SNAKE BIT: Anacondas has neither the script nor the stars to live up to its quirky predecessor.

The first Anaconda (1997) boasted an eclectic cast (Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Eric Stoltz) and some quirky spins on the beast-gone-berserk formula. This retread, however, has neither stars nor script — just a slithering crush of computer-generated serpents. In Borneo a team of ambitious (read: greedy) scientists from a biotech company learns that the rare flower of the title (which blooms once every seven years) holds properties that, if spun correctly in a lab, could produce the fountain of youth in pill form. A mound of cash convinces a hardened boat captain (Johnny Messner) to take the landing party upriver at the height of the monsoon season. Once they hit the jungle, it’s like opening a can of worms. Crocs, leeches, spiders, and then a massive anaconda "mating ball" make the scene. Eugene Byrd competes for attention with the reptiles as the hip-hop hipster/fraidy cat and Matthew Marsden is a necessary evil as the avaricious corporate Ahab. The rest are snakebites. Director Dwight H. Little tries to rev up the Jaws chicanery a few too many times, and the group’s social dynamic, which feels borrowed from Survivor, could use a touch more reality. (93 minutes)