Product: Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles [VHS] (2001)
Rating: 2.0
A Serial's Got to Know its Limitations
[SPOILERS]I loved Crocodile Dundees I & II. The premise was unique, interesting, the action riveting. It's an old premise really, a character out of its element. But Paul Hogan handled it all with aplomb and a simple charm that made the character enjoyable.Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles tried to recapture the zeitgeist of the previous two episodes, but, hey, everyone is 15 years older from the original Dundee and that aging is very pronounced. I had to make my way to [...] to see if Gerry Skilton was still playing Nugget, because it didn't seem like him. I also noticed that Walter (John Meillon) was conspicuously absent, and I found out it was because Meillon passed away in 1989. More's the pity... but I don't think Walter could have saved this movie.See, this was really sort of a rehash of Dundee coming to America, only this time he brings Sue (Linda Kozlowski), his common-law wife, Mikey (Serge Cockburn), his son, and Jacko (Alec Wilson), a friend and "nanny" for Mikey. There is some humor in Mick driving Jacko around LA and teaching him the "way" of all things American. It's not a forced humor, either, but it still seems somewhat contrived, as if Mick never really "got" the USA in the time that he had lived here before. Even so, that wasn't the weakest part of the movie.I'd have to say that the conflict was the weakest part. It's where Mick stumbled across an art theft ring in a movie studio and he defeated the bad guys by leading them on a merry chase through several movie sets. When it was over, I was thinking that he might go back to Australia with the bad guys right behind him to try and track him in the bush.Instead, that was the end of the movie.It lacked the down-under Rambo flavor that the second movie possessed, and it lacked the true fish out of water aspect of the first. Today, in 2009, with the characters being another 8 years older, I only hope Paul Hogan doesn't attempt a Crocodile Dundee IV.