What IS it with this movie???

Rating: 8/10 (25 June 1999)

People have strange attractions. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and I don't know why. I saw it twice at the cinema and I am one of those crazy people who owns this movie. I must have seen it about thirty to forty times and I still can't get to the bottom of it. It's just one of those movies that you can analyse until the cows come home but in the end it's just a very enjoyable experience. The acting was mediocre, I thought. Of course, Will Smith is hilarious in his role. I think he should take up full-time acting and leave his singing career behind. The special effects were convincing enough, nothing unique or stunning. The plot was simple yet complex enough to keep us going and the costumes were just...BLACK!! What gets me about this movie is that it doesn't try to be something special. It doesn't try to break new ground with special effects and it doesn't deliberately draw us in with moving moments and touching scenes. It just gives us a general piece of entertainment. I got the impression that I was just watching funny-guy Will Smith acting in a low-budget foreign movie with a heap of special effects. Speaking of funny, the movie was just that. That was what was also good about it. Comedy was not what I expected from this movie and I was utterly surprised when I laughed my head off in the cinema. Not something one does normally when watching a movie that has been advertised since the beginning of the year. I still don't know what it is with this movie. Maybe I'm just a sucker for Spielberg(did I mention him at all???)...