Anaconda MPAA Rating: PG-13 Entertainment: +2 1/2 Content: -2

If you've seen Jaws, you have a good idea of this thriller's plot. Professor Kale (Eric Stoltz), an anthropologist, takes a film crew up the Amazon River to locate a legendary tribe of snake worshippers. The crew is directed by university graduate Terri (Jennifer Lopez), who is Kale's lover. Other members include cameraman Danny (Ice Cube) and narrator Westridge (Jonathan Hyde). While cruising the river, the group encounters Paul Serone (Jon Voight) on his stranded boat. A former Paraguayan priest, he's now a demented snake hunter. Eventually Serone takes control of the boat in his determined quest to capture a giant anaconda snake. Like the shark in Jaws, this anaconda is called a perfect killing machine. The snake, supposedly 40 feet long, slowly eliminates extraneous characters. The predictable plot makes some scenes unintentionally funny. But this movie also trudges through very familiar ground, making this a corny and mediocre copycat of more accomplished creature features.

Hollywood seems to like the idea of psychopathic former priests; they've almost become stock characters. The subtle implication is religious people are crazy. When a wasp gets in Kale's scuba mouthpiece, Serone pulls it out and does an emergency throat operation with a knife. A female crew member is murdered by strangulation. Once the snake appears, it's frequently shown coiling around and crushing victims, with sounds of breaking bones. A camera angle inside the snake shows it swallowing a man, and later the anaconda regurgitates this victim. Terri is often braless in thin T-shirts, and a sexual relationship is implied between Kale and Terri. Two film crew members kiss and begins to undress before they're interrupted. Westridge drinks frequently and marijuana use is implied. Objectionable language includes two f-word and 11 s-words, along with frequent crude words and regular profanity. With excessive violence, language and its crazed former priest, prudent viewers will want to avoid this snake story.

Preview Reviewer: Paul Bicking
Distributor: Columbia Pictures, 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232