Flubber . Newcity Chicago . 12-01-97

Flubber

DIRECTED BY: Les Mayfield

REVIEWED: 12-01-97

In a relatively climactic scene in "Flubber," absent-minded Medfield College professor Phillip Brainard (Robin Williams) applies a spray-coat of the eponymous green goo to the soles of a Medfield player's basketball shoes, giving the untalented scrub an added boost toward scoring the game-winning basket. Too bad no one sprayed Flubber on "Flubber." Sagging from beginning to end as if marching in muck, this remake of the 1961 Disney film "The Absent-Minded Professor" offers too few laughs and too many schmaltzy subplots. Professor Brainard accidentally invents the hyperkinetic flying rubber; he christens it "Flubber," then hopes the profits from its discovery will save financially unstable Medfield, run by Brainard's fiancee, Dr. Sara Reynolds. Professor Brainard's supposedly endearing forgetfulness annoys Dr. Reynolds, especially since their wedding keeps slipping Brainard's mind, and the bad-memory gags get old fast for the audience as well. Brainard's mischievous secretary, a football-sized flying robot named WEEBO, harbors a secret crush on the professor, and, well, let's just say the best moment of the film for me involved WEEBO and a burglar with a baseball bat. And for all the special effects, the semi-animate Flubber has about as much personality as a green Gummi Bear, at one point splitting apart into countless fragments to perform a forgettable mambo number. Steer the kids elsewhere this holiday season, or be prepared to endure, as I did, a nerve-shattering serenade from whining, not-so-long-suffering toddlers. 95m.

--Sam Jemielity

Full Length Reviews
Flubber
Flubber
Flubber
Flubber
Flubber

Capsule Reviews
Flubber

Other Films by Les Mayfield
Blue Streak
Miracle on 34th Street

Film Vault Suggested Links
Baby Geniuses
Stuart Little
Dr. Dolittle

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