Film Review: Mr. Zoo: The Missing VIP 미스터 주: 사라진 (2020) - South Korea 🇰🇷
Reviewed by Andrew CHAN (Film Critics Circle of Australia)
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Speaking of mindless entertainment, writer and director Kim Tae-yoon, manages just that with the action comedy “Mr. Zoo: The Missing VIP”. Filled with cheesy CGI, talking animals and the VIP panda in obvious human costumes, it is the exactly the kind of senseless fun best enjoyed over a couple of Korean beers. It helps that the film stars quality actors in Lee Sung-min as special agent and struggling dad and Kim Seo-hyung as the agency boss. It is however, the dog and panda that steals the show as they attempts to get your love in any way possible.
Lee Sung-min has made a career in making gritty crime thrillers as the crooked cop and acclaimed roles in “The Spy Gone North”. Lee obviously overacts as he is given special ability to literally talk to animals. This is all fun and games as the audience go along with the ride. Korean-American David Lee McInnis makes the cartoonish villain role with plenty of comic menace and provides the film with some of the better action packed moments. Kim Seo-hyung plays the agency boss with a heart, meanwhile the daughter played by Kal So-won helps to soft the heart. As mentioned the real star is the dog voiced brilliantly by Shin Ha-kyun.
All in all, “Mr. Zoo: The Missing VIP” is definitely not the kind of film for everyone. It is one of those mindless Friday night popcorn movies when you just want to dial down your level of intelligence and suspend your beliefs to enjoy the ride. The animals help to ease that process and Lee Sung-min is more than capable of carrying a action comedy picture. It’s probably not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but sometimes, it’s so cheesy that it can also be funny.
I rated it 6/10
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