Piranha 3D

Starring: Elizabeth Shue, Adam Scott, Ving Rhames, Jerry O’ Connell, Steven R. McQueen, Kelly Brook, Christopher Lloyd and Richard Dryfus

Genre: Action, Horror, Thriller

Director: Alexandre Aja

Rated: R

A sudden earthquake centered underneath Lake Victoria unleashes a prehistoric form of man eating piranha right before spring break.

Alaxandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes) brings together a high caliber cast for the new king of B movies.

By all accounts Piranha 3D should be terrible and from watching the previews one wonders what form of blackmail was utilized to put together such a stellar cast for a movie about man eating fish during spring break. Going into Piranha ones expectations cant be too high, the subject matter alone makes you expect the worse, But then something happens in the very first scene you quickly realize that the man fishing in Lake Victoria is Academy Award winner Richard Dryfus (reprising his role as Matt Hooper from the original don’t go in the water film Jaws); That is the point where it dawns on you that Piranha 3D might not be stupid at all and instead might just be extremely clever and a great time.

Elisabeth Shue stars as Julie Foster the Sherriff of Spring Break destination Lake Victoria along with her Deputy (Ving Rhames) She discovers the mutilated body of Matt Hooper (Richard Dryfus). Fearing that whatever killed him is still out in the water Foster calls in for help to find out what it is. Geologist Novak (Adam Scott) and his team with the help of Foster discover that an underwater lake housing the prehistoric man eaters has been opened up letting them loose. While Foster is working with Novak her son Jake (Steven R. McQueen) is working as the new “location scout” for Derrick Jones (Jerry O’Connell in a role that can only be described as inspired by Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis) creator of “Wild Wild Girls” accompanying them are Danni (Kelly Brook) and Crystal (Riley Steele) two of Derrick’s Wild Wild Girls, Kelly (Jessica Szohr) the girl he wishes was his girlfriend and cameraman Andrew (Paul Scheer) together they set out on a yacht to party and film all that Lake Victoria offers in the way of debauchery for Wild Wild Girls.

Piranha is a film that never takes itself to seriously yet at the same time delivers where it counts. There is more blood and gore on film in this than anything of recent memory. While movies like Avatar utilize 3D to enhance the film rather than be gimmicky, Piranha takes 3D to the level we always wanted it to be and that is purposely low brow with a sense of humor. Numerous dancing and partying people, Wet T-shirts, as well as Topless and Completely nude woman are all over the place dancing to the music and shaking it in 3D. The Underwater scene with Kelly Brook and Riley Steele is reason enough to see the movie. Factor in the huge amount of gore and the most over the top use of 3D involving Jerry O’Connell (or at least part of him) and the fun never stops.

Easily the most surprising treat of the summer.

Grade -90