A group of friends are going through a mid-life crisis. They decide to remake a favorite movie from their youth but encounter unexpected events when they enter the jungle. (from IMDb)

When a movie studio wants to remake - or make a sequel to - a long dead IP, I suppose one solution is to turn it into a feature-length joke? 2025's Anaconda is not a sequel or a remake, but a spoof of the idea of remaking the film or a sequel to it. In this movie, Jack Black plays Doug, an aspiring filmmaker stuck in a dead-end job making wedding videos when his childhood friend, Grif, a struggling actor, played by Paul Rudd, comes to him with the idea of remaking one of their favorite movies, 1997's Anaconda (which starred Jennifer Lopez and Ice Cube). It took a little convincing, but before long, Doug assembles a small production team of friends and heads out into the Amazon to film. But of course, things have to go horribly wrong.

I'll be honest; I never saw the 1997 movie. I heard it wasn't very good, and aside from being a fan of Owen Wilson, there wasn't much about the film that attracted me to it. (At the time I'm writing this, it has an abysmal 4.9 rating on IMDb. Definitely not great.) However, with the idea of having the comedy team of Black, Rudd and Steve Zahn leading the way for this spoof/remake, I have to say I was mildly interested. Still, it didn't look great, so I went into it with low expectations... and I probably should have lowered them even further.

The biggest problem with 2025's Anaconda is that it can't seem to find the right tone right off the bat. The material just isn't very funny, and the movie takes its sweet time getting started. It spends a decent amount of time establishing its characters, but the actors - especially Black and Rudd - approach it with the goofy kind of tone that doesn't really work for this premise. Perhaps a more ironic seriousness would have made sense, or maybe just a full-on better script, but I was surprised at how just plain unfunny the usually-funny Rudd was for most of the film. (Is it just me or has he been losing his mojo in the past couple years?) His performance as Ant-Man seems perfectly suited for his style of humor, and I feel like he plays that character with just the right amount of humor and charm. Roles since then, including 2024's Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, just seem ill-suited for him. Is it the direction? Is it the writing? Is it just Rudd? Is it all three? I really don't know. Meanwhile, Black is his usual hit-and-miss self. He plays the character of Doug like he's fully aware how ridiculous it is to be in a movie like this, and sometimes it works well, and other times, it just doesn't. Honestly, I would say most of this movie just plain doesn't work until the last act. Once the gang are off the boat, it feels like the comedy starts to click into place.

While Rudd feels a bit lost and Black is hit-and-miss, Zahn is just perfect as the totally fried Kenny. His character and performance feel just right for this kind of movie, and he adds a lot to the scenes he's in. Thandiwe Newton is an odd choice to include here, as she's not really a comedic actress, but she does fine playing the straight man to the goofballs around her.

I really can't get over how dull a good portion of the film is. Sony seemed confident to have a hit on their hands, boldly considering it to be a big Christmas 2025 release. But then again, with a new Avatar entry guaranteed to dominate the box office at the same time, they probably knew it was a good time to offload a clunker like this - maybe also trying to ride the success of Black's Minecraft Movie from earlier in the year. Still, Anaconda has a couple surprise twists in it that are kind of interesting - even if it isn't enough to elevate the film much - and some genuinely funny parts in the latter portion of it. (Doug and the pig, and the gang's debate over how to treat a venomous bite, are both pretty good. Zahn is a delight in both sequences, too.) But, like the movie it's curiously trying to pay homage to, this is the kind of film you find in the bargain bin at your local Walmart. (Wait... do they still even have bargain bins?!)

The content of 2025's Anaconda is, at times, a hard PG-13 -- but mostly for profanity. There's one emphatic, clear use of the "F" word from Black, and then there's a video people watch at a party, earlier in movie, of the characters as young teens using the "F" word constantly, but it's bleeped out each time (even though it's obvious what they're saying... over and over). Other than that, there's over 40 uses of the "S" word and quite frequent uses of Jesus' name in vain. There's some blood and guts when a boat propeller cuts up a large snake, and then we see the bloody face of a man hitting a van window after a snake spits him up. For those not a fan of spiders, there's a very brief scene where Doug pulls one off his leg, the camera focuses on it in his hand, and then he throws it and Grif kicks it away. There is some gunplay involving smugglers, and we see some more blood when a bigger snake explodes and then again when a character drives an object into its head and then pulls it back out.

If you're a fan of the cast, or even the 1997 film, then you may still be interested in 2025's bizarre, shameless spoof/remake, Anaconda. I myself found it pretty bland for most of the film, and maybe a bit too self-indulgent, but it does improve before its big finish (which helps it end on a higher note at least). With that said, however, as far as comedies go, you can definitely do a lot better than this one, and I'd recommend just skipping it altogether - or waiting for streaming if you absolutely feel compelled to see it. (Note: there is a brief scene after the credits revealing the fate of a character.)

- John DiBiase (reviewed: 1/10/26)