A legendary fifteen-foot tall mountain gorilla named Joe is taken to an animal sanctuary in California by zoologist Gregg O'Hara (Bill Paxton) and Jill Young (Charlize Theron), with whom he ... Read allA legendary fifteen-foot tall mountain gorilla named Joe is taken to an animal sanctuary in California by zoologist Gregg O'Hara (Bill Paxton) and Jill Young (Charlize Theron), with whom he grew up. Poacher Strasser (Rade Serbedzija) returns from the past to seek vengeance on Joe... Read allA legendary fifteen-foot tall mountain gorilla named Joe is taken to an animal sanctuary in California by zoologist Gregg O'Hara (Bill Paxton) and Jill Young (Charlize Theron), with whom he grew up. Poacher Strasser (Rade Serbedzija) returns from the past to seek vengeance on Joe.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 1 win & 4 nominations total
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaSince Gorillas in the Mist (1988), Rick Baker stated that he wouldn't do any more projects that involved creating animatronic apes. Baker had to break that statement when he did Baby's Day Out (1994), which featured a gorilla scene. After that, Baker restated he would not do any more ape projects, but when he got called to work on this movie, Baker's love for the original film changed his mind. He also saw it as a chance for redemption for King Kong (1976) since he designed the King Kong suit and portrayed Kong himself. This movie was the last for which Baker created an animatronic gorilla suit. He later added Planet of the Apes (2001), starring Mark Wahlberg, to his ape-centric résumé.
- GoofsPart of the film is set in California. In Los Angeles and at the carnival near the beach, there are police cars with their colored lights on. All the police cars are missing a steady red light in the front. By the California vehicle code, all emergency and law enforcement vehicles are required to have a steady red light facing forward.
- Quotes
Cecily Banks: [has just gotten word that Joe had arrived at the zoo] Okay, people! Elvis is in the building!
- Alternate versionsGerman video and DVD versions are edited for violence (capturing of the gorilla, transport of the gorilla in the city, escape of the gorilla, explosion of the ferris wheel) to get a more family friendly "Not under 6" rating. The uncut version (rated "Not under 12") was shown several times on pay-TV channel Premiere World (now Sky Germany).
- ConnectionsEdited into Attack of the 50 Foot Monster Mania (1999)
The story starts in the jungle where gorilla hunter "Strasser" shoots and kills the baby gorilla's mom, and Jill Young's (Carlize Theron) mom is also killed. Jill and the young gorilla become friends and they grow up in virtual anonymity. In a stroke of good casting for a very small part, Linda Purl, who plays the mother, looks a lot like Theron.
Many years later, when Paxton's character shows up, hunting wild species for blood samples, the capture of a big cat enrages "Joe" and he jumps out of the trees. That is a remarkable point in the film because, with a good sound system with subwoofer, the room literally shakes. And it continues as they case Joe in trucks.
Jill is persuaded that Joe will be safer when transported to Los Angeles with his own habitat, and she agrees. The evil Strasser shows up, enrages Joe, who breaks out and runs. In the sweet climax, he climbs a tall ferris wheel to rescue a small child, survives, and eventually is put in a proper place for his safety.
Most of the charm of this film is during the first half, in the jungle, with Joe and Jill growing up, then the discovery of the adult Joe. In a small part as the hunting organizer Paxton hires, Nuveen Andrews is just terrific, his delivery, his body language. And, of course, Charlize Theron, who reminds me so much of my daughter, Karen, is just perfect as Joe's caretaker and friend.
I rate this version of "Mighty Joe Young" a solid "8" of 10.
- TxMike
- Aug 8, 2001
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Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official site
- Languages
- Also known as
- Могутній Джо Янґ
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $90,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $50,632,037
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $10,602,042
- Dec 27, 1998
- Gross worldwide
- $50,632,037
- Runtime1 hour 54 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1