Jacob Two Two Meets the Hooded Fang | |
---|---|
Directed by | George Bloomfield |
Written by | novel Mordecai Richler screenplay Tim Burns |
Produced by | Greg Dummett Christina Jennings |
Starring | Max Morrow Gary Busey |
Cinematography | Gerald Packer |
Edited by | Ralph Brunjes |
Music by | Jono Grant |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Odeon Films |
Release date |
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Running time | 96 minutes |
Countries | Canada United States |
Language | English |
Jacob Two Two Meets The Hooded Fang is a 1999 film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Mordecai Richler.
This humorous children's story recounts the adventure of a young boy who strives to be heard. As The Globe and Mail writer James Bradshaw writes, Jacob Two-Two is "two plus two plus two years old, has two brothers and two sisters, and has to say everything twice just to be heard; odd numbers aren't his thing." [1] This quirk gives rise to his nickname "Two-Two". One day, he decides to buy the groceries for his parents, where he says, typically for Two-Two: "I want two pounds of firm, ripe tomatoes. I want two pounds of firm, ripe tomatoes." [2] Misunderstanding Jacob, the clerk threatens to have him arrested for "insulting a grown-up"; Jacob runs from the store and eventually finds himself in court. He is sentenced to two years, two months, two weeks and two minutes by the judge (Ice-T) in the Children's Prison hundreds of miles away from civilization. [3] His place of punishment is a dark, dirty dungeon-like place where the children work and are kept in cells. There are the three head characters, Master Fish, a fish/human, Mistress Fowl, a bird-like woman and the Hooded Fang himself. They also have green henchmen who spray "slime resistors" at the children to prevent them escaping. [4] Two child agents try to help him out, as the children also devise a plan for escape.
Writing for Variety , Brendan Kelly suggests that while the opening of the film is funny, at least some of the material may not hold children's attention: "This dark, edgy kids’ fantasy may not have enough light action to keep the grade-schoolers amused. Sophisticated and largely intriguing, modern-day fairy tale centers on a six-year-old boy’s nightmare of life in a prison for kids. Helmer George Bloomfield and scripter Tim Burns have crafted a haunting, funny take on kids’ anxieties. But the acting is uneven, the pacing not fast enough for young attention spans, and the material may simply be too downbeat to click with the under-ten set." [5]
Rotten Tomatoes reviewer Lafe Fredbjornson panned the 1999 film version as being a "not very good" adaptation of the book: "Because of how perfect the 1977 film [6] was, this one's flaws stuck out. The kid playing Jacob Two-Two was pretty generic and lacked character. The Ice-T rap-session in the courtroom didn't seem to fit. Gary Busey as the Hooded Fang was scary for all the wrong reasons. Mark McKinney and Miranda Richardson seemed like standup comics in animal costumes. The prison set didn't feel like the one described in the book. The songs were dreadful." [7]
Mordecai Richler was a Canadian writer. His best known works are The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1959) and Barney's Version (1997). His 1970 novel St. Urbain's Horseman and 1989 novel Solomon Gursky Was Here were nominated for the Booker Prize. He is also well known for the Jacob Two-Two fantasy series for children. In addition to his fiction, Richler wrote numerous essays about the Jewish community in Canada, and about Canadian and Quebec nationalism. Richler's Oh Canada! Oh Quebec! (1992), a collection of essays about nationalism and anti-Semitism, generated considerable controversy.
John Scott Thompson, known professionally as Scott Thompson, is a Canadian actor and comedian, best known as member of the comedy troupe The Kids in the Hall and for playing Brian on The Larry Sanders Show.
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz is a 1974 Canadian comedy-drama film directed by Ted Kotcheff, and adapted by Mordechai Richler and Lionel Chetwynd from Richler’s novel of the same name. It stars Richard Dreyfuss as the title character, a brash young Jewish Montrealer who embarks on a string of get-rich-quick schemes in a bid to gain respect. The cast also features Micheline Lanctôt, Randy Quaid, Joseph Wiseman, Denholm Elliott, Joe Silver and Jack Warden.
