickelodeon logo during the opening titles I just thought "crap!" and then "oh well...". What I mean is that this is obviously intended as a family comedy movie and that it should also be treated as such. I mean, the apex of profanity Murphy is allowed here is "poop"... As someone else already wrote in his review, this is not the Godfather, nor does it presume to be.
I consider Murphy to be one of the most entertaining comedy actors of the 80's, with what I deem milestones of that genre, such as Trading Places, Beverly Hills Cop and Coming to America. After that, I believe his career actually started to go downhill, culminating with movies such as Norbit or Meet Dave. This said, and all things considered, I believe this particular movie deserves a pass grade, a C. OK, as I said, this is not the Murphy from BHC or TP, I think that's clear, that that character, along with those times, are long gone by now; but I believe he delivers a pretty decent acting performance in this unassuming movie, as does his co-lead, the child who plays his daughter. The story offers nothing new or original, and honestly, it's quite silly, the 'message' is the generic "find time to spend with your children and learn to listen to them". However, overall I found the movie to be mildly entertaining, thanks also to the 'fake' native American character, Whitefeather, and his peculiar 'business communication' style. The cinematography is clean and I think I saw no trace of CG whatsoever, which has become quite the remarkable thing in itself these days. So, in the end I wouldn't recommend this to just anybody, but I believe it's a nice little movie to watch with your children, or if you're an Eddie Murphy aficionado. 6/10.