Anaconda (2025) Review!!

Synopsis – A group of friends are going through a mid-life crisis. They decide to remake a favorite movie from their youth but encounter unexpected events when they enter the jungle.

My Take – Released in 1997 with Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Owen Wilson and a memorable Jon Voight in the lead roles, ‘Anaconda‘ is still fondly remembered for its B-movie antics, practical reptilian effects, and its menacing lean into creature-feature violence. Such was its schlocky charm that it went on to spawn a surprisingly durable (mostly direct-to-video) franchise throughout the 2000s, including a crossover in the form of Lake Placid vs. Anaconda (2015).

And since we are currently fully immersed in the nostalgia bait era, unsurprisingly the oversized snake has slithered its way back to the big screen, but with a twist. As the reboot, in the hands of writer-director Tom Gormican and co-writer Kevin Etten, the team behind the Nicolas Cage starrer The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022), takes a markedly different approach by leaning fully into meta-humor by sending a group of amateur filmmakers into the Amazon Rainforest to film an indie sequel to the 1997 film.

But while the ‘Tropic Thunder‘-style premise is both appealing and deliciously silly in theory, unfortunately, the execution is somewhat inconsistent and frequently more miss than hit.

Yes, there are brief bursts of creature-feature excitement and expected laughs, but the film mostly struggles to keep up with its ambition about being a film within a film. Though it starts off with confidence and a unique personality, the narrative then gradually loses its way as it tries to be too many things at once. Becoming both messy and uneven while staying warm and self-aware. Like the characters at its center, it reaches for something meaningful, even if it doesn’t fully get there.

While, the presence of Paul Rudd and Jack Black ensures that the new film is easy enough to work as a satisfactory comedy with a dash of creature action, yet, I would argue that the Luis Llosa directed original is comparatively the better film, mainly because it never tries to be. Nevertheless, director Gormican deserves some credit for smuggling a mid-2000s-style studio comedy back into theaters under the guise of IP and for thrusting the idea to revisit lesser-loved features and giving them a fresh creative swing.

The story follows two childhood best friends, Doug McCallister (Jack Black) and Ronald “Griff” Griffen Jr. (Paul Rudd), who had always dreamed of making it big in Hollywood. But, their careers didn’t pan out the way they thought they would. Doug, held back by fear of taking risks, now directs wedding videos in Buffalo, and Griff is a bit-part actor in TV shows and commercials, with his biggest credit being a minor recurring role on S.W.A.T.

So when the pair reunite at Doug’s birthday party, Griff presents an unusual proposition. He claims to have purchased the rights to one of their favorite films, Anaconda, and suggests reuniting their old crew to travel to the Amazon and make a low-budget indie version of the film.

Joined by their dim-witted but enthusiastic buddy Kenny (Steve Zahn), who could use a distraction to help stay sober, and Griff’s hometown fling, Claire (Thandiwe Newton), who’s newly divorced and ready for a shakeup, the four embark on the mid-life-crisis of a lifetime to Brazil’s Amazonian jungle for a three-week shoot.

However, their production quickly unravels when the trained snake intended for filming is lost. And as the group, along with snake handler Carlos Santiago Braga (Selton Mello), ventures deeper into the jungle in search of a replacement, their shoot turns into a fight for survival when they end up encountering a genuine, man-eating giant anaconda.

For its first act, the film feels sharp and heartfelt. It understands why nostalgia is comforting, why it’s dangerous, and why we keep circling back to the things we loved when we were younger. But once the story pivots toward survival against the giant killer snake, it becomes far less consistent. While the cast brings the laughs, the screenplay around them blows opportunities left and right, especially when attempting to figure out how to push the crew into greater danger as they encounter a bigger, scarier snake than the one they’re using for their film.

The script wants to operate as both a loving parody of the 1997 film and a commentary on Hollywood’s remake obsession, while also delivering real action and creature-feature thrills, but it never quite commits to any one lane. Hence, when the real anaconda emerges and the stakes turn physical, the comedy keeps undercutting the danger as a result the tension never fully takes hold.

The action scenes are competently staged, but they lack bite. You never really believe these characters are in serious peril, partly because the tone doesn’t allow it. Where the film stumbles most noticeably is in the moments when it attempts to take itself seriously. A poorly integrated subplot involving Ana (Daniela Melchior) as the crew’s boat captain, who is secretly fleeing criminals searching for hidden gold, feels shoehorned into the narrative. The story-line exists largely to increase the snake’s body count and does little else.

The best moments come when the film focuses on a group of well-meaning misfits who fully believe in the film they are making, despite being wildly out of their depth and despite the reality that few people genuinely care about the Anaconda franchise. Doug’s frustration with the life he settled into, Griff’s refusal to accept his own limitations, Kenny’s need to feel useful again or stay sober, these ideas are clearly defined and consistently reinforced.

Frankly, there’s something admirable about the film, even in its missteps. It’s clearly made by people who love films, who understand the pull of nostalgia, and who recognize the danger of letting it define you. When it’s funny, it’s genuinely funny. When it’s honest, it hits closer to home than expected. It just never quite reconciles its competing impulses.

Performance wise, Jack Black, Paul Rudd, and Steve Zahn are all in terrific form. Zahn, in particular, gets some of the film’s biggest laughs as Kenny, whose enthusiasm consistently outpaces his good sense. There’s an easy chemistry between the three that carries the film through its early stretches.

Thandiwe Newton too does what she can with the material, though it significantly underuses Daniela Melchior’s abilities. The film’s true scene-stealer, however, is Brazilian actor Selton Mello, who brings memorable eccentricity to the role of the group’s snake handler. On the whole, ‘Anaconda‘ is a wildly silly and unusual meta-comedy remake that struggles to deliver on its full potential.