Waste of time

Very well executed

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

As a comic-book fan I'll take the time to review this mess, because there were some good intentions and thoughts on display here.First, the pros: The switch from comic strip to life action was a good idea, and the plot element of the creation trying to escape her creator's whims has enormous potential. Timothy Dalton is perfectly cast, here (as in Rocketeer) he's completely believable in a comic book way. Brooke Shields looks good in her various outfits. Many of the sets and support roles have that comic-book simplicity and cardboard character to match the strip style. And some of the gags do actually work.Now, the cons: Pretty as she is, Brooke Shields is missing that mischievous glint in her eyes the role would need - in most scenes, she more feels like another extra than the main part. Tony Peck as the artist is a complete non-entity. As a consequence, the promising idea of the creator trying to coax his creation back into service never catches fire and in fact completely collides with the incongruous 'plot', which in itself has no momentum and kind of meanders along to carry Brooke from one exotic location to the next. But the most annoying thing are the lame tries at physical comedy and slapstick - to pull that off, you need a well-rehearsed team and actors capable of such a kind of comedy and an editor with an eye for rhythm. Not a single requirement is met here so I ask myself, seriously, why they didn't go the other way and just show setup/result which would have played well on the comic strip theme, too (panel one: guy approaches banana peel - panel two: he's sitting on the floor). Instead, virtually every single instance of physical comedy in "Brenda Starr" is painful to watch.I can (and do) recommend this solely for comic book enthusiasts, and only for the good intentions they had, not the boring mess which ended up on screen.

Brenda StarrFemale journalists in the 1940s we only allowed to cover soft news, like, who designed J. Edgar Hoover's ball gown?Except for the spunky stringer in this action movie, that is.An artist inserts himself into his own comic strip when his ace reporter character Brenda Starr (Brooke Shields) threatens to leave the series.Through an avatar (Timothy Dalton) the artist is allowed to enter the Amazonian rainforest alongside the intrepid newshawk as she searches for a scientist with a secret formula being sought by an enemy spy (Jeffrey Tambor) and Brenda's long-time adversary Libby Lipscomb (Diana Scarwid).Despite being a forerunner of the early-1990s comic-strip movie craze, this 1989 adaptation of the long-running daily is often overlooked. But rest assured, it's as poorly acted, horribly scripted and as campy as all the others of the short-lived sub-genre.Unfortunately, nowadays, Brenda's jungle adventure would be reduced to a travel blog. Red Lightvidiotreviews.blogspot.ca

I can't say much more than what other reviewers have said here, so I'll try to be brief.Things I liked about this movie: Brooke Shields was a good choice for the lead role, mainly because she really looks like Brenda Starr as I remember her from the Sunday morning newspaper comics, especially in close-ups. I do remember Brenda Starr being a bit more edgy, but Brooke was OK. Timothy Dalton was a good choice for her mysterious lover Basil St. John. The musical score is great. The fashions are gorgeous, the settings beautiful. Some of the humor works, but...Things I didn't like about this movie: It totally misses the "spirit" of the comic strip. Some people like tongue-in-cheek "camp", but I hate it because to me it makes fun of the story rather than just being humorous. If they had given the movie a serious plot but added in lots of humor, that would have been OK; but no, they have to make the story an unbelievable joke. Also, to have the cartoonist popping in and out of the strip as a rival to Basil St. John was just pathetic.As another reviewer said, the first part of the movie is the best. By the time it gets to the second half, it seems like they lost all direction and just decided to have some Marx-brothers style lunacy. It's fun, but when I couldn't believe in the story anymore it got boring real fast. Also, I don't recommend this movie for kids (if you see it, you'll know why).My comments reflect my taste, of course, and you may see things differently. As for myself, I'm going to explore some of the other versions of Brenda Starr that are out there to see if they have a story I can believe in.

Brooke apparently put on 20 pounds to more "realistically" play Brenda Starr (after Robert Dinero put on weight to play Jake LaMotta, this was for a while the "in" thing to do--I am not sure she just did not pig out). I am not a big fan of the Comic Strip, but I do not remember Brenda Starr being particularly plump. Well Brook never really got the weight off her thighs (although the face is still gorgeous, but puffy) and this movie is where I lost the Brooke I used to adore, now I just love a hell of a lot.For fans of Brooke that want to know "What the hell happened to her after 'Blue Lagoon', this is her watershed (fat gain) public moment.Brooke, this movie was not worth sacrificing your figure for!