Mark Douglas Brown McKinney is a Canadian actor and comedian. He is perhaps best known as Glenn from Superstore or as a member of the sketch comedy troupe The Kids in the Hall, which includes starring in the 1989 to 1995 TV series The Kids in the Hall and 1996 feature film Brain Candy. He was a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1995 to 1997; and from 2003 to 2006, he co-created, wrote and starred in the series Slings & Arrows. He also appeared as Tom in FXX's Man Seeking Woman. From 2015 to 2021, he appeared as store manager Glenn Sturgis on NBC's Superstore.
Philip Balsam was a Canadian songwriter, composer, and author. Many of his musical works were created for television or theatre, in collaboration with a lyricist. He is best known for his work on the show Fraggle Rock.
Jacob Two-Two is a series of children's books written by Canadian author Mordecai Richler: Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang (1975), Jacob Two-Two and the Dinosaur (1987) and Jacob Two-Two's First Spy Case (1995) written by Mordecai Richler, and Jacob Two-Two on the High Seas (2009) written by Cary Fagan.
The Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Children Award is a literary award that annually recognizes one Canadian children's book. The book must be written in English and published in Canada during the preceding year. The writer must be a citizen or permanent resident of Canada.
Jacob Two-Two is a Canadian animated TV series based on the Jacob Two-Two books written by Mordecai Richler. The show first aired on September 7, 2003, on YTV in Canada. The show also aired on Qubo in the United States and on the French-language network VRAK.TV as Jacob Jacob. After Jacob and his family moved to Montreal from England, he begins new challenges and stuff in his hometown. Jacob, his siblings, and his mother were named after Richler's children and wife.
Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang may refer to the following:
Hooded Fang may refer to:
Jacob Richler is a Canadian newspaper and magazine journalist, and the son of novelist Mordecai Richler and Florence Isabel (Wood). He was the inspiration for his father's Jacob Two-Two trilogy of children's books.
Tundra Books is the oldest children's book publisher in Canada.
Barney's Version is a 2010 Canadian drama film directed by Richard J. Lewis, written by Michael Konyves, and based on the novel of the same name by Mordecai Richler. Starring Paul Giamatti, Rosamund Pike, Minnie Driver, Rachelle Lefevre, Scott Speedman and Dustin Hoffman, the film follows Barney Panofsky (Giamatti), an alcoholic soap opera producer as he navigates his three marriages to Clara (Lefevre), "The Second Mrs. Panofsky" (Driver) and Miriam (Pike), his relationship with his father Izzy (Hoffman), and the mysterious disappearance of his friend Boogie (Speedman).
Hooded Fang was a Canadian indie rock band, formed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 2007.
Ivorian cuisine is the traditional cuisine of Côte d'Ivoire, or the Ivory Coast, and is based on tubers, grains, pig, chicken, seafood, fish, fresh fruits, vegetables and spices. It is very similar to that of neighboring countries in West Africa. Common staple foods include grains and tubers. Côte d'Ivoire is one of the largest cocoa producers in the world and also produces palm oil and coffee.
Dušan Petričić is a Serbian illustrator and caricaturist. He has illustrated numerous children's books and his caricatures have appeared in various newspapers and magazines from Politika to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Toronto Star.
Linda Holeman is a Canadian author of fiction.
Jonothan Jonas Grant is a Canadian composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist who was nominated for a Genie award for "Achievement in Music/Original Score" on his first film score Jacob Two Two Meets the Hooded Fang in 1999.
Fritz Wegner was an Austrian-born illustrator, resident in the United Kingdom from 1938.
Jacob Two-Two Meets The Hooded Fang is a 1978 film adaptation of Mordecai Richler's children's novel by the same name. He was a father of five children, with the youngest, Jacob, inspiring his character Jacob Two-Two. The main character is Jacob Two-Two, a young boy who has a habit of repeating himself in order to be heard by those around him.