Lake Placid

_**Crocogator horror with humor**_ A monstrous croc is discovered to live in a remote lake in Maine and so a conflicting group of people join together to capture or kill it: the local Sheriff (Brendan Gleeson), a Fish and Game officer (Bill Pullman), a paleontologist (Bridget Fonda) and an expert croc hunter (Oliver Platt). Betty White is on hand as a comical lady who lives on the lake. “Lake Placid” (1999) is the best of the series due to the simple fact that it was the only theatrically released installment and cost $35 million, which is about 17.5 times as much as any of the five follow-ups, which had TV-budgets (for instance, “Lake Placid 2” only cost $2 million). With such a hefty budget for what is essentially a Grade B creature feature, the croc looks great compared to the cartoonish CGI of the sequels. The cast is pretty top-rate as well and the dialogue is witty, plus delivered smoothly (although you have to pay attention because it’s so rapid-fire). Speaking of which, this can’t be taken as a serious creature-on-the-loose flick, like “Prophecy” (1979) or “Black Water” (2007) because it’s so funny in a droll way. Films like “Crocodile” (2000), “Humanoids from the Deep” (1980) and “Piranha” (1978/1995) are dead serious by comparison. If you can roll with it, however, it IS genuinely amusing and you start to buy into the reality of the characters and their situation. While their relationships are what psychologists would call conflict-habituated and the old lady cusses like a sailor, the movie has a warm heart, just stick around till the ending. Of course Bridget stands out in the female department. She was 34 during shooting and would only do seven more movies (two of them TV productions) before leaving acting to focus on raising a family (she also worked on two TV series at this time). While people complain about how annoying her character is in “Lake Placid,” it’s understandable if you consider what’s happening in her life in combination with being a fish-out-of-water camping out in the backwoods; besides, she becomes warmer as the story evolves. Also on the feminine front are Meredith Salenger as Deputy Gare and Natassia Malthe as Janine, the latter in a bit part. Both are winsome and easy on the eyes. I didn’t have very fond memories of this film due to the dry humor and conflicting personalities, but I ‘got’ it this time and really enjoyed it for what it is, an amusing creature feature supported by a huge theatrical budget. If you like this one, be sure to check out “Lake Placid 2” (2007) as it’s a worthy sequel, even though it only cost a fraction of the amount. The film is short-and-sweet at 1 hour, 22 minutes. It was shot at Buntzen Lake, British Columbia, which is just northeast of Vancouver, as well as other lakes in the region (Shawnigan Lake & Hayward Lake), plus establishing shots of Camden, Maine, and opening shots of Manhattan. GRADE: B