Production Year: 1994 - Comedy - Director: Jon Turteltaub - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring: John Candy, Doug E. Doug, Leon, Rawle D. Lewis, Malik Yoba more
Inspired by the true story of the first Jamaican Olympic Bobsled Team. The always appealing Candy is the ex-champion who takes on the four islanders who know nothing about the... more
Cool Runnings [DVD] [1994]
Based on an improbable but true story,Cool Runningsconcerns the Jamaican bobsled team that ... more
competed in the 1988 Winter Olympics. Director Jon Turteltaub (Phenomenon) does a fine job with both the absurdity of the situation (the athletes had never even ...
Cool Runnings [DVD] [1994]
Based on an improbable but true story,Cool Runningsconcerns the Jamaican bobsled team that ... more
competed in the 1988 Winter Olympics. Director Jon Turteltaub (Phenomenon) does a fine job with both the absurdity of the situation (the athletes had never even ...
Cool Runnings
You'll love COOL RUNNINGS - the outrageously funny hit inspired by the true story of ... more
Jamaica's first Olympic bobsled team. They were four unlikely athletes with one impossible dream. Now, with the help of ex-champion as their coach (John Candy - Uncle Buck), four Jamaicans leave their sunny island home and enter the chilly winter Olympics to compete for the gold in a sport they know nothing about - bobsled racing! Finding the courage in each other to give it their all, they meet the challenge, and soon become heroes - taking the whole world along for the ride. You'll be cheering long and loud for this unlikely team in this feel-good comedy hit.
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A review by GR-Design on Cool Runnings (DVD) September 23rd, 2002
Author's product rating:
Did you enjoy it?
Indifferent to it
Story
Good
Characters / Performances
Good
Special Effects
Standard
How does it compare to similar films?
Good
Advantages:
funny, good acting and of course, John Candy
Disadvantages:
I felt as if more could have been done
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
Having not watched Cool Runnings until recently I thought I was missing out on something, ‘it’s a cool movie’ said my friend when we saw it in the bargain bin, so I thought, hmmm, I’m gonna have to watch this. I can remember it coming out, but I couldn’t remember what it was about until I saw the cover again, oh, it’s a Walt Disney movie, this ones got to be good then, not excellent though, a Walt Disney film has never been excellent for me.
I also realised then that John Candy was in it, who for me was a good actor. Sadly he died in 1994, just one year after making Cool Runnings. He’s a missed actor who only lived to the age of 44 due to a heart attack. Ok, he was hugely overweight, but from the films I’ve seen with him in, he always was. That’s why this op is dedicated to the talented actor.
Before I say anything else about this film, I must go on to tell you that it’s not that good, it’s not that it’s bad though, it’s just a mediocre movie that could have been more. It was a good concept for a movie, I just don’t think it was used all that well.
Cool Runnings was directed by Job Turteltaub (excuse me!?) who is responsible for such films as ‘3 Ninjas’ oooo, blockbuster there me thinks and ‘While you were sleeping’. He hasn’t got a great track record, but is still making movies so it seems, his latest creation being ‘The Kid’, another Disney movie. I can’t tell you the budget, but I can tell you that it did very well indeed in both the US and UK box office, taking $68.8m in the US and £9.2m in the UK, following up with $29.9m in movie rentals in the US. So yer, I should think this movie made it’s money back and a lot more on top, considering it was made in 1994.
The movie revolves around the Jamaicans and their obsession with the Olympics. Well, the obsession of a few individuals anyway. We are introduced to Derice (Leon(I)), a runner who is getting ready to run his way into a place in the Olympics, unfortunately for him, he and two other runners get tripped over and never make it to the finish line, Derice has to watch his dreams go down the drain for another 4 years, but he’s not going to stand for that. He goe’s to see the president of the Jamaican Olympics teams (I think he’s the president anyway) and asks for a re-run, but doesn’t get it. His dad however had won gold medals in the Olympics, and it just so happens that Derice finds out that his dad was once approached to be in a Bob-Slay team.
Earlier in the film we were introduced to the funny man Sanka (Doug E Doug), the champion box car driver (little go karts which they race down a hill!). Now, if you think of his box car skills and then put them up against bob-slaying you’ll see that the two are not to far apart! Sanka is Derice’s friend, put two and two together and you’ll have 2 guys wanting to create the first ever Jamaican Bob-Slaying team. All they need is a coach and 2 other team mates. The 2 blokes who also tripped in the run turn up, as does John Candy as the coach.
