By critics' reviews, Part III may have been the worst off of the three Beverly Hills Cop movies by far; however, I thought it was still fun to watch and great entertainment. Part III deals with Detroit Cop Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) stumbling upon a counterfeit ring, operating from a Beverly Hills theme park by a corrupt community leader Ellis De Wald (Timothy Carhart). Foley witnessed the same man that gunned down his boss when he was investigating a car theft ring in Detroit earlier. As a result, it's back to Beverly Hills for Axel and another mission of exact revenge and clashing with the Beverly Hills Police Department.
Although comedies, the first two films had a sensitive and no-nonsense touch to it, dealing with high-profiled police cases. This film, by contrast, has a more light-hearted touch as a large part of the movie is set in a Disneyland-style theme park called Wonderland. I didn't mind this, actually. The movie was still action-packed and Murphy still had his humorous and witty-style while portraying Foley. De Wald, the main villain, is probably the most ruthless of all the bad guys in the three movies - very devious and trigger-happy.
Theresa Randle was great as park employee Janice, and she had good on-screen chemistry with Murphy. And, Judge Reinhold returned and gave another memorable performance as the calm and cool Billy Rosewood. I didn't care for the Jon Flint character very much (Hector Elizondo); I thought he served no real purpose in the movie other than trying to intervene with Foley's unsuspecting police moves. I would have preferred the the filmmakers putting Sgt. Taggert's character (John Ashton) back in the movie rather than retiring him off.
Rounding up the cast was a bunch of nice cameos by screenwriters, composers and directors, including George Lucus and Richard and Robert Sherman, and a co-star role by Alan Young as Walt Disney-like character Uncle Dave. He gave a memorable and touching role and I wished the filmmakers could have made Young appear in more scenes.
Overall, not the best of the Beverly Hills movies, but not a distant third either.
Grade B
Although comedies, the first two films had a sensitive and no-nonsense touch to it, dealing with high-profiled police cases. This film, by contrast, has a more light-hearted touch as a large part of the movie is set in a Disneyland-style theme park called Wonderland. I didn't mind this, actually. The movie was still action-packed and Murphy still had his humorous and witty-style while portraying Foley. De Wald, the main villain, is probably the most ruthless of all the bad guys in the three movies - very devious and trigger-happy.
Theresa Randle was great as park employee Janice, and she had good on-screen chemistry with Murphy. And, Judge Reinhold returned and gave another memorable performance as the calm and cool Billy Rosewood. I didn't care for the Jon Flint character very much (Hector Elizondo); I thought he served no real purpose in the movie other than trying to intervene with Foley's unsuspecting police moves. I would have preferred the the filmmakers putting Sgt. Taggert's character (John Ashton) back in the movie rather than retiring him off.
Rounding up the cast was a bunch of nice cameos by screenwriters, composers and directors, including George Lucus and Richard and Robert Sherman, and a co-star role by Alan Young as Walt Disney-like character Uncle Dave. He gave a memorable and touching role and I wished the filmmakers could have made Young appear in more scenes.
Overall, not the best of the Beverly Hills movies, but not a distant third either.
Grade B