Pearl Harbor

 

Epic Portions

A Japanese bomber soars over the ill-fated Hawaiian harbor in the early morning hours of that infamous date in history. As it releases it's deadly weapon of destruction, the camera follows it down, a 'bomb's eye' view of it's descent into the hull of the USS Arizona. Ripping through the bulkheads like tissue paper, it comes to rest in the battleship's hull, moments later exploding, dealing a crippling blow to the unsuspecting American fleet.

This creative camerawork is one of the highlights of the exhausting middle hour of Pearl Harbor (released by Disney's Touchstone division), the latest motion picture account of the devastating events that led to the United States' involvement in World War II. Played out in real time, the attack scenes have a raw intensity, a "you are there" feel that every war film following Saving Private Ryan is now obligated to have.

Unfortunately, this thrilling yet gut-wrenching sequence is bookended by two more hours of story. The film is it's own mini-saga, an instant gratification trilogy, packing three distinct movies into one very long three-hour-plus running time.

The first hour or so provides the back story, a love triangle involving two lifelong buddies-turned-fighter pilots (Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett) who both fall for the same beautiful Army nurse (Kate Beckinsale). This doomed romance owes a great deal to an earlier classic, From Here to Eternity. There is an intentional effort put into recreating the look and feel of, not the 1940s time period itself, but of the films of that era, with the 'aw-shucks' patriotism and 'doin' it for my girl back home' bravado. But a little of this goes, as most clichés often do, a long way. By the time the oh-so predictable plot twists are reveled (I'm giving nothing away by saying that the apparent demise of a certain character is negated by the fact of which actor is playing the role), I was giving into the un-American urge to scream "just bomb the place already!"

Following the sensory over-load of the titular tragedy, we are subjected to the built-in sequel: the subsequent "Doolittle Raid" on Tokyo. This tactic, of tacking on the requisite 'happy ending' where the American forces are victorious, is painfully obvious, albeit not entirely unjustified. This is, after all, an American film made by an American company for American audiences eager to reawaken their latent flag-waving genes.

As brought to the screen by uber-producer Jerry Bruckheimer, he-man director Michael Bay (who previously collaborated on such testosterone-fests as The Rock and Armageddon) and Braveheart scribe Randall Wallace, Pearl Harbor hopes to follow in the box office footsteps of a certain other fictionalized-romance-set-against-the-backdrop-of-a-cataclysmic-history-altering-event-epic-motion-picture-event. (You know what I'm talking about; I'll resist jumping on the bandwagon of so many who are quick to pontificate on the many similarities between the two films. I won't even invoke the "T" word here.)

Director Bay is not known for his handling of actors; he is much more at home blowing stuff up; this film is his attempt at breaking out of the 'glorified B-movie' ghetto he has created for himself. But while he is preoccupied with endless low-angle shots of our heroes in slow motion and embarrassing attempts at symbolism (let's just say that he could be arrested for desecrating a lot of flags in this movie), some fine performances do emerge.

In previous films such as Good Will Hunting and Bay's Armageddon, Ben Affleck has perfected his 'guy's guy' persona, while still maintaining enough goofy sensitivity to add to his appeal to women. As Rafe McCawley , he taps further into that 'feminine side,' fleshing out his character into a truly romanticized war hero, one you could truly "keep the home fires burning" for. And, even with having to bark such lines as "just get me in a plane!", this is his best performance to date.

Kate Beckinsale, icy before in her work in such films as The Last Days of Disco and Cold Comfort Farm, blossoms into a screen siren in here pivotal role as Evelyn Johnson. With period hair and make-up that would give Ava Gardner a run for her money, and a flawless American accent, I didn't even recognize this British actress who's most famous role to date was Jane Austin's Emma on A&E. Her role as a nurse also makes it possible to show the women behind the men in this 'man's war'... Rosie the Riveter would be proud.