Now, this might seem a tad silly, but that’s what this film is supposed to be, funny and entertaining to watch. That it is in places, but that’s after the first half hour. During the first half hour you begin to wonder what you have let yourself in for, and are probably thinking off turning it off and watching something else. You’ve got to stop yourself though, it all picks up later in the film! This film needs an introduction. The Jamaicans, who have never Bob-Sled in their lives now have to turn all that around and become professional Bob-Sledders. You see, it’s the winter Olympics soon and these guys are desperate to get their names and themselves into the Olympics, they will do anything, train hard, work hard, play hard, anything it takes and they do their coach proud, but with no money and no real practice in a real bob slaying team, will they do their country proud and end up with a medal? They have to go through all the snide jokes and the ridicule of having a tin can as a bob-slay, but they stick with it….will they do it though, that’s the question…all is not as it seems when you come to the end of the movie, so don’t give up hope yet thinking that I have given away the ending, I simply haven’t!
The acting is good in the movie, this surprised me, with the Jamaican lad’s not being all that well known, some have gone onto other things, like ‘Eight Legged Freaks’, others seem to have gone a bit the other way and starred as extras in films. Others have gone into TV. It’s a shame, there was talent there. There is of course the extra funny bloke, and Doug E Doug plays his part extremely well, if only he was in other movies. Would you dress yourself up to the hilt and then take water bottles in your jacket in a bob-slay with you? Points been made, this bloke does it all in his stride and really does act like a dumb arse, unless of course he is in real life! There are also those classic one liners that you will hear throughout the film, so much so that you will know when a line is going to be said, but it makes you chuckle to yourself each time it is said!
One thing that will stand out, especially if you have a good audio system with your DVD player is the music. This is quite a big part of the movie, and it’s a good part too, I enjoyed the scenes with the music a lot more than I did the other scenes. The music is of course Jamaican, a lot of drums and a lot of bass, just what this film needed to give it that boost.
Cool Runnings is a good movie, I’ve already said that, it could have been more, I have already said that too, it is definitely worth a watch, it’s just that for me, I needed something more. It’s suitable for the whole family, with a ‘PG’ rating slapped on the front of it, the only reference you may want to be covering your kiddies ears with is the words ‘bad ass mother’, but nothing really any more risqué than that. It’s a film that the family can enjoy, but a film that, for me, was only worthy of 3 stars.
** I have been told that this film is based on a true story, about the Jamaicans in 1988 in Calgary **
More Reviews
Be Cool! Review ofCool Runnings (DVD)by
Soho_Black
Advantages: It's a lot of fun Disadvantages: Predictable Disney fare
I've never really been a fan of Winter sports, so the entry of a Jamaican bobsleigh team into the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary pretty much passed me by. What I am a fan of, however, is a decent comedy film, so the release of "Cool Runnings", supposedly based on the story of the Jamaican Bobsleigh team, was unlikely to do the same.
Sanka Coffie is the best pushcart driver on Jamaica, just about to win his 7th pushcart derby in a row. His best ... ...place in Jamaica's 1988 Olympic team to compete in the 100 metres and follow in the footsteps of his father, who had won a gold medal in the 200 metres some years before. Unfortunately, the trials don't turn out quite the way he'd expected.
In a desperate effort to represent Jamaica, Derice turns to Irv Blitzer, a former Olympic bobsleigh champion. Blitzer had tried to persuade Derice's father to switch sports, without success, but subsequent events ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
...worth watching many times.
Cool Runnings is based on a true story and tells of Jamaica's first bobsled team. It all starts when some talented sprinters literally crash out of the olympic trials for the 100 metres due to a nasty fall. One of them, Derice Bannock, plyed by Leon Robinson is so upset by what has happened that he visits the Mr Coolidge, the man in charge of the Olympic selections, and begs for the race to be re-run. He is refused but ... ...own father (a very successful athlete himself) with another man who turns out to be Irvine Blitzer (John Candy), an american living on the island, who years ago had the crazy idea of forming a Jamaican bobsled team made up of the most successful sprinters.
Derice tracks Blitzer down and eventually persuades him to help form and coach a team. He finds team mates Sanka Coffie (Doug E Doug), Yul Brenner (Malik Yoba) and rich boy Junior Bevil (Rawle ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: True story, one of John Candys last films:( Disadvantages: One of John Cnady's last films:(
I was about the age of 9 when this film came out in the cinema. I asked one of my friends to come with me to see it and she said yes, and I'm glad she did! If she hadn't have gone with me on that particular night I may never have seen this fantastic movie! John Candy, who is possibly one of the funniest men to act around this period in movie making, stars in this movie alongside Leon, Doug E. Doug, Rawle D. Lewis and Malik Yoba. Derice is played ... ...is one of the fastest sprinters in Jamaica and is just about posative he will win the sprint and qualify for the Olympics. He has been training for months and is sure he has it in the bag until a problem arises, Junior! Junior is played by Rawle D. Lewis and is the little "rich boy" of the team, he has never wanted for anything in his life but feels the need to prove to his father that he can do something on his own, namely getting into the olympics. ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Very comical! Disadvantages: Annoying that their sled breaks!
