The Nutty Professor (2008 film)

The Nutty Professor
DVD cover
Directed by	Logan McPherson Paul Taylor
Produced by	Jerry Lewis Bob Weinstein Harvey Weinstein George Paige Gregory R. Little Rick Mischel
Written by	Evan Spiliotopoulos
Starring	Jerry Lewis Drake Bell Andrew Francis Britt Irvin
Music by	Mike Shields
Edited by	Logan McPherson
Production company	Kaleidoscope TWC Rainmaker Entertainment The Weinstein Company
Distributed by	Genius Products
Release dates	November 25, 2008 (2008-11-25)
Running time	75 minutes
Country	United States Canada
Language	English

The Nutty Professor (also known as The Nutty Professor 2: Facing the Fear) is a 2008 American-Canadian computer-animated comedy sequel to the 1963 Jerry Lewis comedy of the same name and based on the story Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, produced by Rainmaker Entertainment and The Weinstein Company and distributed by Genius Products. Lewis reprises his role of Julius Kelp and produces the film. Drake Bell plays the voice of Harold Kelp, Julius's grandson.

The film bears no relation to the Eddie Murphy series of comedies that Lewis also produced.

Plot

Harold Kelp, the grandson of professor Julius Kelp, is a young inventor who struggles with his experiments. He is frequently attacked in his visions by his fear, which takes the form of a big, black monster. After encountering an angry mob involved in Harold's bad inventions, Harold is sent away to a science academy run by his grandfather.

Upon his arrival, Harold meets a beautiful girl named Polly McGregor and becomes enamoured with her. Wanting to impress her, Harold gets his hands on his grandfather's secret elixir, the Secrets of Love, which he believes will get him girls. He drinks it, unleashing his cooler, hipper alter ego Jack, who causes mischief.

Jack starts out popular with the students, but his behavior and ego get out of hand. Also, because of Jack, Harold is failing classes. When he learns of Harold's problem, Julius transforms into Buddy Love to teach Harold to be himself. Later on, Harold's fear is accidentally brought to life by one of Julius' inventions, but he manages to kill it by facing it.

Then, Jack says good-bye to Harold and disappears into him, leaving Harold to share a kiss with Polly.

Voice cast

• Drake Bell as Harold Kelp/Jack
• Jerry Lewis as Julius Kelp/Buddy Love
• Tabitha St. Germain as Robin
• Britt Irvin as Polly
• Logan McPherson as Zeke/Waiter/Fear/Ned
• Andrew Francis as Brad/Tad
• Brian Drummond as Dean Von Wu
• Danielle Lewis as Suzy Perkins

Production

On August 8, 2006, Mainframe Entertainment announced The Weinstein Company acquired the rights to produce an animated version of The Nutty Professor, which was distributed direct-to-video by Genius Products Inc.^[1]

The film was produced under the working title The Nutty Professor 2: Facing the Fear. There is still some semblance of the former title in the film. This sequel was made 45 years after the original film, and represents the longest gap in motion picture history, for an sequel in which the original star reprises his same role.

There are several references to the original film, including the place where Zeke and Ned perform, called "The Pit." In the original film, the nightclub is called "The Purple Pit." The cast includes Danielle Lewis, the daughter of Jerry Lewis, who cameos as the voice of Harold's neighbor, Suzy Perkins.

References

External links

• The Nutty Professor at the Internet Movie Database