Critic's Grade: B-

"Anaconda" is that rare B-movie thrill ride that sacrifices outright action and trash scares for character development (however lite) and plot, if you dare to call it that. There are the requisite jumps and shocks that tag along for the ride, but it's surprising how few of these moments the filmmakers have included, considering this is what the genre is pretty much based on.

And speaking of genre tactics, this one is no exception to the rule as far as story construction is concerned. It begins with the obligatory opening sequence that introduces us to some unseen menace hunting down the remaining inhabitant of a stranded boat in the Amazon. Then we cut to present day, where a documentary film crew headed by Terri Flores (Jennifer Lopez) is preparing to make its way deep into the jungle in search of a lost civilization believed to still reside there.

The movie has its share of throwaway characters, developing the personalities of those who will remain standing once the final reel arrives, and those who will be digested long before. There the sound crew/romantically-involved couple played by Owen Wilson and Kari Wuhrer, the cameraman played by Ice Cube, the uppity documentary host played by the delightful Jonathan Hyde, the boat's captain played by Vincent Castellanos, and the leader of the expedition played by Eric Stoltz, who happens to be the love interest for Lopez here.

The movie then proceeds further into familiar territory when the crew picks up a stranded sailor (Jon Voight), who proceeds to take them hostage and comandeer the boat into a section of the Amazon known for its large population of snakes, especially anacondas, which are feared for their ability to digest human beings in one piece (and later regurgitate them to relive the rush, as the film informs us). His mission: to capture a live anaconda and make some mucho dinero, even if it's at the expense of a few human lives.

So, a few characters bumped off here and there, with one critically injured so as the provide the film with a race-against-time subplot, and things head to a routine climax where everything happens comfortably and neatly, without much surprise. Predictability has always been a factor in the horror genre, especially in modern films, but this one pushes the envelope, shaping itself in a manner that leaves no subplot unturned or unexamined at least ten minutes before it actually occurs.

One could overlook these flaws in story and execution if the film played by the rules all the way. The focus on character and the action going on aboard ship is interesting, yes, to the point that some minor tension comes into play now and then. This is due in large part to Jon Voight's eccentric performance: his melodramatic antics and the ferocious way the actor chews on the dialogue is reminiscent of Ricardo Montalban's performance in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan." It is within the confines of his acting that we get what little surprise the movie builds, because, as we all know, greed can make people do crazy things, like considering how you'll spend your one million dollars when you're swimming in a snake's stomach fluids.

And speaking of snakes, they also suffer as a result of the misplaced focus on character. When they do appear onscreen, the results are mixed: the special effects for scenes revealing the entire of the anaconda looked botched and phony, a far cry from the likes of a movie like "The Relic," released three months prior back in January. The scenes showing the creature up close and personal attain a more realistic appearance, thanks in part to a combination of animatronics and CGI. Overall, however, they don't exactly make a grand entrance into the film, and when they do appear, they disappear almost as quickly.

So do I like "Anaconda?" To a point, yes. It can be fun in its own throwaway manner, and there are some moments where despite by inhibitions, I was enthralled. But I'm surprised at just how many times this "genre" film strays from the elements that make movies like this exciting, entertaining, and fun. One of the film's taglines reads, "It will take your breath away." Hardly. Another reads, "If you can't breathe, you can't scream." During certain periods in "Anaconda," I was willing to consider that a mercy killing.

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