MOVIE REVIEW: PIRANHA 3D

I'm not a huge fan of 3D, but it seems that Hollywood is all about it these days. It works for some films, but I don't want to see every single movie that comes out in 3D. However, when it comes to the horror genre, I think 3D is a must have. When My Bloody Valentine came out a few years ago, it convinced me that 3D is best used as a horror film technology to really bring a new level of scare and gore to a genre that has been getting worse and worse throughout the years.

Alexandre Aja, who has had some pretty decent horror films with The Hills Have Eyes and High Tension directs the film and does a great job of bringing a fun, entertaining movie to the screen. He also did a great job of getting a pretty respectable cast for a movie like this. Oscar winner Richard Dreyfuss, Oscar nominee Elisabeth Shue, three time Emmy winner Christopher Lloyd, Jerry O'Connell, Ving Rhames, Adam Scott and Ricardo Chavira all star. For a film of this genre and style to be able to snag actors like this is a real accomplishment. Many times, movies like this turn out to be bad and fail, because no real talent can be pulled in.

In the film, thousands of young people gather at Lake Victoria for spring break and during the celebration an earthquake opens up an ancient cavern that unleashes hundreds of prehistoric piranhas loose on the lake. A small group of people must work together to not only save the tourists, but keep themselves from getting eaten as well.

What makes Piranha 3D so great, is that the film doesn't take itself too seriously. This is supposed to be a fun, goofy movie with some jumps and lots of gore. And that is exactly what it delivers. What is even better, is that the cast doesn't take their roles to seriously either. There is no shouting to the heavens or scene of intense seriousness, it's as if everyone is in on it. Jerry O'Connell and Adam Scott in particular do a really great job of portraying their characters in a way as if they are telling the audience, "We know it's a fun, goofy movie, and we love it". Even the CGI piranhas have a goofy, almost on purpose look to them.

The entire cast was great. As a Back to the Future fan, I loved seeing Christopher Lloyd back on the screen playing this crazy old scientist. Another Back to the Future alumni, Elisabeth Shue, hasn't really done a lot on screen lately and it was good to see her back. In the film, she plays the sheriff and does a great job of playing the tough female lead.

Right from the start the movie gets me. As a fan of Jaws, I was excited to see that they brought Richard Dreyfuss's character, Matt Hooper from Jaws into the opening scene. For legal reasons, they changed his name to Matt Boyd, but he is wearing the exact same outfit, drinking the exact same beer and singing the exact same song from Jaws. I thought this was a great nod to Jaws and the genre and I thought it was a really fun idea bringing the character into yet another terrifying situation. The audience really loved that scene.

The film itself, is morally wrong on every level. I have never seen more gore and nudity than I have with this film, but it's paying a homage to the 70's and 80's horror films. During the 90's and 00's, horror films got really soft. There were a lot of PG-13 films and watered down R films and what Aja was trying to do, was bring back the old school type of horror. So if you not a fan of intense gore and nudity, stay far, far away, but if it doesn't bother you to much, I would say this is something you need to check out. And of course if your a horror fan and it doesn't bother you at all, this is a must see for you.

I really didn't have any problems with the film other than it was to short. The film runs at 82 minutes, and I really would have like to seen about thirty more minutes. The audience as well as myself had a great time watching it. There was laughing, screaming and cringing, but when the film ends the whole audience went "awwww", wanting more. Piranha 3D was not the best film of the summer by any means, but it was certainly the most entertaining. I wasn't expecting much from it, but I am giving it an eight out of ten.