Hollywood Safari (1997) User Reviews

Very Unrealistic

[AGoodKing · 3/10 · 14 February 2005]

THERE ARE A LOT OF SPOILERS HERE,SO PLEASE BE FOREWARNED!One of the things that really ruins a film for me,is when the story line contains elements that are so unrealistic,that they could never possibly happen in the real world.John Savage's character really wants to kill this cat.He was supposed to use a tranquilizer dart on it,and bring it back for tests.He is holding an AR-15 about to kill the animal,when the sheriff tells him to put it down and use the tranquilizer gun,he had to be told 3 times.In the real world he would have been fired on the spot or at the very least suspended.But less than 5 minutes later the sheriff tells him he has to go on a trip and leaves him in charge as acting sheriff.The owners of the cat come in,and ask nicely to see the cat,Savage threatens to arrest them for not respecting him.He calls in the animal control officers(who are wearing US Forest Service Uniforms)to kill the animal.One of them says,"can we get on with it,I wanna go home?"Not asking for any paperwork or anything.In the real world the sheriff's dept. would be open to a lawsuit,for doing no investigation to see if they had the right cat or not.These are animal trainers, this cat is worth a LOT of money.Since the bad cat attacked a kid over a week ago,but the good cat had just been in a trailer just 2 hours before,there is some question, and these people can prove this and identify the cat.When Benjamin King's character says,"excuse me sir but I think maybe we should wait until we get the tests" John Savage demands his badge and fires him,saying he wants cops that obey orders,that don't talk back and know how to keep their mouths closed. 1 or 2 instances of stuff like this is expected, but the whole plot and particularly Savage's character is based on it, NO ONE could possibly act like this, it's ridiculous. In the real world this character could not have possibly, with that mentality, got as far in his job as he did, he would have been fired and sued long before, it really messed up the movie for me.

Good story line but...

[renonatv · 3/10 · 7 February 2017]

I do not believe there is anything wrong with the plot. There is a good story here. In my opinion, it is a combination of bad acting and directing. A lot of of the bad acting is because of the bad directing. Granted it is most likely a very low budget movie, but the director should have had some sort of a grasp on directing a motion picture, or cared more about the film. There are a lot of animals in the picture (a good thing), which probably took more than a few wranglers, and maybe this is where most of the budget went.

One thing that really stands out in my mind is the scene where one moment the Hummer is a car length away from the van, and in then all of a sudden they are about five or more minutes away? And the animal control stuff at the jail was so played out that it brings to mind the old saying, "flogging a dead horse".

A real bad family movie

[Wizard-8 · 17 February 2011]

PM Entertainment made a name for itself with its well-crafted action movies, though they dabbled in other genres occasionally, including family movies. After having seen several of their family movies, including this one, it's pretty clear why these movies have faded into obscurity. Although it advertises itself as a family movie, there are many touches that will disturb some children, such as a cougar attack on a youngster and some surprising hand-to-hand violence near the end. Even the opening credits, with its somber feeling, may bewilder kids! But even without these dubious touches, the movie would still be tough going. The performances are awful, and viewers tuning in to see Don Wilson will be bewildered why he's so prominently billed when he barely appears in the movie. (And does absolutely no martial arts!) It doesn't help that the characters these actors play are pretty stupid, particularly one police officer who breaks conduct so many times that he'd be fired in real life. His character is also mean-spirited, which is how much of the rest of the movie feels like. Add low-rent production values, including photography that makes the entire movie look dull and muddy, and you have a family movie that's best used as a tool of punishment for an unruly child instead of a reward.

What were they thinking

[wesingram · 4 December 2001]

This movie was pretty good but I was wandering what they were thinking when they cast for this movie. I mean they have Don 'The Dragon' Wilson and T.J. Roberts in the same movie. I mean these are two well known martial arts stars and here they are in a movie with not even one good fight scene. I mean yes I understand that they can also act but why put these two stars together like they did in Magic Kid and not even have any martial arts. It was still a pretty good movie but what were they thinking.

Good

[drgigglesgirl666 · 14 January 2001]

I thought this movie was good, the acting was excellent although some of it got to be stupid and unrealistic basically this movie is about a mountain lion that escapes a group of film makers and runs away to a town where people claim its terrorizing the town and they need to put it to sleep, the film makers are insisting that its not the right mountain lion that the sheriff is planning on killing and of course thier right the police have the wrong mountain lion but the film makers have to go out and find the real terrorizing mountain lion to save theirs.

needs work

[loganadam · 27 January 2002]

I guess every actor has to have one movie they are not proud of, for Don "The Dragon" Wilson, big time martial artist/actor, this must be that one movie, I didn't get to see him throw a single punch!the fighting towards the end was lousy, I know, I am a first degree black belt. Now I like watching this guys movies, and I like the fighting he does in them, and I was expecting to see him give someone else a lesson in the ancient art of butt kicking, but this let me down.