Josh Hartnett plays the final point in this lover's triangle, Danny Walker. While his boyish good looks and constantly wounded demeanor make him the likely heir to the throne of Leo in the hearts and fan mags of teenage girls everywhere, he has the acting chops to be the one to watch for in the future.

The roles played by the above three actors are fictitious, but there are historical figures represented in Pearl Harbor as well. Alec Baldwin, former leading man who has now graciously moved on to such character roles, plays Colonel James H. Doolittle, the career army man behind the retaliation strike against Japan. Cuba Gooding Jr. portrays real life hero Dorie Miller, an Army cook who took to the guns to down several enemy aircraft during the raid. Japanese acting legend Mako adds quiet dignity to role of Admiral Yamamoto. And yes, underneath the rubber face, that is Jon Voight as President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

While at times rousing and jaw-dropping in it's spectacle, Pearl Harbor indulges to much in it's own self-appointed fervor. Some economy should have been applied to the storytelling, as the human aspects amount to little more then filler as we watch the clock tick down to 7:55 A.M., December 7, 1941.

Toon Talk Rating: C+
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 183 minutes
In theaters now nationwide.

Toon Talk Trivia:

• A fighter pilot is seen painting a familiar looking duck on the side of his plane.
• Cuba Gooding Jr. will lend his vocal talents to the upcoming Disney animated film Home on the Range.
• FDR has made other appearances in Disney productions, including The Hall of Presidents at the Magic Kingdom, The American Adventure at Epcot and in The Wonderful World of Disney television version of the Broadway musical Annie.

-- Originally posted May 28, 2001

Shrek

Green With Envy

First things first: Shrek is not a Disney film. Occasionally, Toon Talk will review animated films that are not produced by Disney that are still of interest to our readers.

That said, Shrek is the latest release from DreamWorks SKG's animation division. As every movie fan knows, the SKG stands for (Steven) Spielberg, (Jeffrey) Katzenberg and (David) Geffen. These three entertainment heavyweights teamed up to form their own studio several years ago, with former Disney exec Katzenberg handling the animation arm of the studio. And, again, everyone knows the animosity between Katzenberg and Michael Eisner upon his departure from the Disney company.

Thus we come to Shrek: filled with irreverent pokes at Katzenberg's former Mouse House boss, some say it is his 'revenge' against Eisner. While the movie does have it's share of in-jokes and allusions to the classic Disney animated films (appearances by Pinocchio, Peter Pan, Snow White, et al; the evil lord's castle is run like a certain world famous theme park), it is not a wall-to-wall smear of Disney. None of the jabs are overtly mean-spirited, but they are not quite original either. We've seen these take-offs before, in everything from National Lampoon's Vacation to The Simpsons, and in most cases with better results. And for the record, most of these jokes can be seen in the trailer.

The hero of this fractured fairy tale is Shrek, a reclusive ogre voiced by Mike Myers, in a variation of the Scottish brogue he used for his "Fat Bastard" character from Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. Shrek is quite comfortable in his swampy home, that is until his serenity is disturbed by the arrival of a wise-cracking talking donkey (Eddie Murphy, channeling Chris Rock) and hordes of dwarfs, fairies and other nursery rhyme folk. Seems that the ruler of the neighboring kingdom, the diminutive despot Lord Farquaad (John Lithgow) has issued a decree baring all magical creatures from his domain. (I guess that would make it the Non-Magic Kingdom.)

In order to rid his swamp of the pesky pixies, Shrek goes to confront Farquaad at his palace, an imposing structure with it's own queue line and turnstiles. After Shrek, WWF-style, defeats his army of soldiers, Farquaad agrees to clear out Shrek's swamp of it's unwanted squatters, but only if the ogre will rescue a certain damsel in distress, Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz), from her prison in a nearby castle, guarded by a ferocious fire-breathing dragon.

So Shrek, with the donkey tagging along, sets out to accomplish his mission. After rescuing the fair (yet feisty) maiden, who turns out to have a secret of her own, a variation of Beauty and the Beast plays out as they make their trek back to Lord Farquaad and his plans for marrying Fiona.

