An American Werewolf in Paris



I remember seeing bits and pieces of An American Werewolf in Paris when I was a kid. I hadn't really seen enough of it to truly piece any thoughts together. But, it was a movie I was curious to watch all the way through. The movie was released in 1997. I kind of knew going in that it wasn't going to hold a candle to the original. I think what really drew my attention to the film was seeing that it had a Rotten Tomatoes score of 7%. After watching the film, I was left with the feeling of "um, I don't think it's that bad." Don't get me wrong, this movie had some problems. By comparison to the first film, the effects here are so much worse. To this day, I feel as though the first movie's practical effects still hold up pretty well. Paris opted for CGI instead. I can't really speak to how it looked in '97, but looking at these effects in 2021, they do not look good. There were plenty of moments where I had some fun. The humor in the film actually worked for me. Even in some of the movie's lamer moments, I still had a good bit of fun. I went into this film expecting a disaster, and that's not really what I got. It's funny. I've seen movies with higher Rotten Tomatoes scores that I truly felt were much worse than this (especially in the horror genre). Effects aside, another area I wish could have been more effective was the kills. None of them were particularly awful. But, none of them necessarily stood out for me either. I wouldn't call this movie special, one way or the other. I should also say that, for the most part, I actually thought the acting was decent enough. Okay, I wouldn’t expect anything Oscar-caliber, but most of the performances actually work well enough for me. I guess the best way for me to sum this movie up is by calling it generic, but fun. I definitely don’t think this is going to be a movie for everyone. I don’t consider it to be highly re-watchable, but I’m kind of glad I actually got the chance to sit down and legitimately watch it all the way through. 

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