The Gods Must Be Crazy Series (The Gods Must Be Crazy / The Gods Must Be Crazy II)

Amazon.com

South African director Jamie Uys caught lightning in a bottle with The Gods Must Be Crazy--a Coke bottle, to be specific. This slaphappy collection of goofy pratfalls and culture-clash gags became an enormous international smash, and made a sort of star out of the Bushman selected to play the central role, the completely ingratiating N!Xau. He plays a man, unaware of white culture, who finds a Coca-Cola bottle in the Kalahari (dropped by a passing pilot) and promptly has his life turned around by this mystical object. The movie looks slipshod and even amateurish at times, yet its attitude is so bubbly it's hard to resist. Proving that physical comedy remains a true international language, millions of moviegoers around the world drank it up.

The Gods Must Be Crazy II (1989) returns N!Xau to the bizarre world of the white man, this time in a slicker plot (and a with a bigger budget) that, perhaps predictably, yields fewer real belly laughs than the first time around. Director Jamie Uys sticks to his cherished notions that tribesmen are wiser than civilized people, and that fast-motion comedy is inherently funny. The storyline begins with N!Xau's innocent Bushman searching for his lost children; he then gets sidetracked by subplots. The humor is basic, but in best silent-movie tradition Uys prepares his set-pieces with elaborate care, and he understands the value of the long-delayed pay-off. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews:

Best movie ever.......2007-08-20

This is one of the funniest, most entertaining movies I have ever seen and I am surprised it is not better known. With four plots interwoven the story is a work of genius. I shall be sharing these discs with all my friends and family.

Comedy in the Kalahari desert.......2007-07-17

The DVD has two movies on it. One is the original "The Gods must be crazy" made in 1980 and a sequel made in 1989. I would give the original a 5 star and the second one a 3 star because the first one is very funny and second one is less so. Although the little boy in the second film is very cute.

Both films features a Bushman named Xi who lives in the Kalahari desert and his adventures with the outside world. With parallel stories of a western biologist and a professional woman's misadventures. Xi encountered modern civilization for the first time when he decided throw away an "evil" coke bottle (thrown from an airplane over the desert) to the end of earth. Xi, through his own experience, interpreted the modern world as "people with a lot of magical things" but are "quite illiterate" because they lack basic survival skills (tracking animals, finding water) and they "can't live without their magical things".

The Kalahari desert encompasses much of Botswana and is devoid of surface water except for a short rainy season. Despite its harshness, it hosts a range of animals including elephants, zebras and rhinos. The Kalahari people are one of oldest people in the world. The film portrays them as living peaceful lives without any knowledge of the surrounding world. That is no longer true. The Bushman were forcefully removed from their ancestral land and put in housing compounds by Botswana government in the name of providing better school access. Although their true motive is to open the area for mining. The Bushman have recently won law suits that would allow them to return. The "complete peace and harmony" of the Kalahari people shown in the film is threatened.

Best Family Entertainment.......2007-07-05

The God's Must be Crazy is the movie you show to anyone , anytime.

When you show this movie you can be confident noone is going to be offended and everyone will enjoy.

Very funny.......2007-07-03

If you see this dvd, you are crazy..because very very very funny!!!
This dvd is EIGHT THUMPS UP!!...why?...my thumps,my wife thumps and daughters thumps.

THE GODS MUST BE CRAZY.......2007-07-01

If you haven't seen this film earlier, I invite you to my review of another film "DERSU UZALA". Thre is no apparent connection between these two films - one a 1975 masterpiece by a legendary Japanese director, and the other a suprise comedy hit from the '70s.

On the surface, "GODS MUST BE CRAZY"s sounds like a common slapstick filmed in the exotic locations of the African Kalahari.It took me few days after watching the film, when the realization dwawned on me about the significance of this seemingly simple film.

As a continuation of my earlier theme explored in the review of "DERSU UZALA", this film once again appears as an essay on the collision between man & modern civilization - pristine survival instincts genetically programmed into human civilization that face imminent devastation when they collide with the practices and values of modern society. There is again a sense of despair and nostalgia about the irreversible changes of planet earth, as well as a message of conservation.

