In the 1970s, a television series called “Charlie’s Angels” aired on ABC. The Premise is about three female undercover detectives/spies working for their boss Charlie (whose face is never seen throughout the show, similar to Ms. Bellum’s face from The Powerpuff Girls) to go on a specific mission to solve a crime. The series gained reputation for its leading ladies, especially Farrah Fawcett, sexiness and goofiness.
Three Decades Later, after the success of the film adaptation of “Mission Impossible,” Sony Pictures decided to produce a film adaptation of Charlie’s Angels in an attempt to follow the critical and commercial success of Mission Impossible. This time Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, & Lucy Liu were recruited to take over as The Main Trio.
Charlie’s Angels was released in 2000. (same year The Emperor’s New Groove came out) It became a box office success, and also received mixed to positive reviews from old school fans of the television series and critics alike. A sequel called “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, was released theee years later, unfortunately, it didn’t due pretty well.
A reboot of the series is slated to be out in 2019 with Elizabeth Banks in the director’s chair. Before the upcoming reboot comes out, I wanna share my thoughts if the 2000 version holds up.
This article doesn’t contain potential SPOILERS. You’re ok to read it.
Positive & Negative Aspects
Positive: Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, & Lucy Liu, all did a good job on their performances as The Main Trio.
Other Cast Members including Bill Murray, Tim Curry, Crispin Glover, John Forsythe (also played Charlie in the original TV series) also did a good job on their performances.
Opening Scene is similar to “Mission Impossible II.” Both films were TV shows from the 70s.
Fun Fact: Cameron Diaz went on to work with Tom Cruise in “Vanilla Sky” and “Knight And Day.” Ironically both Cameron & Tom played spies in separate films based on 70’s TV shows.
Action Sequences were stunning. I gotta love The Trio using creative combos together that resemble a beat em up video game. Slow Motion was also effectively used as the technique is based on The “Bullet Time” Sequence from The Matrix.
Before “Guardians Of The Galaxy” and “Suicide Squad,” a bunch of songs are featured in the film as an Awesome Mix. I guess James Gunn & David Ayer were inspired by the film’s use of songs in the movie.
Two Songs called “Brandy You’re A Fine Girl,” and “Angel In The Morning,” went on to become included for Marvel films like Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 and Deadpool.
A Pause Worthy Moment with one of the girls is shown wearing “Spider-Man” undies. Sony who distributed Charlie’s Angels, went on to distribute the Spider-Man films.
When Drew’s character Dylan, seeks shelter, Two Easter Eggs featuring “Final Fantasy” on the original PlayStation located at the same house from “E.T.” This ain’t a joke fellas. Even a bowl of Reece’s Pieces included. Drew starred in E.T. when she was a little girl. I called this a Triple Easter Egg in one scene. Sony & Square Enix later made a computer animated movie titled, “Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.”
If you’re a guy, be prepared, the girls use their feminine charms as one of their “primary weapons.” If the 2019 reboot casts Scarlett Johansson, Kat Dennings & Natalie Portman going in the R-rated route, I’ll suffer a gigantic heart attack like Dick Cheney. The aforementioned three are my celeb crushes.
Outtakes are shown during The End Credits. The Cast were having a good time filming.
Melissa McCarthy has a small role. This is before “Bridesmaids” got her as an A-List star.
I’ll have to give this movie an extra point for inspiring “Totally Spies.” One of my favorite cartoons growing up. Alex is named after Lucy Liu’s character. Clover from Totally Spies was one of my childhood crushes besides Raven from the original “Teen Titans” cartoon & Aelita from “Code Lyoko.”
Negative: Product Placement featuring the following brands such as Sony, Coca-Cola & UPS. I will give this con a pass because I couldn’t find a lot to track down.
I know Drew can’t help she has a lisp yet talks funny, but I can’t stand her trademark voice.
Male Characters constantly get distracted by The Trio. The joke get old as it keep going and going like a merry go round refusing to stop. As most males turns into Yakko & Wakko from “Animaniacs” minus the over the top craziness.
Each lady’s romance with each man, made me felt distracted. Did the movie get bored all of a sudden? I’m not against love, In “Casino Royale,” the chemistry between James Bond & Vesper Lynd felt normal without shoving boredom my face, because unlike most the original Bond films from 1962-2002, this felt unique for Bond to develop a romance naturally. As for Charlie’s Angels I didn’t care about the romantic scenes. Three girls and three boys felt like I was looking at a pinball machine.
There is some fake looking C.G.I. Come on guys and gals this was back when C.G.I. was developing like an unborn baby.
The Final Verdict: B-
I’m gonna be honest, I’ve never watched the television series, first time I heard of Charlie’s Angels, it was the film. So of the positive stuff still holds up. I thought it was alright, could’ve been better without the romantic sub plots or rapid use of males smitten on the ladies. I have to admit, if it wasn’t for the movie, Totally Spies would’ve never existed in the first place. So far I have no clue who’s gonna take over each woman’s role in the upcoming reboot.
Nickthemoviecritic.com 