Peter BurrowsSome films don’t want to change your life. They just want to distract you from it, ideally with something ridiculous, loud, and utterly unconcerned with logic. Anaconda (2025) lands firmly in that tradition, a reboot that doesn’t so much try to scare you as dare you not to laugh.
Let’s be clear from the outset. The snake is not frightening. It is big, shiny, and frequently framed like a professional wrestler entering the ring, but it never once inspires dread. What it does inspire is a sort of gleeful disbelief. This is not a creature feature in the Jaws mould. It is a creature feature in the “what am I actually watching” mould, and it is all the better for it.
Jack Black Unleashed
The film’s secret weapon is Jack Black, who seems to have been given free rein to turn the whole enterprise into a barely contained comedy sketch. His most inspired moment sees him sprinting through the jungle with a dead pig strapped to his back as improvised bait. It sounds stupid because it is, but it is also uproariously funny. It is the kind of visual gag that would not be out of place in Be Kind, Rewind, and the same anarchic, anything-goes energy permeates his performance. Black knows exactly what film he is in, and he plays it like a man determined to wring every last laugh out of the absurdity.
The Rudd Constant
Paul Rudd, meanwhile, continues his long-running career of simply playing “Paul Rudd” with extraordinary consistency. He is finally showing a few signs of age, which, if anything, only adds a faintly charming weariness to his usual affable shtick. He reacts to the madness around him with the exact blend of disbelief and earnestness you would expect, grounding the chaos without ever dragging it down.
Nostalgia Without the Wink
There are also knowing nods to the franchise’s past, with cameos from Ice Cube and Jennifer Lopez that feel more affectionate than cynical. They do not overstay their welcome, but their appearances are enough to spark a wave of nostalgia for anyone who remembers the 1997 original with a mix of fondness and irony.
Dumb, On Purpose
Is Anaconda (2025) dumb? Profoundly. The plot exists only to ferry the cast from one jungle-based set piece to the next, and any attempt at tension is quickly undercut by another gag, pratfall, or eye-rolling one-liner. But it is precisely this commitment to silliness that makes it work. It is not trying to be elevated horror or even particularly good cinema. It is trying to be fun.
And against all odds, it succeeds. You will not leave the cinema shaken or sleepless, but you might leave smiling, still thinking about Jack Black and that pig, wondering how on earth this nonsense ended up being the unexpected tonic you did not know you needed.