In the end, there is still the proverbial happy ending. It's this schizophrenic tone to the film, trying to simultaneously send up the fantasy genre while still embracing it's tenets, that ultimately undermines the film. What Shrek is is an attempt to bring an old fashioned fairy tale into the 21st Century. The question is, do we really need that, especially in this crude-minded form?

To add that 'hip' spin to this version, we are subjected to jarringly inappropriate rock songs on the soundtrack, modern slang like "24/7" sprinkled into the dialogue, and a hero who literally burps and farts his way through the story. (Bodily fluids are the subtext here... earwax, spit, snot, even urine makes an appearance in one truly tasteless example. Welcome to the Tom Green era of movie comedy.)

The film is not totally devoid of it's own brief glimmers of wit and creativity. Funny bits such as Farquaad's interrogation of a hapless Gingerbread Man, the Magic Mirror's Dating Game-style prognostications and an expected but still humorous parody of the ubiquitous musical number (an oddly French Robin Hood introduces his Merry Men through song) do illicit laughs. And the photo-realistic computer animation, provided by DreamWorks' Pacific Data Images, creates a believable storybook landscape, although human characters still haven't been perfected enough to erase that stiff, creepy-fake look.

It's very in fashion lately to take pot-shots at Disney, and has been for some time. The difference here is that it is being done under the watch of a former Disney insider, the man who oversaw The Lion King and then watched it become the highest grossing animated film of all time, only to be unceremoniously shown the door soon after.

By turning the tried-and-true Disney fairy tale formula inside out, Katzenberg is thumbing his nose at the animation establishment for years dominated by Disney. Is it just sour grapes that Katzenberg would suffuse this rather rote storyline with such base humor in a vain attempt to produce his own blockbuster?

Toon Talk Rating: C-
MPAA Rating: PG
Running Time: 90 minutes
In theaters now nationwide.

Toon Talk Trivia:

• Eddie Murphy played another sassy sidekick, the incomparable Mushu, in Disney's Mulan.
• Veteran Disney voice-man Jim Cummings, best known for his current roles as both Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, lends his vocal talents to the ensemble cast of this film.
• John Lithgow was the original actor cast for the role of Hades in Disney's Hercules.

-- Originally posted May 22, 2001

 

102 Dalmatians

Spotty Record

Dodie Smith's delightful 1956 novel The One Hundred and One Dalmatians has proved to be quite the cash cow for Disney, with varying degrees of quality for each successive installment. The classic animated film of 1961 (which pioneered the use of the Xerox animation process, revolutionizing the art form at that time) inspired the 1996 live action remake. That film (starring Glenn Close as the Grande Dame of Disney Villainy, Cruella de Vil) was a dark, mean-spirited romp that relied heavily on Home Alone-style slapstick violence that stripped the original story of it's simple charms. Nevertheless, the film was successful enough to spawn a mediocre Saturday morning cartoon series, Disney Stores filled with spotted puppy merchandise, and this requisite follow-up. Released as Disney's big holiday film last year (it under-performed and was surpassed at the box office by the black sheep The Emperor's New Groove), 102 Dalmatians is now available on VHS and DVD.

Continuing the story three years later, we find that Cruella, locked-up for her dog-napping shenanigans in the previous film, has undergone a miraculous transformation. Brainwashed to rid her of her insatiable desire for fur, this is a kinder, gentler Cruella. Her two-toned hair neatly coifed into an exaggerated pageboy, clad in animal friendly but still sartorially splendid designer fashions, she insists on being called "Ella" to reflect her new "leash on life". (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

However this is the same woman who snarled the immortal line "I don't care how you kill the little beasts, just do it! Poison them, drown them, bash them in the head ... you got any chloroform?" So any proposed rehabilitation is destined to be short-lived. Allying herself with portly prêt-à-porter peddler Jean-Pierre Le Pelt (Gerard Depardieu, who should lay off the French pastries), she promptly re-hatches her scheme to create a spotted dalmatian puppy fur coat, now hooded, thus the need for one hundred and two dalmatians this time.