The film-maker uses a tribe of Kalahari bushmen that utilize in the most pristine discipline and use minimal natural resources for daily survival, to make the point. Using the metaphor of an empty Coke bottle tossed out by an ignorant bush pilot from a plane passing overhead and its subsequent discovery by our bush protagonist as the interface of this collision, we are treated to a series of funny almost slapstick episodes that bring the message home about apparent evils of modern life.

If you are among those that watched the film earlier in life and if you have developed an inclination to ponder about things, I invite you to use my lens to view the film all over again. Better yet, I invite you to bring home copies of both "DERSU UZALA" and "GODS MUST BE CRAZY" together and watch it over a few days. Chances are you will get under the skin of this film's aparent levity and discover the gravity of the underlying message clearly. If you did, please feel to share your thoughts. Good luck.

Average customer rating:

great service
Escapades in the bush
Delightful, Charlie Chapman like, tells a story of family values
Great Movie
My favourite movie of all time!!! A joy to watch.

The Gods Must Be Crazy II
Starring: N!xau , Lena Farugia , Hans Strydom , Nadies , and Eiros
Director: Jamie Uys
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Satire | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Slapstick | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Farce | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( G ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B0001Y4MJK
Release Date: 2004-06-01

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Customer Reviews:

great service.......2007-09-08

I received the movie in great shape, in expdient time, and have enjoyed it much. Thank you for your great service.

Escapades in the bush.......2007-01-15

Few live-action comedies make great sequels; this is the exception. Returning with the same cast of African actors and a new set of white ones, this movie again looks at what happens when bushmen from the Kalahari venture out and encounter "civilization". This time Xixo, our father from the previous movie, goes of to find his two children, who have accidentally stowed away on a poacher's truck. Along the way, he encounters two soldiers trying to capture each other, a white lady from the city that is trying to get back to the city, and the park ranger infatuated with her. Part of the story tracks the two children, and their adventures with a large water tank, a gun, and a hungry hyena. All in all, this movie is just as funny as the first one, if not funnier. I highly recommend it.

Delightful, Charlie Chapman like, tells a story of family values.......2006-07-03

Xixo, the bushman runs for two days to rescue his two children and with tears flowing down his eyes, he reunites with his two children. The two children's curiosity finds them on top of the water wagon being pulled by a ivory pouches truck. Xixo, reads the tracks, interprets that his children are captives of the truck, and begins his run. Xixo, will cross paths with Anne, a Cuban, a African militant, a delirious Stephen, and briefly be detained by the two poachers.

Jack convinces Dr. Ann Taylor to take a short air tour of the Kalahari in a rotary powered glider; Jack does not know that a violent storm is forming, but does comment that the storm does not look good. Jack lands the plane in the reserve and Dr. Stephen Marshall takes possession of the plane and Dr Ann Taylor remains his passenger. A storm does not cause the crash landing, instead, it is the fact Stephen runs out of fuel. After which he must land in the tops of a prehistoric looking tree. Marshall disassembles the plane, lowers the parts, and reassembles the plane on the ground. Ann discovers that Rhinos have the strange behavior of stomping out fire when they see it. After spotting Hyenas, Ann becomes scared but Stephen tells her, "if you ignore them, they will ignore you." And additionally explains that hyenas are scared of animals that are taller than them and when sleeping humans are not a threat and the hyenas will take a chunk out of them while they sleep. So Stephen sleeps first and Ann second. Ann will distract a Male guardian ostrich and Stephen will steal an ostrich egg for food, but not before the Ostrich engages him in a chase, but fortunately for Stephan a monkey will move into the nest and distract the Ostrich.

The director likes the comedy where, at least three times, Ann has her dress above her head exposing herself. Unfortunate, considering these indiscretions appease a carnal appetite but threaten to ruin a perfect movie. Ann runs up trees on almost every sound; and Ann must outsmart a group of Gorillas for a drink of water.

