Review
Matthew F. Tritico
Staff Writer
After Babe's Oscar nod for Best Picture a few years back, talking animal films will never be the same. Flawless computer animation makes the experience all the more believable.
Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks Pictures is responsible for Paulie, a film featuring an intelligent parrot, and it's seasoned to taste with special ingredients - salted and peppered with sentimentality in all the right places. You want to scoff at the film's kindergarten charm, but in the end you'll find yourself laughing at some of the bird-brained shenanigans.
Caged and isolated in a murky lab basement, Paulie has a lot more to say than "Polly want a cracker" to Misha, the curious janitor who accidentally stumbles upon the talking parrot. Paulie confides in his new friend, telling of how he was separated from his original owner, Marie, played by Hallie Kate Eisenberg.
Endeared by the bird's tale, Misha realizes his own shortcomings in life and decides to help Paulie find Marie.
You've seen this all before - the traditional, rudimentary plot and standard array of basic cutout characters, but it's good-natured fun that plays a sweet tune on your delicate heartstrings. Tony Shalhoub, who plays Misha, is amusing and Eisenberg is so adorable she could turn the toughest critics' hearts to mush.
The film contains familiar faces: Buddy Hackett, Gena Rowlands, Cheech Marin and Bruce Davison, but they don't particularly add much.
The target audience is obvious, and the plot paints by numbers, but it's no big deal. You get what you pay for. If you're an animal lover, easily amused or like to chuckle along with sitcom laugh tracks, shake your tail feather, spread your wings, and fly to the nearest theater.