Anaconda

Attempting to breathe new life into the dormant B-movie film series, the new Anaconda casts Paul Rudd, Jack Black, Steve Zahn, and Thandiwe Newton as childhood friends whose combined midlife crisis takes them to the Amazon Rainforest to attempt a low-budget reboot of the franchise. Added to the mix are Selton Mello as the wacky snake handler and Daniela Melchior as a young woman acting as their boat captain and guide (but running from her own troubles).

90% comedy to only about 10% action/horror, Anaconda sinks or swims on how many of its jokes land. While it produces some amusing moments along the way (most of which are shown in the trailer), the film is going for quantity rather than quality (which is hard when it produces laughs about half the time). There's also some awkward twists to the plot as things simply going wrong for these four people in over their heads in an incredibly dangerous locale apparently wasn't enough to structure the story around.

For those deeply tied to the fandom to the original films, which I have no nostalgia for, the self-aware requel might work better than it did for me. That said, Rudd and Black still find ways to charm and the (surprisingly underutilized) giant CGI snake is actually pretty cool. Anaconda is not a film I regret seeing, but it's also not one that I am likely ever to return to again.

• Title: Anaconda (2025)
• IMDb: link