After stepping on a badger-like creature, the animal becomes entrenched on revenge seeking to bite the boot that step on him; Marshall gives up his boot and the animal gnaws voraciously on the leather bindings; Marshall accidentally steps on the animal again and the animal bites one of the tires of the glider. Improvising a strange solution, Marshall stomps out the bottom portion of the passenger side of the glider and lifts the glider while managing too run with it while Ann navigates takeoff; Stephen falls out of the glider and Ann, who lacks piloting skills flies away; eventually Ann stops the engine, ejects the emergency parachute, and lands deep in the Kalahari.

Stephen start to walk in the direction Ann departed but realizes he needs his boot too cross the desert; Stephen tricks the badger like animal to release its grip on the boot for some ostrich egg; Stephen is stung by a black scorpion; Stephen and the badger like animal begin walking across the desert. Anne is capture first by the Cuban, whom it taken captive by the African National, whom both are brought under control by Anne. Stephen is rescue by Xixo, after collapsing in the desert; Xixo buries Stephen up to his neck in sand; Xixo, Ann, the Cuban, and the African National join. Xixo finds the truck but no children, who have managed to get off the truck at different times; the children are hundreds of miles away from home. Xixo will find the truck and he will ask the poacher, if they have seen his children; the poacher will not understand his language; the poachers want no witnesses of their illegal ivory escapades; the Two poacher will capture Xixo and bind him with cords.

Stephen, Ann, the Cuban, and African national will be captured by the two poachers along with Xixo. The first poacher will shoot himself in the foot; the group tied up two together will attempt an escape from the first poacher; the second poacher will see the escape attempt and return from the hill he was at where he was attempting radio contact with headquarters; the second poacher will start a fire; Xixo will defeat the fire trap initiated by the second poacher with a burnout; Stephen will trick the second poacher and gain control. Xixo will take his leave of Stephen and Ann in search for his children. Stephen will launch the glider, return Anne back to civilization, and kiss Anne.

Great Movie.......2006-06-05

This is the funniest movie I've ever seen, bar none!

My favourite movie of all time!!! A joy to watch........2005-07-12

The funny thing is that I didn't consciously go out of my way to watch this movie. Now that I've watched it, I'm so glad that I decided to rent it when I happened to see it on the shelf at the video store. In my opinion, this is the most beautiful movie ever made. Of course it is funny, as most people would imagine. The real gem in this picture, however, is the subplot of the bushman, Xi, and his young children becoming seperated, and their long and eventful journey to reunion. Not only does Xi lose his kids but the two of them, a sister and a younger brother, also become seperated from each other in the vast and barren Kalahari dessert. Their journey then becomes even more daring as their fate, particularly that of the younger child, hangs in the balance. But true to the inspirational story that is this movie, their courage and devotion to each other never wane. Though they face overwhelming odds, they will stop at nothing to ensure the safety and wellbeing of one another. These three brave souls, Xi and his children, exemplify the meaning of loyalty and family. Though this is just a movie, their love for each other touched my heart and brought me to tears, as movies can often do to all of us. As far as I'm concerned, however, this movie is the most special of them all. One cannot help but cry as you see them leap into each others arms upon their tearful reunion. It is often said that there is no stronger love than that of a parent for their child and this movie is testament to that. I believe that this movie holds a very important message for every family and furthermore for all of humanity. Do yourself a favour and buy it....you'll be glad that you did.

Average customer rating:

great service
Escapades in the bush
Delightful, Charlie Chapman like, tells a story of family values
Great Movie
My favourite movie of all time!!! A joy to watch.

The Gods Must Be Crazy II [Region 2]
Starring: N!xau , Lena Farugia , Hans Strydom , Nadies , and Eiros
Director: Jamie Uys
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

( G ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: B0002JK77K

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

great service.......2007-09-08

I received the movie in great shape, in expdient time, and have enjoyed it much. Thank you for your great service.

Escapades in the bush.......2007-01-15

Delightful, Charlie Chapman like, tells a story of family values.......2006-07-03

Great Movie.......2006-06-05

This is the funniest movie I've ever seen, bar none!

My favourite movie of all time!!! A joy to watch........2005-07-12

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