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Apparently encouraged by the wild success and impending sequelhood of The Mummy that he needn’t worry about being typecast as a cartoon character, Brendan Fraser follows his title role in George of the Jungle with another stint as one of pun-slinging animator Jay Ward’s creations, Dudley Do-Right. The Royal Canadian Mounted protector of Semi-Happy Valley, infamously virtuous D.D. faces an existential crisis, and a challenge for the love of perky Nell Fenwick (Sarah Jessica Parker), when perennial ne’er-do-well Snidely Whiplash (Alfred Molina) becomes a local hero, staging a fake gold rush, taking over the town with his gang of toadies, and renaming the newly prosperous burg Whiplash City. Sadly, the humor, like the ore, goes mostly unmined. Writer/director Hugh Wilson, whose “WKRP in Cincinnati” is enjoying one of those Nick At Nite revivals, knows where to find some laughs, having scored in the past with The First Wives Club (at least in the popular sense) and another Fraser vehicle, Blast From the Past (which most reviewers panned but I liked). But he also did the first Police Academy, and that’s sadly the level he goes for this outing. It’s campy stuff, but it’s also almost too politically incorrect even for me, featuring mostly flat gags such as tribe of faux Indians with names like Standing Room Only, whose chief, played by character actor Alex Rocco, would be more at home back in The Godfather. Inexplicably, Fraser had worked up a nostalgically silly voice like the animated Dudley, which he showed off during a couple publicity appearances, but Wilson had him stick with his natural delivery. Too bad, it might have helped. Hopefully, the next Ward cinematic foray -- as in June Foray, who did the voices for Rocky and Natasha -- looks better, a combined live/animated treatment of “Rocky & Bullwinkle” starring Robert De Niro as Fearless Leader. D
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