The new horror-comedy movie “Anaconda” slithered into theaters on Dec. 25, receiving mixed reviews from audience members. I shared their divided reactions – the pacing was rushed and the plot hollow, but Jack Black and Paul Rudd’s characters’ hilarious banter tickled me. Despite its issues, “Anaconda” achieved my basic standard for what makes a half-decent comedy movie: memorability.
“Anaconda” shows how Doug, Griff, Kenny and Claire’s characters attempt to reboot the 1997 cult classic “Anaconda,” only for their indie production to be derailed when a real, deadly snake begins to hunt the filmmakers. The reboot-within-a-reboot premise attracted audiences, including Nevaeh Vargas, a fourth-year criminal justice major at Point Loma Nazarene University.
“I grew up watching the original ‘Anaconda’ with my siblings, so I was really excited to see that it was being remade,” Vargas said. “Overall, I would say that it did deliver.”
Jennifer Lopez and Ice Cube from the 1997 movie appeared in the 2025 film as cameos, which I think revealed the director Tom Gormican’s appreciation for the original “Anaconda” through the screen. When a director values the talents who came before themself, I find myself appreciating their film more. “Anaconda’s” embrace of the action-packed pacing, big-name actors and plot clichés as classic Hollywood blockbuster style choices made the film more fun. After all, everyone loves a climax where the hero walks toward the camera with an exploding building behind them (or in this case, an exploding anaconda).
American popular culture icons weren’t the only stars; “Anaconda” included Latin American representation. Brazilian star Selton Mello played a significant role as Santiago, the nutty snake handler. I was happy to see the highly acclaimed actor getting screen time in a Hollywood movie, and I hope this is a trend that will continue to spread throughout the industry.
The stellar main cast elevated the movie — Black and Rudd’s energetic and quirky comedy styles stirred a unique on-screen dynamic somewhere between Tim Robinson’s absurdity and Nate Bargatze’s seriousness with Black’s classic physicality. The duo’s intensity over silly matters added a lighthearted level of self-awareness and meta-humor to the film that left a good taste in my mouth. It was almost as if I could foresee the tension break after the cameras cut, and all the actors burst into laughter. The cast had good energy, and the movie didn’t take itself too seriously.
I also loved Steve Zahn’s character, Kenny, for his adorable helplessness as a fun-loving alcoholic — his tripped-out monologue on how chairs hold us like our parents made me laugh in an “Oh, Kenny” kind of way.
Josiah Jolley, a recent graduate from the University of California, San Diego, agreed that Kenny was the most entertaining character.
“Most of the scenes I had the strongest reactions and laughs towards were those involving Steve Zahn,” Jolley said. “His line delivery was very funny, and his comedic timing was great. All the scenes about him being ‘Kenny Sober’ were funny.”
Mixed in with Black, Rudd and Zahn’s comedy were suspenseful, violent scenes of the deadly anaconda swallowing its victims. I enjoyed the horror element as a contrast to the comedy; some of the moments when I laughed the hardest were those when the snake arrived at a comedic time, like in the middle of Doug’s sincere apology to Griff after their fight.
Rees Williams, a senior at Point Loma High School, said that the violent and suspenseful snake scenes didn’t overly scare her because of the mixed genre of the movie.
“I feel like the comedy makes the scary part less serious,” Williams said. “I knew something funny was going to happen; I wasn’t on the edge of my seat being scared.”
The creature-feature element of “Anaconda” combined my joy for the movie with a dose of fear that enhanced the absurdity and hilarity of the movie. A sweaty Black sprinting from a massive anaconda with a squealing boar strapped to his back is simply the peak of comedy.
However, this film is limited to merely entertainment value. The themes of friendship and pursuing your dreams were forgotten the moment I walked out of the theatre. The romantic sideplot with Thandiwe Newton’s character Claire was nothing more than clutter, and the film failed to interest me in Daniela Melchoir’s character Ana and her gold miner conflict despite spending so much screen time on it.
I forgive the film’s faults because it doesn’t pretend to be something it’s not. It parades its own simplicity and unoriginality, untethered by the pressure to become a timeless classic — it’s a reboot, and it knows it. The movie’s goal seemed to be to make people laugh, and it succeeded, as I walked out of the theatre smiling with my family, with the sound of Sir Mix-a-Lot’s 1992 “Baby Got Back” playing over the credits behind me.
Adee Tulcan 
Isa Darisay