Loosely based on the true story about Jamaica's first bobsled team this comedy is one to be treasured. It's about a dream put into action and the triamph of showing everyone that against the odds they can still succeed. It begins with the Jamaican trials where they are running the men's 100m! Brenner and Derese are tripped by Junior who falls in front of them. All three had great potential to make it to the olympics, but they believed this was their ... ...one of them, Derese, the son of a former olympian decides he will get to the olympics no matter what it takes.
Derese is a young, hopeful athlete and after missing his chance with the track trials he tries to put together a Jamaican bobsled team. Amazingly he is not disheartened by the people that laugh in his face. He wants John Candy to train his team, but at first he is not interested. They finally get a team of four together including himself, ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: It's for the whole family, a true story and very funny. Disadvantages: Not all parts of the film are factual but if you visit the website you are given the true story.
Cool Runnings is one of the Disney films I can watch over and over again. It has earned it’s place on the video shelf and will have it’s place on the DVD rack as soon as I come across it. I live in a City and it took it’s time to get it’s play here so I had to go to a nearby town to watch it. And it was worth it. I wouldn’t say I was an avid winter sports fan but the previews for the film on TV made it one not to miss. ... ...the Jamaicans first entered the winter Olympics in 1988 in Calgary, Canada. An ex American Bob Sledder, Irv Blitzer, played by John Candy, is convinced that fast runners would make excellent bob sledders but his theory falls on deaf ears. We then see how 3 Jamaican sprint hopefuls fall in an Olympic qualifying heat and loose their place in the team, but one, Derise Banner, wants off the Island and hears of Irv Blitzer’s theory so tries to persuade ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: very funny, but only once Disadvantages: the feature presentation is short
...is the Jar Jar Binks and Darth Vader scene on the Death star.
The DVD has some good extras on it, which takes the DVDrun time to 195 minutes. For example, you get 3 bonus Adultswim full bonus episodes which is pretty cool, as well as the usual behind - the - scenes, commentaries and trailers....
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: Good cool down routine Disadvantages: Main workout, unenthusiastic hosts, no real toning excercises..............
...which move went where, I've some previous dance experience but even I found getting my arms to move in the right directions while my legs did what they were meant to do, a bit tricky. Still even after persevering and getting the routine correct I didn't feel like it was a proper workout, I understand that it is dance based but none of the moves really felt like they were exercising my muscles. It felt more like a memory and co-ordination challenge, which while quite funny wasn't what I was looking for in the DVD. There is no real ab workout, nothing to tone or strengthen the arms, the legs get a bit of a work out but more from the basic side step routine which runs throughout.
The cool down was probably the best bit about the DVD, the stretches actually made my muscles work and they were balanced by a more relaxing side step routine which...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: Bruce Willis Disadvantages: Weak dialogue
...felt even with such a fantastical main plot, that some scenes in the story bore no relation to anything real or normal. The time travel bit is never really explained either, and I'm no sci-fi nerd but surely it would cause major problems if you met yourself and looked at yourself as a child? I've seen other films and shows where this was seen as something to avoid or maybe I take these sci-fi rules too seriously...
Overall, this is a very average film. There are no big laughs. It feels like it could be some 1970s movie starring Chevy Chase; that's the sort of vein it's in. As for the music, it's too often and it's too loud.
I have no idea how much this video or DVD costs, but I'm guessing it's bargain basement stuff. From the director of "CoolRunnings", this was a disappointment....
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Inspired by the true story of the first Jamaican Olympic Bobsled Team. The always appealing Candy is the ex-champion who takes on the four islanders who know nothing about the sport and whips them into champions.
Languages
Main Language: English
Technical information
Special Features: Interactive Menus, Scene Access
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Dubbing Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Professional reviews
Review: "...A cute, buoyant sports fantasy, jolted along by a reggae soundtrack and playfully acted by an appealing cast..." (New York Times, p.C8, 01/10/1993)
"...Heartwarming..." (Sight and Sound, p.39-40, 01/04/1994)
"...Highly entertaining....The offbeat, fact-based saga is enlivened by the perfect balance of humor, emotion and insight..." (Variety, 20/09/1993)
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19.02.2009
