“Congo” is a movie that has been heavily criticised over the years and that’s a real shame because I really enjoyed because it showed me stuff I haven’t seen before and seem to have a lot of fun doing it.

In “Congo”, a scientist named Peter Elliot (Dylan Walsh) has taught a gorilla named Amy to communicate using sign language and wants to release her into the wild. He finds himself being lumped with Karen Ross (Laura Linney “Absolute Power”, “The Truman Show”), who wants to find what happened to another expedition and a high-powered laser, and Herkermer Homolka (Tim Curry “Legend”), who wants nothing more than to find a mine full of diamonds. Not all goes to plan, it becomes a race for survival and ends in a cartoonish kind of way as tons of people lose their jobs.

The two leads okay and the gorilla, who is played by someone in a suit, also can be described using that word. I loved the supporting cast though that had Tim Curry, Ernie Hudson (“Ghostbusters”), Bruce Campbell (“Army Of Darkness”), Joe Don Baker (“License To Kill”) and Delroy Lindo (“The One”). It’s a shame we don’t see a bit more of some of these people as they are really good. I also liked the evil gorillas.

“Congo” is done in the same vein as “Jurassic Park” and while I appreciate that Spielberg’s picture is superior, I also think this movie is very good. It has some fun performances, I like the set pieces, I like the action sequences (the one on the plane is very entertaining) and all-round it is just good old-fashioned fun. You can judge “Congo” and pick out all the dumb moments but then you’d be the kind of person who does fully appreciate movies such as the “Indiana Jones” films.