Unless any of you happened the catch the post I did about the trailer for this one back in December, you probably had no idea what to expect when you saw the title "The Beaver". If you were like me you were thinking that it was yet another attempt to bring an oldies television show to the big screen. I think that trend has fortunately passed for the moment. I don't know of anyone who is geeked about seeing a "Leave It to Beaver" film come to fruition.
Instead, "The Beaver" is the latest directoral feature by Jodie Foster featuring Mel Gibson in the starring role. Before you get hung up on the latter part (which I will address in a moment) let me school you on the plot. Walter Black (Gibson) is a man plagued by demons who desperately needs to re-discover himself to reconnect with his family. The one way he finds that possible to do is by communicated through a puppet simply called The Beaver. Oddly enough it is just the trick that he needs to get him back on track. However, it creates a new problem as he is now only able to function when the puppet is with him speaking for him.
Now having heard that, doesn't it sound like it would be the perfect fit for Gibson? Let's face it, dude had been going off the deep end in recent years. The strange thing is it started happening shortly after the release of probably one of the best religious movies ever made which was his "The Passion of the Christ". Maybe making something so passionately Biblical based took a weird toll on him to push him to this point? I have no idea but it was obvious he needed to do something to try to get better focused.
So my thought is that both Foster and Gibson saw a little bit of Mel in that Walter character. A role of this nature could have been almost therapeutic for him. He could see how a person could get to the point where they are reaching for any reasonable suggestion possible to stop their life from reeling out of control. If a person had already went the mind-altering substance abuse route, then why not go for something like creating an alternate personality through a puppet?
When you think about it, it wouldn't even have to be a situation where one's life is out of control. Who out there hasn't wanted to create an alter-ego to deal with some of the stresses of everyday life? Don't front. You know it's crossed your mind. I know for a fact that there are folks that do it. They'll even have names for that alterego. Most of the time, that other personality is the one that will say and do things that the regular person wouldn't do. It's a coping mechanism of sorts that I'm sure most of us have done at some point in our life. Bearing that in mind, it's obvious why this movie should have a mass appeal.
Having said that, there are some instances in "The Beaver" that are a bit far-fetched regarding his puppet personality. He goes as far as to making sure the people at his company, where he is the CEO, know that he can only communicate thru the puppet. What company would tolerate that? Even if he was the CEO I'm sure there would be some type of Board of Trustees or shareholder uprising or employee revolt or something that would realize someone of that nature is not sane enough to run a large corporation. They try to rationalize it by having the situation lead to a revolutionary idea that reaps the company huge profits. Even with that it still didn't seem plausible to me.
It's obvious why this one didn't have a huge marketing push behind it and/or stay in theaters long if it even made it there at all. Mel definitely isn't the same box office juggernaut he used to be. His name won't draw the same type of response it once did and he's got nobody to blame but himself. However, a movie like "The Beaver" could be just what he needed to aid in rehabbing his image. It's just too bad for him that few people are even aware of its existence.
My rating: C +
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