Frank and Fearless review – Oh shucks, it falls flat

Like skaftiens at work, Mrs Balls, a sneaky kota, melktert and gran’s mogodu, South African cross-generationality grew up with Leon Schuster.

For some reason, his films There’s a Zulu on my Stoep and Panic Mechanic captured a multitude of feelings about the idea of a “new” South Africa and managed to get the nation to laugh together. This year, however, the laughter is no longer that joyful.

In his latest big-screen stint, Schuster takes on rhino poaching as a thematic core tying together the slapstick expected of him. It comes off as old and dated, which is a problem because Frank and Fearless is well constructed.

Tragedy brings together a young boy named Fearless (played by Themba Ntuli who stole hearts in last year’s Meerkat Maantuig) and his friend Dog (a dog) with the ageing troublemaker Sonny Frank (Schuster) and an orphaned baby rhino.

The trio take on poachers and get involved in a kidnapping, with hilarious results.

The Schuster formula is in full play. Slacker adult teams up with child to overcome the baddies. We’ve seen it – in almost every Schuster film. And that’s the problem. It’s not a badly made film, it just does nothing new.

Frank and Fearless

That’s not to say there’s not a few highlights – and believe it or not Khanyi Mbau has a somewhat scene-stealing role. Mbau is a geeky character who also happens to be a game ranger, which considering her flare for style and making a splash on the front pages of newspapers, is a charming moment in South African cinema.

She also proves that she has the chops to hold her own in a variety of scenes, from slapstick to dramatic (rhinos are getting killed, it’s not a constant walk in the veld).

In the era of land-reform, tightrope politics and the thin veneer of nature conservation in the bigger South African picture, it just falls flat. Frank and Fearless is mediocre at best.

Approaching something like poaching from this angle feels dangerous. Instead watch something like Stroop: Journey into the Rhino Horn War, which explores the poaching industry and educates rather than delivering a few hollow chuckles.

Info

Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Starring: Leon Schuster, Themba Ntuli, Kenneth Nkosi and Khanyi Mbau
Director: Gray Hofmeyr
Classification: 2

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