Sheena: Queen of the Jungle

There are some good silly gags, and the animals look relaxed even in their dizziest slapstick scenes. And the picture certainly never starves the eye; the cinematography is by the celebrated Pasqualino De Santis.

Sheena is the perfect summer movie for anyone who's dissatisfied with the season's intentional comedies, and who doesn't believe in looking a gift horse in the mouth. Actually, it's more like gift zebra.

This might have been a terrific movie. It has all the right ingredients: a beautiful woman in an odd situation, a background as colorful as any movie ever made, a script by veterans Lorenzo Semple and David Newman, and a historic comic strip. So what went wrong? Blame must be laid squarely on the shoulders of John Guillermin, who directed the movie as if he weren't sure if it was adventure, comedy, or camp.

There are plenty of laughs to be had in Sheena, but it's quite impossible to tell how many of them were intentional. Attempt to install this 1930s jungle heroine in the pantheon of the contempo adventure icons fails to find a consistent tone.

Is this family movie just an excuse for the star to romp around wearing not an awful lot? Very probably.

Movies this bad make you wonder if somebody's kidding. [03 Sep 1984, p.73]

Roberts looks great bathing under a waterfall. It's just that no one had the heart, during this production, to tell her that it was stupid. And so, while all about her are laughing up the short sleeves of their safari jackets or rattling their Zambooli spears in impatience, Roberts plays Sheena as high drama, as best she can, which isn't so good. [18 Aug 1984, p.C1]