Look Who's Talking Now



Look Who's Talking Now is a 1993 American romantic comedy film, and the third and final installment in the film series that began with Look Who's Talking in 1989. It finds John Travolta and Kirstie Alley reprising their roles as James and Mollie Ubriacco, respectively, and introducing the newly extended family members to it.

David Gallagher and Tabitha Lupien portray Mikey and Julie respectively. Unlike the previous films, it does not feature the voiceover talents of Bruce Willis, Roseanne Barr, Damon Wayans, Joan Rivers or Mel Brooks as their interior monologues; rather, Danny DeVito and Diane Keaton provide voiceover roles for their newly acquired dogs, Rocks and Daphne, respectively, and it focuses more on their lives.

Lysette Anthony and Olympia Dukakis costar. George Segal and Charles Barkley have cameo roles.

Plot
A young cross breed puppy is up for sale and we can hear him talking. He sees Mikey passing by him and begs him to take him home. Mikey, however, has to hurry past in tow of his mother, and two harsh looking individuals buy the puppy. He manages to escape them and starts his life as a stray.

James is a private air pilot working for Samantha - who we see has a crush on him and is always trying to extend the trips to spend more time with him. Mollie is looking for a job after getting laid off due to the recession. Mikey tells Santa Claus that he wants a dog for Christmas, James feels the time has come to give him one and tells Samantha about this.

One day, though, the dog gets caught by the animal rescue force and taken to a kennel, where several others are kept - presumably also found on the streets. He is about to be put down on the same day that James brings Mikey there to select one. Overjoyed, he bumps into the dog he saw as a puppy, and takes an instant liking to him and decides to take him home. He names the dog Rocks.

When James, Mikey, and Rocks get home, they see that Samantha is there and has brought over her dog, Daphne, who is highly trained and she wants James to have her as a present from her. Rocks and Daphne do not get along. Rocks is messy and untrained while Daphne is pedigreed and well trained to be tidy and obedient, though she is also spoiled.

Samantha starts having James fly on long trips to lots of different cities and keeps him away from his family. Mollie has to job hunt, take care of two kids, and take care of the two dogs. James and Mollie develop tensions over Samantha. Mollie suspects that James is cheating on her and feels that Samantha is much more successful and beautiful than her.

James likewise suspects that Mollie is still not over Mikey's biological father. Despite these tensions, however, James and Mollie are clearly still in love with each other and miss each other while they're apart. As Mollie becomes more tired, Daphne realizes that she needs to become more independent.

Rocks helps her learn how to go outside by herself and use her sense of smell to track people or things. The two dogs start becoming friends. On Christmas Eve, Samantha sets up a plan to trick James into spending the night with her. She tricks him into coming to her fancy cabin in the woods by saying that she wants to introduce him to a prospective wealthy client. She stalls for time until it is too dangerous for James to leave because a snowstorm outside has gotten too dangerous.

James calls Mollie to tell her that he cannot make it home for Christmas. Mollie learns that he is alone with Samantha and becomes devastated that he is going to cheat on her. However, Mollie's mother convinces her to trust her instincts that James loves her and would never do that.

Mollie decides to drive through the storm with the kids and the two dogs to "bring Christmas to Daddy." Their car gets stuck in the woods due to the severe cold and the storm. They are attacked by wolves, and Rocks scares the wolves off while Mollie and her kids get inside the car. Daphne sets out to find help using the tracking skills that Rocks taught her.

Rocks runs out to track down James on his own. He finds Samantha's cabin, and James realizes that Mollie has set out to find him. He confronts Samantha about her lies and intentions and quits his job, then goes with Rocks to track down his family. They are attacked by wolves, and Rocks fights them off while James escapes. Meanwhile, Daphne has found some forest rangers that take Mollie, the kids, and Daphne to safety into their cabin. They worry about James and Rocks. James finds them, and Rocks quickly runs in afterward to show that he survived the encounter with the wolves. The family and dogs are happily reunited and spend Christmas together.

Cast

 * John Travolta as James Ubriacco
 * Kirstie Alley as Mollie Ubriacco
 * David Gallagher as Mikey Ubriacco
 * Tabitha Lupien as Julie Ubriacco
 * Lysette Anthony as Samantha D'Bonne
 * George Segal as Albert
 * Olympia Dukakis as Rosie
 * Charles Barkley as Himself


 * Voices
 * Danny DeVito as Rocks
 * Diane Keaton as Daphne


 * Additional Dog/Wolf Voices
 * Bob Bergen
 * Peter Iacangelo
 * Nick Jameson
 * Patricia Parris
 * Pat Pinney
 * Rodney Saulsberry
 * Jeff Winkless

Production
Unlike the previous films, the children no longer have voiceovers for their inner thoughts, since they are now old enough to talk for themselves. Danny DeVito and Diane Keaton portray the Ubriaccos' dogs. This also marked the film debuts of Tabitha Lupien, and David Gallagher, best known for his later role as Simon Camden on 7th Heaven. George Segal who portrayed Albert, the first film's antagonist and Mikey's biological father, reappears briefly.

Charles Barkley makes a cameo appearance as himself. Twink Caplan, who portrayed Mollie's best friend, Rona, in the previous two films, does not appear nor is she mentioned in this one. Also Elias Koteas, who portrayed Mollie's brother, Stuart, in the second film also does not appear nor is he mentioned in this one. Both Caplan and Koteas declined to return for it.

French singer Jordy performs, along with David Gallagher and Tabitha Lupien, amongst other children, in a special music video for the film, titled It's Christmas, C'est Noel, from the album of Christmas, Potion Magique.

Release
The film was released in the United Kingdom on May 27, 1994.

Reception
On the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 0% approval rating based on 25 reviews with an average rating of 2.53/10. The site's critical consensus simply reads "Look Who's Talking Now: Look away. Roger Ebert gave the film one star out of four and remarked that "it looks like it was chucked up by an automatic screenwriting machine." Gene Siskel gave the film zero stars and called it "An abysmal, embarrassing sequel."

Dan Cox of Variety wrote, "Stretching a premise that one might say has gone to the dogs, 'Look Who's Talking Now' runs feebly on the calculated steam of its forebears." Rita Kempley of The Washington Post wrote, "Take the 'dle' out of 'poodle' and you've pretty much got the leitmotif of 'Look Who's Talking Now,' a crude and mawkish film in which dogs attempt to communicate with Kirstie Alley and John Travolta."

Stephen Holden of The New York Times was somewhat positive, writing that "the sound of stars mouthing the inner thoughts of dogs is somehow funnier than that of grownup actors doing wisecracking voice overs for gurgling infants." Peter Rainer of the Los Angeles Times was also somewhat positive, calling the film "borderline pleasant" because Travolta and Alley "are a marvelous team."

Leonard Maltin's film guide gave it two stars out of four, saying "The first one was cute, the second one was dreadful; this third entry in the series falls somewhere in between."

Box office
Look Who's Talking Now was a box office bomb, only earning over $10 million against its $22 million budget, making it the lowest grossing film in the series.