Don't expect to see a lot of familiar faces in this installment. No Pongo and Perdita, no Roger and Anita. In fact, besides Cruella, the only other character from the 1996 film is puppy hero Dipstick, now grown with a family of his own: mate Dottie (you knew they would use that name eventually) and their three pups, Domino (white spots on his black ears), Little Dipper (black on his tail like his pop) and Oddball, so named for her complete lack of spots. They are joined by their "pets", Alice Evans as Chloe (Cruella's parole officer) and Ioan Gruffudd as Kevin (owner of a dog shelter). These two actors do a game job of staying out of the way of the fabricated doggie stunts.

While the first film failed due to the unavoidable comparison to the far superior animated version, this one fails on it's own merits. The premise itself is original and had potential, but first time live action director Kevin Lima opts for an overly cartoony feel for the film that progressively worsens as the story slogs along; Lima had more realistic human characters in the animated Tarzan.

For every clever bit (a scientist named Dr. Pavlov, a lawyer named Mr. Torte) you get ten eye-rollers (Cruella's clumsy henchman/valet stutters for no apparent reason; Depardieu's lone attempt at anything remotely comedic is to repeatedly pronounce "puppies" as "poopies"). For every glint of charm (the adorable pups of the "junior" Twilight Bark, which can even make a hardened film critic say "awwww") you get twenty juvenile gross-out gags (cue the doggie drool). And Disney should place a self-imposed moratorium on any further attempts to play homage to the classic spaghetti scene from Lady and the Tramp. Two meager attempts within six months of each other (this film and the recent video Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure) is quite enough, thank you. By the time we reach the climax (which involves a huge cake-baking machine in an unfortunate parallel to a similar scene in the much-better-and-that-was-a-real-cartoon Chicken Run) all pretenses of reality have gone to the dogs. (Oops, sorry again ... )

By far the biggest misstep is the presence of Waddlesworth, a talkative macaw voiced by Monty Python and Honey, I Shrunk the Audience alum Eric Idle. Admittedly, the film is basically a fantasy, but I couldn't get past the fact that so-called "talking birds" don't actually speak, just mimic the sound they hear. But this bird has a full vocabulary and acts as interpreter between the dogs and humans. Whereas the original story championed the fact that our canine heroes triumphed where humans failed, by putting the dog and human characters on the same level in this outing, not only does it lessen the importance of the dogs, it doesn't say much for the humans either.

Glenn Close was the only reason to sit through the horrid 1996 feature. The film was a way for Close to break loose from her usual repertoire of luminous saints (The Big Chill, The Natural) and sexual connivers (Fatal Attraction, Dangerous Liaisons). Borrowing heavily from her brilliant stage performance as Norma Desmond in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard (the ultimate diva role if there ever was one), Close brought Marc Davis' animated creation wickedly to life. Unfortunately, 102 finds her shrilly overboard, chewing scenery like it was kibble. Reduced to a a grossly overt caricature, diluted in its pomposity, what we see isn't Glenn Close playing Cruella de Vil, but Glenn Close playing a drag queen playing Glenn Close playing Cruella de Vil.

Toon Talk Grade: D
Running Time: 100 minutes
Available on VHS, Standard DVD, Widescreen DVD, and in a 2-Pack set of 101 Dalmatians and 102 Dalmatians


DVD Extras:
Audio Commentary:
Provided by director Kevin Lima, animal coordinator Gary Gero, animal trainer David Sousa and lead puppy trainer Julie Tottman.

