Flubber (1997)

Voti degli utenti:

4.5/10   

Regista:

Les Mayfield

Writers (WGA):

Samuel W. Taylor (short story "A Situation of Gravity")
John Hughes (screenplay) ...

Data di uscita:

26 novembre 1997 (USA)

Genere:

Family | Comedy | Fantasy

Slogan:

The stuff dreams are made of.

Plot:

An absent-minded professor discovers "flubber," a rubber-like super-bouncy substance.

Plot Keywords:

Ink | Remote Control | Fall Through Window | Bet | Fall From Height

Premi:

3 wins & 1 nomination

Recensioni degli utenti:

'Flubber' Flies but Doesn't Soar

Cast

Robin Williams	...	Professor Philip Brainard
Marcia Gay Harden	...	Dr. Sara Jean Reynolds
Christopher McDonald	...	Wilson Croft
Raymond J. Barry	...	Chester Hoenicker (as Raymond Barry)
Clancy Brown	...	Smith
Ted Levine	...	Wesson
Wil Wheaton	...	Bennett Hoenicker
Edie McClurg	...	Martha George
Jodi Benson	...	Weebo (voice)
Leslie Stefanson	...	Sylvia
Malcolm Brownson	...	Father
Benjamin Brock	...	Window Boy
Dakin Matthews	...	Minister
Zack Zeigler	...	Teenage Boy
Sam Lloyd	...	Coach Willy Barker

Alias:

Disney's Flubber: The Absent Minded Professor (promotional title)
The Absent Minded Professor (USA) (working title)
Flubber - Un professore tra le nuvole (Italy) [it]

MPAA:

Rated PG for slapstick action and mild language.

Durata:

93 min | Spain:90 min (DVD edition)

Nazionalità:

USA

Lingua:

Inglese

Colore:

Colore (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sonoro:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Divieti:

UK:U | Iceland:L | USA:PG (certificate #35540) | Canada:F (Ontario) (original rating) | Canada:G (Ontario) (video rating: 2004) | Canada:G (British Columbia/Manitoba/Quebec) | Canada:PG (Alberta/Nova Scotia) | South Korea:All | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Belgium:KT | Chile:TE | Finland:K-8/5 | France:U | Germany:o.Al. (w) | Hong Kong:I | Mexico:A | Netherlands:AL | Portugal:M/6 | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | Sweden:7 | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud)

Luoghi delle riprese:

Alameda, California, USA

Company:

Great Oaks Entertainment

Curiosità:

Cameo: [Nancy Olson]Nancy Olson, who played Betsy Carlisle in the original _Absent Minded Professor, The (1961)_, appears as a Secretary at Ford Company (uncredited).

Errori:

Personale o equipaggiamento visibile: Air bag for catching stuntman is visible when Prof. Brainard falls out a window backwards.

Citazioni:

[Brainard and Reynolds are visiting Hoenicker to discuss the Flubber]
Chester Hoenicker: You came to repay your loan?
Phillip Brainard: No.
Chester Hoenicker: I know you didn't. I was just having a little fun.
Phillip Brainard: I'm here to sell you the Flubber.
Chester Hoenicker: You been to your house recently?
Phillip Brainard: Yes.
Chester Hoenicker: Do I really need to buy it?
Phillip Brainard: Flubber's a very quixotic substance. It's very difficult to handle. Have you tried to do anything with it?
Chester Hoenicker: My man is working on it. It won't be a problem.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Citato in "Psych: Murder?... Anyone?... Anyone?... Bueller? (#3.2)" (2008)

Colonna sonora:

OH WHAT A BEAUTIFUL MORNIN'

'Flubber' Flies but Doesn't Soar

IT'S A SIGN of the times that the remake of "The Absent-Minded Professor" has as its title, not a human character, but a special effect: an inanimate object. But that would be selling the object short. Flubber, the substance, has more personality than many Hollywood actors. And if "Flubber," the movie, isn't quite a slam dunk, at least it's a relatively bouncy way to spend an hour and a half.

As the movie starts, Prof. Philip Brainard (Robin Williams, wearing Fred MacMurray's brogues and lab coat) is struggling to discover a new energy source. The college where he teaches -- Medfield -- is bankrupt and threatened with closure. His fiancée, college president Sara Jean Reynolds (Marcia Gay Harden), is wondering whether, after stranding her at the altar twice, her absent-minded boyfriend will show up for their wedding this time. And just waiting to scoop up Brainard's girl and his invention is the smarmy scientist Wilson Croft (Christopher McDonald).

It's only a matter of time before something explodes. And soon something does: Prof. Brainard's basement. The forest of glassware is reduced to rubble. The only thing left is a pressure cooker and the green glob it contains. Call it a "propulsive polymer," call it an "elastimer," call it flying rubber. By any name, it's still Flubber. A little Flubber goes a long way. Dropped on the ground it's like a Super Ball on steroids. Apply a thin layer to a golf ball and even Stephen Hawking can tee off like Tiger Woods. Stick it in a car engine and, well, doesn't every movie these days have to have a flying car? But the evil gangster who controls the university, Chester Hoenicker (Raymond Barry), wants to get his greedy hands on the green goo.

The movie has been updated since Disney's 1961 original. What was then a faithful canine companion is now a flying robot, Weebo. Voiced by Jodi Benson (who provided the vocal cords for Ariel, the Little Mermaid), Weebo is a jealous little bucket of bolts, eager to ace Sara out of the professor's life. As in the HBO sitcom "Dream On," Weebo punctuates (and comments on) the action by showing scenes from old movies on her video screen. And the Flubber itself is more than a mere blob. It has a puckish personality, showcased by a computer-generated Busby Berkeley-style dance number at the movie's midpoint.

Presumably because John Hughes is the co-producer and co-screenwriter (Les Mayfield directed), "Flubber" is filled with the "Home Alone" creator's patented pratfalls. A villain can't simply fall down. He has to look as if he slipped on ball bearings, go horizontal, hang for a split second in the air and then come crashing down flat on his spine. It was fresh when Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern were doing it seven years ago; it looks like overkill now. (The movie is rated PG, which you wouldn't expect, but there is a fair amount of slapstick violence -- bowling balls braining bad guys -- and one brief, giggly scatological scene.) Parents dragged to the mondo-plex will find just enough here to occupy their minds -- Williams is funny, though not the uncorked ball of human Flubber you know he could be. There are contemporary touches -- at one point the professor says, "Sara, if we had wanted to be rich, we wouldn't have become teachers" -- but the movie isn't so hipped-up that it will go over children's heads. On the other hand, there are flat patches where anyone under 8 or so might fidget. Flubber may be more fun than a barrel of monkeys, but "Flubber" is a few monkeys shy of a kid movie masterpiece.