Yippie, the return of Mr. Bean. I’m not a die-hard Mr. Bean fan, but I’m enough of a fan to own them all on DVD and enjoy Rowan Atkinson’s total goofball antics.

Writing: I liked the first feature film, but I thought they tried a bit too hard in rounding out a plot and character development to stretch the normally sketch length character to feature film length. They learned from their mistakes and tried a little less hard this time out. What’s the end result? A better movie. It’s a return to form for the Bean character, who’s as hapless as ever.

Production: All the location filming is a great aspect of the movie. Thanks to the simple and fun plot, involving Mr. Bean trying to get from point a to point b on a vacation he’s won in a raffle, we are treated to all manner of European locations along the way. We’re also treated to the very British character of Bean not just stumbling his way through every day life, but in a country he doesn’t understand dealing with a language he amusingly tries to half speak.

Cast: Rowan Atkinson has perfected this character after so many years of playing him. He slips back into the role with remarkable ease. Mr. Bean is a type of character that we rarely see in movies anymore. His Chaplainesque mannerisms and witless ignorance, often times bordering on the sociopathic, almost always result in hyjinx and hilarity. Surrounding him are an assortment of fun cast members. Emma de Caunes works well as the stereotypical enjenue. Max Baldry is fun as the boy Mr. Bean inadvertently gets stuck with. And Willem Dafoe gets to make fun of pretentious directors with his daffy role.

Music: Howard Goodall also returns to form with a brilliantly fun Bean score. It’s got his trademark BBC comedy flair and gets to have fun as often as it can. A wonderfully playful score.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 10th, 2007 at 2:05 am and is filed under Movie Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.