Welcome to Marymooseport (there's a Maryport, and now a Mooseport, so I think there should be a Marymooseport)!

An introduction

For those of you who don't have the pleasure of knowing me, my name is not marymoose because I look like a moose (although if indeed you think that I look like a moose I will take that as a compliment), it is because I am obsessed with moose (and before you ask, the plural of moose is moose) and all things moose-related.

Back when I worked at the Church of England imagine my excitement when I was surfing the net one day (searching for moose I would imagine) and came across a new film that was being made called "Welcome to Mooseport". It was like all my Christmoose's and Moosedays had come at once!

It wasn't until a year later that I finally managed to get my hands on the DVD. The film was a box office flop in the US, and as far as I'm aware did not even make it onto the big screen over in the UK.

For the purposes of this review I will now go and consult my Amazon history to see how much I paid for it. It would appear that I bought this DVD on 16th December 2004 and paid £5 plus p&p on Amazon Marketplace. It is currently available on Amazon for £3.97, and I saw it in Woolworths today for £3 - a bargain if you ask me!

"Welcome to Mooseport" was first released in the US at the cinema on February 20th 2004, and was released on DVD in the UK on 6 Sep 2004, so I'm not really sure why it took me 3 months to get it, but there we go. It's actually quite worrying looking back on my Amazon account and seeing just how much I have bought from there over the past 8 years, and just how much of that is moose-related, but that's another story for another review!

The DVD

The Menu screen is quirky and includes a moose 'eating' the menu. The options (aside from playing the film) are as follows:

• Language selection - subtitles - there is meant to be an audio commentary but I can't seem to get it to work.
• Scene selection
• Special features:
  * Deleted scenes - 6 deleted scenes, and as usual it's not much of a surprise why they were deleted!
  * Outtake real - various clips where the actors got it wrong.
  * 2 commercials for Soova (Skoda) - in English and Norwegian - this relates to part of the film where the president is asked to appear in an advert for Skoda.
  * Inside look - trailers for various films including Garfield.

Main Characters/Cast

Gene Hackman (er, too many films to name!) - Monroe "Eagle" Cole
Ray Romano (Everybody Loves Raymond) - Handy Harrison
Maura Tierney (Abby in ER) - Sally Mannis
Christine Baranski - Charlotte Cole
Marcia Gay Harden - Grace Sutherland
Fred Savage - Will Bullard
Rip Torn - Bert Langdon

So, all in all not a bad cast!

The Story

The film begins with a naked old man jogging through Mooseport (a bit random!). The town is getting ready for the arrival of the former president of the United States. Monroe "Eagle" Cole has recently retired after two terms of office, and divorced from his wife. He has decided to move to the quiet town of Mooseport to write his memoirs and play golf (badly) - I say 'decided', but it's mainly due to the fact that his ex-wife got the house.

It turns out that Mooseport is looking for a new mayor, and Monroe is asked to stand for election. The simple but honest local hardware store owner and plumber Handy Harrison is also standing for mayor - Handy had only put his name down as no-one else wanted to do it, and initially wants to pull out when he finds out who he is up against.

Handy has been with local vet Sally for the past 7 years, and quite frankly she is getting sick of waiting for him to propose to her. Meanwhile Monroe takes a shine to Sally and asks her out for dinner - to Handy's shock she accepts. While Handy was going to step down in the running for mayor, this new development puts a stop to that, and the battle for mayor becomes fierce (in a comic sense)! The town of Mooseport is well and truly put on the map as Monroe is determined to beat Handy - after all he was one of the most loved presidents ever, and he hasn't lost an election before! But, who will win?!!

The highlight of the film for me is at the start of the film where we briefly meet Bruce the moose:

Handy: You know what I like about Bruce. When he's here my nose looks normal.
Bob: Yeah, but his nose fits his face boss.
Handy: You're not funny Bob.

My verdict

This is a typical cheesy comedy, and there are a few laughs along the way. It's not the sort of film I want to watch over and over again, but every once in a while it's a nice film to see.

I really like this film, and was pleased to find that hubby enjoys it too. Yes, it is cheesy, but I really think that the negative press surrounding the film is a bit unfair, and in my opinion it is well worth a watch.

My main problem is that Bruce the moose only has a cameo role. I really feel that there should be more of the moose in the film. In this sense I found the film a bit disappointing.

And the rest...

"Welcome to Mooseport" is rated PG, and as a PG-13 in the US for some brief sexual comments and nudity. My personal view is that this is very much a family film.

The film lasts 110 minutes.

If you so desire you can view a trailer here - www.apple.com/trailers/fox/welcome_to_mooseport (you can see the moose in the trailer!)

If my review hasn't said enough, and you want to know more about the film you can visit the following sites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welcome_to_Mooseport

http://www.i mdb.com/title/tt0361925/