Review: 'G. I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra' is silly homage to cartoon but has the right vibe

G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra   PG 13        

            The director of 'The Mummy' and 'Van Helsing' two hit or miss flicks, returns to comic book hero basics with the army Ken dolls of GI Joe based on the 1980s present cartoon series. Like younger sibling, Transformers, (also a franchise of toys and with a lackluster movie sequel), GI Joe still holds onto fame among a generation and their children and assorted relatives. Having just watched again the 1984 original of the series, it was decidedly cheesy and nobody ever got a scuff with lasers and bombs burst in air around them, but it was fun, and the names were unintentionally funny because some of them resembled rejects from The Village People crossed with a Las Vegas cabaret show. (The 1987 cartoon film is still my favorite GI Joe adventure). As for the film, Sommers did his homework too, and he watched enough episodes to learn all about each character (something Michael Bay's team didn't do in either Transformers film, and thus alienated many generation 1 fans who wanted more robot personalities instead of robot acting). GI Joe doesn't try to be anything more than a live action cartoon, but it does this spot on. Tatum is hilarious as Duke just by his expressions and Quaid, Pryce, Waynes and the rest are living their roles, even keeping to the whole gung ho military hero bit, along with a little wink to the obvious glaring costumes from the original. (But Some characters are wrong. For instance, the Baroness is not right though. Sigh. She should be from the Chzek republic, not married into being a baroness, and some of them have switched nationality and race, which is okay, but Snake Eyes has lips! What?), Evil weapons leader McCullum and his insane cyborg doctor friend have double crossed the world in the not too far off future, but a top secret special forces team called GI Joe stands in their way. It's like a glorious multimillion dollar fan film. It's silly but never so full of itself as to be overblown. A fun ride from beginning to end and especially clever reboot for the material. Let this guy reboot Transformers and do both sides right. At least there aren't any really dumb jokes in it. The script is smart enough to exclude unnecessary one liners and the cast are good actors who seem to be enjoying themselves tremendously. Like when Waynes drives the Shark sub toward the evil hideout under the sea and shouts 'Yo Joe!' with gleeful abandon and a chuckle. 
Review by Adam Browne