Anaconda (2025) Review
A movie that’s reminiscent of early 2000s slap-stick comedies and creates some warm, chuckle-worthy nostalgia because of it.
Anaconda follows Doug (Jack Black, School of Rock, Nacho Libre) and his friend Griff (Paul Rudd, Clueless, Ant-Man) as they travel to the Amazon to film a remake— or ‘reimagining’, as the two say— of their favorite movie, Anaconda (1997). Their film becomes all too real when a real, oversized anaconda begins to terrorize them.
This is one of the few theatrical release comedies that have graced 2025, a year when the genre of slap-stick humor has vanished completely— unless it goes directly to streaming.
It’s funny in an over-the-top way, yet self-aware. Most appreciable are the self-deprecating jokes; moments where the movie makes fun of itself and the absolutely ridiculous plot. There are jokes about different archetypes of people in subtle jest, like totally inexperienced but highly motivated ‘movie makers’ or D-list actors who sport a ‘do you know who I am?’ attitude. Some of the best lines completely throw Hollywood under the bus, despite Anaconda being anything but an indie film. Most of the humor is very hard to miss, like the meta-style jokes that slither their way in.
Decent CGI is used for the snake; it’s improved from the ‘90s version a lot on that front. By the looks of it, everything else is done with real special effects, which is rare for a movie of this caliber today. The explosions are satisfying. Some add small excitement, but the bigger ones elicit more of a ‘woah’ and ‘awesome’ response. The snake’s victims— both animal and human— are bloody, mangled, and as gruesome as they can be without frightening a younger audience.
This flick is obviously meant more for laughs than anything else, but Sony manage to sneak in some meaningful concepts too. In Anaconda, Family, friends, and your aspirations matter more than money or a job, values and beliefs that are pushed to the side in today’s highly individualized world.
Anaconda (2025) premieres in theaters on December 24, 2025.