My movie watch on 18 January 2022 was a thoroughly charming and at times surprisingly moving fantasy family film entitled Paulie.
Directed by John Roberts, and released by DreamWorks in 1998, Paulie is named after its star, a small green parrot (a blue-crowned conure, to be precise) who can actually talk (voiced by Jay Mohr, who also plays Benny, one of the movie's human characters), as opposed to merely parroting (pardon the pun!) words spoken to him. Not surprisingly, Paulie's unexpected talent and associated brain power get him into a lot of trouble, especially from those who want to use his abilities for purposes most foul (or fowl?).
His story, and that of the movie itself, begins when an infant Paulie is purchased to be a companion to another youngster – a little girl named Marie, whose stutter means that she has been unable to make friends with other children. Paulie helps her to gain confidence to talk, but unfortunately her parents disbelieve her that he too can talk, and her father, who has always disliked Paulie anyway, finally sells him, after which Marie's family moves far away.
The rest of the film charts Paulie's long, determined attempt to find Marie again, helped by some kind people along the way. They include an elderly widowed lady, Ivy (Gena Rowlands), but her failing eyesight means that Paulie willingly stays with her for quite a time in order to be her eyes, until the inevitable day arrives when Ivy's time is over, and Paulie is alone again, forcing him to set forth once more into the great unknown by himself, recommencing his search for Marie.
As I noted above, there are some very touching, poignant scenes in this movie, but also some high comedy, especially with Paulie's garrulous yet not always polite or diplomatic turn of phrase, and during his hectic, highly eventful ownership by petty but not unlikeable thief Benny who steals him from a friendly Mexican street entertainer in Los Angeles, where he had been performing with a troop of trained conures. There are also some grim scenes, conversely, in which Paulie finds himself caged and hidden away inside a research institute.
Above all, however, Paulie is a feel-good family film, so I'm not giving anything away when I say that it ends in the expected, time-honoured, positive way for Paulie and Marie, thanks to the assistance of a kindly Russian janitor named Misha (Tony Shalhoub). However, there is one final twist that has been cleverly hidden in plain sight as the movie progresses, and which I've actually alluded to here in this mini-review – did you spot where and what it was?
Paulie is one of those inspiring films that effortlessly lifts your mood, and the seamless blend of no fewer than 14 different real-life parrots all playing Paulie in various scenes, as well as an animatronic Paulie and a puppet Paulie, collectively engender a truly magical, endearing character that you root for every second of this wonderful movie. Then again, bearing in mind that it was produced by Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks company, that really should come as no surprise, now should it?
If you'd like to make the acquaintance of Paulie, be sure to click here to watch an official Paulie trailer on YouTube.
To view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.
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