Anaconda
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: April 11, 1997 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
37
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
6
Negative:
9
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
20
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Charmless, unfrightening, and even devoid of the requisite gratuitous nudity, Anaconda just plain bites. Read full review
40
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Jon Voight, the all-purpose villain, does a pretty good job of imitating Marlon Brando imitating a Paraguayan snake expert, but the rest of the players--including Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Eric Stoltz, Owen Wilson, Vincent Castellanos, Jonathan Hyde, and Kari Wuhrer--seem to be in a hurry to pick up their checks. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
A slick, scary, funny Creature Feature, beautifully photographed and splendidly acted in high adventure style. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Coil up with a tub of popcorn, get a stranglehold on your soda - this is a creepy, action-packed boat ride down a jungle river with lots of huge snakes dropping by for man-sized snacks. Read full review
40
EmpireDavid Eimer
The movie provides a fair number of laughs, even if you can't help wondering how many of them were actually intentional. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Directed by Luis Llosa with all of the subtlety of a snake-oil salesman, is in the great tradition of cinematic cheese, as processed as Kraft Singles slices. [18 Apr 1997, p. 48]
20
Film ThreatHarry Hartoonian
This film marks for Jon Voigt a concerted effort to unseat Christopher Walken in the competition for the Czarship of sneering, wheezing, Machiavellian, all-around weird guys. He spends much of his time standing around making a face like Beavis does when he's really freaked out. Read full review
30
L.A. WeeklyErnest Hardy
Quite unintentionally, director Luis Llosa and screenwriters Hans Bauer, Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr. have crafted a howler; Anaconda, meant to be a nail-biting thriller, is a laugh-out-loud comedy. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Such a classic combination of feckless dramaturgy and rampant excess that giving way to giggles is the only sane response. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The biggest flaw can be summed up in a short phrase: lack of excitement. Thrillers are supposed to be crammed with thrills (hence the name), but Anaconda is relatively barren of them. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
So desperate and silly that here and there, it's a lot of fun. Read full review
0
San Francisco ExaminerG. Allen Johnson
If only director Luis Llosa and his cast could see the joke and seize upon it; instead, like its computer-morphed snake, the film doesn't have a clever bone in its body. Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
In what is surely a tribute to the dazzling mediocrity of director Luis Llosa, the real jungle looks as bland as the fake jungle. Read full review
70
The New York TimesStephen Holden
A trashily entertaining reptilian version of ''Jaws'' set in the steaming heart of the Amazon rain forest. Read full review
30
The New YorkerTerrence Rafferty
Although it's refreshing to see an action movie that doesn't pretend to be something it isn't, this frankness has a downside, because what the picture so unapologetically is isn't, in fact, much. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
Voight's performance -- one of the film's pure, trashy delights -- is all leer, sneer and macho swagger, while the rest of the actors feel like the disposable snake-fodder they are. Read full review
75
USA TodayMike Clark
An enjoyably cast, superbly shot, jolt-generating device...It isn't art, but it'll crush your bones.
50
VarietyJoe Leydon
A silly and plodding "Jaws" rip-off about a 40-foot man-eating snake on the prowl in the Brazilian rain forest. Read full review
40
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Feels like "Alien" as directed by Jim Henson. And the suspense is restricted to mundane slasher-movie tactics, including the frequent use of a mobile camera (call it the ’condacam) that’s supposed to represent the snake’s point of view. Read full review
30
Washington PostRita Kempley
Mr. Whipple squeezing his Charmin is scarier than this phony baloney computer effects-driven anaconda. Read full review
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