Look Who's Talking Now

Look Who's Talking Now

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Tom Ropelewski
Produced by Leslie Dixon
Amy Heckerling
Written by Tom Ropelewski
Amy Heckerling (characters)
Starring John Travolta
Kirstie Alley
David Gallagher
Tabitha Lupien
Danny DeVito (voice)
Diane Keaton (voice)
Music by William Ross
Cinematography Oliver Stapleton
Edited by Henry Hitner
Michael A. Stevenson
Distributed by TriStar Pictures
Release dates
  • November 5, 1993 (1993-11-05)
Running time
 96 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $22 million
Box office $10,340,263

Look Who's Talking Now is the third and final installment in the film series that began with Look Who's Talking in 1989. Released in 1993, it finds John Travolta and Kirstie Alley reprising their roles as James and Mollie Ubriacco, respectively, and introducing the newly extended family members to it.

David Gallagher and Tabitha Lupien portray Mikey and Julie respectively. Unlike the previous films, it does not feature the voiceover talents of Bruce Willis, Roseanne Barr, Damon Wayans, Joan Rivers or Mel Brooks as their interior monologues; rather, Danny DeVito and Diane Keaton provide voiceover roles for their newly acquired dogs, Rocks and Daphne, respectively, and it focuses more on their life.

Lysette Anthony and Olympia Dukakis costar. George Segal and Charles Barkley have cameo roles.

Plot

James and Mollie, after struggling to put Mikey (now 7 years-old) and Julie (now 4 years-old) to bed, again have sex in their bedroom. She tries to refuse but he charms his way through her resistant behavior. Meanwhile, outside, a pair of different breed dogs, having come from a night out are about to part ways. But the male, Trooper, instead cons the female, Princess, into mating with him after he lies and says that he is going to be fixed the next day. The screen changes for the credits of several of Trooper's sperm cells entering Princess' eggs. Their owners discover that she has given birth and decide simply to put them up for adoption.

A mix breed puppy meets Mikey and gathers his scent before Mollie takes him away, and then is picked up by a biker father and son, but he quickly escapes, sensing the danger and begins walking the streets alone. Over the course of several months, he shares food with a homeless man he'd become friends with, but is eventually taken by animal control to the city pound. Mikey repeats his wish for a dog at Christmas, but his mother Mollie kindly refuses to do so, due to the highest responsibility and money it takes. James applies to be the personal pilot for Samantha D'Bonne, who is smitten with him and decides to hire him, meanwhile, Mollie is suddenly laid off from her job as an accountant due to her being the most expensive employee, and is unable to quickly find new employment. James tells Samantha about Mikey's wish for a dog, and decides to take him out to get one anyway as a surprise. While at the pound, Mikey bumps into the dog he'd met earlier on his way to be euthanized and immediately recognizes him. Mikey decides to take him home and name him "Rocks" because "That's what he left all over the back seat" of James' cab. They enter the apartment only to find Samantha there with a pure bred poodle named Daphne, and the parents discuss that they can't take Rocks back or he'd be put down, and he doesn't want to return Daphne to Samantha as it would be a great insult and they decide to keep both dogs.

Mollie gets a job as a holiday elf for a department store Santa and one day, her son Mikey discovers that Santa is a fake, shattering his belief in Santa Claus, while at home, Rocks' constant destruction of Mollie's shoes and urinating in the house has gotten her on the edge of kicking Rocks out. Daphne, stuck up and spiteful of Rocks becomes more Julie's dog, while Rocks is more Mikey's dog, and the four of them constantly bicker and Daphne decides to get Rocks kicked out of the house by chewing on Mollie's expensive shoes. After Rocks is punished, Daphne realizes her feelings for Rocks and begins to try and train him in basic commands like 'sit' and 'beg'. Meanwhile, with James being gone for longer and longer periods of time because of Samantha, Mollie begins to grow jealous. Samantha arranges a ploy to get James alone with her at a remote cabin for an entire weekend; when the alibi starts to fall apart, and Mollie realizes that James and Samantha are alone, her mother boosts her confidence, saying James would never cheat on her, and she calls, posing as a flower delivery girl in order to get the address to the cabin. She takes the kids and dogs out to find him, but Mollie is run off the road by a downed tree. Rocks defends Mollie from an approaching wolf and picks up James' scent. After teaching Daphne how to sniff people out and get help, Rocks goes after James.

At the cabin, James realizes the ploy after finding that the phone line had been unplugged by Samantha. Rocks arrives shortly after, and Samantha threatens to fire James if he leaves, which is quickly responded to by Rocks peeing on her feet. Running back to the family, Rocks and James come across a pack of wolves led by the one from earlier. There is a loud yelping and the sound of James' pager going off. Meanwhile, Daphne had successfully gotten a rescue team for Mollie and the kids and they are waiting at the station when James arrives looking for them. When he tries to say what happened to Rocks, making it seem like he had been killed defending James, he shows them the pager that had gone off when one of the wolves crushed it, driving the wolves away. Rocks appears safely behind James, much to Daphne's delight. As they reunite, James tries to assure Mollie that Rocks needs to stay in the family, she watches in amazement as he responds to James' command of 'sit' 'beg' and 'lie down' and she agrees that he and Daphne both stay with them. Meanwhile, the ranger picks up a "strange" radio broadcast, which has the sound of Santa Claus saying "Merry Christmas" and reaffirming Mikey's belief in him after all.

Cast

Voices

Production

Unlike the previous films, the children no longer have voiceovers for their inner thoughts since they are now old enough to talk for themselves. Danny DeVito and Diane Keaton portray the Ubriaccos' pets. This also marked the film debuts of Tabitha Lupien, and David Gallagher, best known for his later role as Simon Camden on 7th Heaven.

George Segal who portrayed Albert, the first film's antagonist and Mikey's biological father, reappears briefly.

Charles Barkley makes a cameo appearance as himself. Don Rickles does the voice of a wolf.

Twink Caplan, who portrayed Mollie's best friend, Rona, in the previous two films, does not appear in this one nor was she mentioned. Also Elias Koteas, who portrayed Mollie's brother, Stuart, in the second film does also not appear nor was he mentioned. Both Caplan and Koteas declined to return for the third one.

French singer Jordy performs, along with both David Gallagher and Tabitha Lupien, amongst other children, in a special music video for the film, titled It's Christmas, C'est Noel from the Christmas album Potion magique.

Reception

The film received overwhelmingly negative reviews upon its release.[1] It was also a box office bomb only earning over $10 million, making it the lowest-grossing film in the series.[2][3] On the movie review site Rotten Tomatoes, Look Who's Talking Now holds a 0% approval rating.[4] Among its main problems were the lack of originality, the bland treatment of the children and its overblown ending. In its opening week, the film also faced stiff competition for an audience from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

References

  1. ↑ "MOVIE REVIEW : 'Look Who's Talking' Series Goes to Dogs". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-11-06.
  2. ↑ "Third `Talking' Is His Big Second Chance Box office: As a bankruptcy veteran, producer Jonathan D. Krane concedes mistakes.". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-11-06.
  3. ↑ "Alone Wraps Up Holiday Box Office". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-11-06.
  4. ↑ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/look_whos_talking_now/

External links

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