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Critics hopped all over this buddy comedy, but children, lured by the somewhat deceptive previews that played up the antics of the eponymous marsupial, made it a modest box office hit. The fish-out-of water story line finds lifelong Brooklyn buddies Charlie (Jerry O'Connell) and Louis (Anthony Anderson) on a forced errand for the Mob in Australia, where they wind up chasing a runaway kangaroo through the Outback. Charlie's mobster stepfather (the always welcome Christopher Walken) dispatches the pair to deliver $50,000 on a mission of absolution, but in one of those only-in-the-movies mishaps, the pair's 50K winds up in the possession of the titular critter, and the chase is on. The kangaroo has the uncanny ability to anticipate their every move (much like the mouse in Mouse Hunt), and he's a sequel-ready scene-stealer, whether delivering martial-arts kicks, sucking on an atomic fireball jawbreaker, or, in one dream sequence, breaking it down to "Rapper's Delight." A trio of flatulent camels provide the requisite scatological humor in a scene that makes the campfire scene in Blazing Saddles look like a model of decorum. But a comical, computer-generated kangaroo does not a family movie make. A subplot involving Mob goons sent to kill Charlie and Louis plays out with too much menace. And Charlie fondles a ravishing conservationist (Estella Warren), whom he mistakes for a mirage. By the time the camera ogles the former swimmer-turned-model during an impromptu bath in a waterfall, you're thinking "lovely," but a PG-13 rating would have been more appropriate. Donald Liebenson

All Movie Guide

Two low-level American crooks head to Australia, where they match wits with a kangaroo (who appears to have an intellectual edge on his pursuers) in this broad comedy. Charlie Carbone (Jerry O'Connell) is a hairdresser from Brooklyn whose best friend, Louis Booker (Anthony Anderson), scrapes together a living moving stolen merchandise. Charlie's stepfather, Sal Maggio (Christopher Walken), is a crime kingpin who has loaned Charlie a lot of money and wants to know when he'll get it back; Sal's not especially fond of Louis, especially after he and Charlie accidentally lead the police to a storehouse of burgled goods owned by Sal. Charlie owes Sal a big favor, and Sal wants Charlie and Louis out of his hair for a while, so Sal sends them to Australia, where they're to deliver a large amount of cash to a mysterious Mr. Smith (Marton Csokas). En route to their meeting in the outback, Charlie and Louis accidentally run over a kangaroo, and the half-bright tourists decide to dress the dead marsupial in sunglasses and Louis' favorite jacket for snapshots. However, the animal wasn't as dead as they imagined, and it soon hops away, shortly after Louis realizes the payment to Mr. Smith was in the pocket. Now Louis and Charlie are out to find the fast-moving critter, with the help of Jessie (Estella Warren), a wildlife expert; Mr. Jimmy (David Ngoombujarra), a wilderness guide; and Blue (Bill Hunter), a pilot familiar with the outback. Mark Deming

Product Details

• UPC: 883929084722
• Source: WARNER HOME VIDEO
• Region Code: 1
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby AC-3 Surround Sound
• Editions: Subtitled, Dubbed, Repackaged
• Time: 1:29:00
• Sales Rank: 4,060

This DVD is also available as part of a box set:

• Racing Stripes & Kangaroo Jack

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