Newport Beach Review: Dudley & the Invasion of the Space Slugs is a(n appropriately?) sluggish dud
When Dudley & the Invasion of the Space Slugs started off with an unironic freeze-frame "Yep, that's me" moment, I thought I might be in for a rough watch. And, indeed, the movie that follows doesn't inspire much more confidence. It's one of those movies that you start to forget as you're watching it, unoffensive enough to flicker by your eyes, but not interesting enough to stick. I'm racing to write this review now while it somewhat lingers in the mind, because I fear if I wait any longer, every detail will be gone.
Now, not every movie needs to be a masterpiece, or have lofty thematic goals, or set out to make an impact. Which is lucky for Dudley, as it does none of those things. This is a movie that wants to entertain young viewers, comment on the importance of caring for the environment, and provide a few laughs. On these fronts, the movie succeeds. So it's not a resounding dud, just a dud.
Dudley himself is a pretty fun protagonist, the frog son of the frog mayor of a small town on the shore of a pond. While the mayor is ineffectual in his duties, always seeking guidance from his clearly-scheming lizard advisor Bob, Dudley prefers to try to get things done himself. He's a helper, a doer, a would-be hero, which is hysterical because he is very bad at helping and getting things done. The film's early scenes show Dudley taking action to fix apparent problems around the pond, and consistently making things worse. For instance, he notices some ferns aren't getting sunlight due to some other plants, which he cuts down, only for the ferns to immediately wither in the harsh light. You might call him "Dudley Do-Wrong," but at least his heart is in the right place.
His can-do attitude is put to the test upon the arrival of the eponymous space slugs, who are sent to Earth on a mission to suck up the planet's water. It's a useful, valuable resource out amongst the stars, and based on the way humans pollute their water sources, it's clear they don't deserve it, anyways. The space slug team is a broken family: villainous Captain Orzak, his ex-wife Drakz, and their softer-than-he-should-be son Morbus. The familial infighting is a fun dynamic that provides some of the movie's laughs, and Morbus's journey is a kind of mirror to Dudley's: self-determination, forging your own way despite a lackluster father figure, etc.
The early cutting between the pond stuff and the space stuff is kind of brutal, just kind of blunt-forcing all the exposition and character introductions in. Once the space slugs land, and the two factions meet, things start to move along a bit better, but the proceedings are sadly quite bland. While Dudley and his new friends, a band of outsiders who pride themselves on being tough and dangerous, try to thwart the slugs' evil plan, the mayor greets them with open arms, thinking they could be new constituents. Politicians, man.
While the plot is flimsy and the characters are thin, I did find some solid laughs throughout the movie. My favorite minor characters are a trio of older women frogs who have a kind of Statler and Waldorf presence, making snide remarks whenever the moment calls for it. After eating some French flies and burping, one of them quips "Excuse me. Or should I say, 'excusez-moi'?" to which her friend immediately drones, "No, Beryl, you really shouldn't." Those ladies got some big laughs out of me, and show that this movie has untapped potential to be funnier, sharper, and overall better than it is.
But, as it is, it's just a fairly throwaway, family-friendly adventure about standing up to the bad guys, taking care of your home, and not letting others define you. Which are all good-enough things for a movie to showcase for a young audience.
And, yes, this was the latest addition to my "fun" Letterboxd list of animated movies that I wish were also GameCube-era video games. Swinging around using Dudley's tongue, tossing algae balls at evil robots...man, that would have been the most satisfying 6.5/10 platformer of 2004.
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