Rebooting the Anaconda series as a comedy with horror aspects was a pretty clever idea. And the film delivers a silly and relatable story, and it lets Paul Rudd and Jack Black have a good time together.

There’s an earnest story here as the pair play childhood friends, alongside Steve Zahn, and Thandiwe Newton, who always wanted to make films together, but life got in the way.

When they all gather to celebrate Doug’s (Black) birthday, Griff (Rudd) pitches the idea of rebooting their favorite horror movie, Anaconda. Doug, a wedding videographer, is reticent at first, but soon is persuaded. With Doug serving as director, Kenny (Zahn) as camera, and Griff and Claire (Newton) as the stars things ramp up quickly.

The group heads to the Amazon, hires a snake handler, Santiago (Selton Mello) and his snake. They’ve got a boat, and a replacement captain, Ana (Daniela Melchior) who has a plan of her own.

But the film crew is oblivious, and having the time of their lives. And that’s when the film works best, watching these four friends, chase their dreams (while avoiding a giant snake).

The story speaks to fan films, and while it gets sillier and sillier, it’s fun to see the cast having a pretty good time together. And you have to wonder how much of the dialogue was improvised.

There are nods a plenty to the original film, silly accents, snake attacks, and a couple of fun legacy cameos.

On the plus side, the special effects for this film are so much better than the original film. And playing similar moments for comedy really shows how goofy the original film was. Having said that, it was still fun, as is this entry… reboot? reimagining? spiritual sequel?

Honestly, I love watching Rudd and Black play together in this one. And I’ve always like Zahn and Newton. So this was a very easy movie for me to settle in for.

Yes, it’s silly. Incredibly so, but that’s kind of the point. To be silly, and show how silly the original was as well, Consequently, it’s very fun.

It’s not great, I’m sorry to say, but it is fun.

And there’s a valid exploration of fan films, and chasing your dreams (and avoiding snakes).

It’s enjoyably shot, has some beautiful location work, with Australia standing in for South America. But it’s Black and Rudd that are truly the ones to watch in this film.

Will it relaunch the franchise, probably not, but it’s a really fun way to reboot it. It’s worth a home watch if you’re looking for something goofy and popcorny.