American cinema has exhaustively explored sequels, prequels, and remakes because it’s easier to sell something audiences already know. The new “Anaconda” is part of another subgenre in this area, in which the story involves characters who risk everything to tell the previous tale with a new approach: in this case, a group of friends have a childhood dream of reviving the original 1997 film in the Amazon rainforest.
This version from director and co-writer Tom Gormican is a rich blend of horror and comedy, which also marks the debut of actor Selton Mello in a Hollywood production. The end result is good: besides Selton being very good, the film works and gives a certain freshness to the franchise.
In the plot, four childhood friends Doug (Jack Black), Griffin (Paul Rudd), Kenny (Steve Zahn) and Claire (Thandie Newton), seeking to relive their youth, travel to the Amazon with the aim of making an amateur remake of the film “Anaconda” (1997).
Santiago (Selton Mello), a super eccentric snake tamer, joins the troupe. The friends’ plan begins to go awry when a real giant anaconda appears, turning the relaxed shoot into a dangerous fight for survival.
In the hands of director Tom Gormican, “Anaconda” is a pure delight. He had already demonstrated that he knew how to combine fiction and reality in the funny “The Weight of Talent” (2022), in which Nicolas Cage plays himself. In “Anaconda,” Tom hits the mark by using metalanguage in a way that satirizes the way Hollywood slot productions are primarily designed.
Price: It looks like a little doll.
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