3/5 Liked it as a kid . . .
  by Eric S. Kim (Southern California)
. . . but now that I see it again, it wasn't as funny and interesting as it was years ago. The concept IS something that would certainly grab people's attention, and the performances by Sean Astin, Brendan Fraser, and (!) Pauly Shore keep it all going. The humor is kept neutral, so there's no over-the-top gags or horrible timing. However, I found it all no longer interesting. Maybe it's the early 90's rock scene, or the silly High School atmosphere. It all looks a bit outdated when seen today. I'm sure kids and teens of this generation will sadly ignore this mainly because of the early 90's fashion and music. But it isn't all that bad, "Encino Man" is still a good film, just not a very great one.

3/5 Stupid but funny.
  by ADRIENNE MILLER (TENNESSEE)
Encino Man starring Sean Astin, Pauly Shore, and Brendan Fraser is silly stupid even to this day. This is a film you can't take seriously, you will either love or loathe this playful comedy. Fraser and Astin are good actors but Shore... well he's not that talented. Encino Man is definitely a guilty pleasure, enjoy in secret.

3/5 5 Stars for Movie, only 3 for DVD, here's why....
  by Ewok_1982 (California)
I don't need to review this movie in detail, it's a classic for me, I love it, grew up with it, etc etc. I just thought I should mention a flaw I noticed with the DVD release and that is that an entire line/joke from the movie seems to have been cut out from the DVD.

In the scene when Pauly Shore and Sean Astin are taching Link to defend himself, wrestle, karate, etc. Link picks Pauly Shore up over his shoulders, spins him around a few times and drops him hard on the floor. When this happens Pauly Shore is SUPPOSED to go "owww, my pancreas." When this movie came out and was popular that was one of the really funny and memorable lines in the movie that people would go around repeating. It helped make Pauly Shore a big star in the 90's with his Weasil Lingo. However, it seems that in the DVD the "owww, my pancreas" was just taken out of the film entirely, not dubbed over or anything, just gone, and I can't imagine why because it wasn't vulgar or inappropriate in any way. It was just funny, and in a comedy movie those things are kind of important.

I'd be curious to know from anyone else who knows the movie well and has a copy of the DVD if that line is missing from their copy as well.

It might not seem like THAT big of a deal, but trust me, it sucks the humor right out of the scene. That line was the big pay-off of that scene, and was funny and popular enough to turn into sort of a catch phrase in the early 90's. So watching the movie and noticing that is kind of a disappointment, which is why I have to take a couple of stars away from the DVD. There is a short making-of kind of featurette from 1991 with a few of the big cast members in it, which for a fan, still makes owning the DVD worth it at a low price, along with having it in Widescreen, but if I'm being honest, when viewing the movie itself, I tend to just watch my old VHS copy, because it's 100% complete, no missing material.

Thought that people who really love this movie should know. If you're just a casual viewer, you probably won't mind this little flaw.

1/5 crap, thats all.
  by H. Paratte (grafton, n-s,canada)
i got this thig because it said that it resembled WAYNE's WORLD,a masterpeice.it doesnt , all this says is that ALL of these actors should deserve to die. this movie could be the leading cause in mass suicide.
horrible,just a horrible movie. DONT see it, please!

5/5 Most excellent, but quick question for other fans out there...
  by Lindsay (DFW, Texas)
Loved this movie since it came out, so I've had both the vhs tape and the dvd of it. Has anyone else noticed that on the dvd version, a part is missing? When Dave and Stoney are trying to teach Link how to fight to defend himself - at the end of that scene - you don't hear Stoney's wonderful line, 'Ow, my pancreas!'

What's up with that?

Oh, and I'd just like to point out that the movie Clueless (another great flick) owes a good part of its linguistic brilliance to Encino Man.