The Top 10 Things We Learn From This Commentary:

1. Dalmatians do NOT make good pets unless you are willing to accept the responsibility for them.
2. Kevin Lima is no Scorsese. Obviously a green horn when it comes to live action film making, he naively marvels at "all the people it takes to make a movie".
3. Glenn Close was Lima's "mentor" on the film. (They did work previously on Tarzan, which Lima co-directed and Close starred as the voice of Kala the mother ape.)
4. Dalmatians do NOT make good pets unless you are willing to accept the responsibility for them.
5. Gerard Depardieu is a messy eater.
6. Animal trainers only talk about animals and how they train them.
7. Dalmatians do NOT make good pets unless you are willing to accept the responsibility for them.
8. The gooey dough that Cruella de Vil is immersed in at the end of the movie is made from the same substance used for milk shakes.
9. Glenn Close did almost all of her own stunts during that scene.
10. And finally.... dalmatians do NOT make good pets unless you are willing to accept the responsibility for them.

Featurettes:

• Creating Cruella: Glenn Close prepares to return to her most famous role. She mentions that she loved working with the puppies, but they weren't to crazy about her when she was in her full Cruella drag. Guess it's a natural instinct.
• Animal Actors: How they wrangled all the dogs, birds, etc. for the film.
• Designing Dalmatians: The most interesting bonus on the disc, it shows the creation of the sets, costumes and effects for 102 Dalmatians. For example, the puppies that played Oddball all had their natural spots; computer artists had to digitally erase each spot from each frame of film, a process that took a year. Other behind-the-scenes stuff explains how they made Waddlesworth talk and how they "spotted" London for Cruella's rebirth.

Visual Effects 102:
An interactive feature for kids, again showing how different effects were done for the film. There is a nifty effect in "Spot Removal" showing a split screen of different Oddball scenes, with and without spots.

Deleted Scene:
A virtual requirement of any DVD nowadays, deleted scenes can be lost treasures (check out this feature on the Erin Brokovich disc to see why Julia Roberts deserved her recent Oscar win), but more often then not one can see why the scissors were drawn. Case in point, this sole scene showing Cruella's release from prison, which would have added nothing new to the film and is merely padding here.

Puppy Overload:
Music video montage of film scenes to the movie's theme song "Digga Digga Dog".

Dalmatians 101:
Once again ... DALMATIANS DO NOT MAKE GOOD PETS UNLESS YOU ARE WILLING TO ACCEPT THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEM.

Soundtrack Promo:
Brief footage of Britney clones Nobody's Angel performing "Whatcha Gonna Do" from the soundtrack.

Theatrical Trailer:
Where you see some of the cut scenes, such as Cruella snuggling a pup in court and shrieking at her skunk purse.

DVD-ROM Features:
Includes "Cruella's Costume Creator" and DVD Destination Weblink.

Also, in the opening previews, there is a teaser for the upcoming direct to video 101 Dalmatians: The Animated Sequel due next year... guess we'll be seeing spots for years to come.

Toon Talk Trivia:

• Anthony Powell's outrageous costume designs for 102 Dalmatians were Oscar nominated this year. The bangles and bugle beads of Cruella lost to the togas and tunics of Gladiator.
• Interestingly, Waddlesworth shares a characteristic with another bird, the rooster in 101 Dalmatians: The Animated Series: they both want to be dogs.
• Although Pongo does not appear in 102 Dalmatians, Freckles, the dog who played him in the 1996 101 Dalmatians does: he returns in the role of Dipstick, Pongo's son.

-- Originally posted April 6, 2001

Spy Kids

Mi Familia es Espia

"Once upon a time there was a celebrated master spy, as cunning as she was beautiful. Her mission: assassinate a rival secret agent. Her target: a suave super sleuth, as dangerous as he was dashing. When their eyes met, guns were not drawn, hearts were broken. A passionate love was born that day and they were soon wed. But the wedding celebration was interrupted by evil arch villains, intent on destroying the happy couple, who were even more powerful together than apart. In order to survive, they were forced to retire from the active spy game. Eventually, a daughter and son were born and they all settled into domestic bliss, the perfect family, living happily, if not excitingly, ever after ... "

With this opening flashback, giddy in it's childlike vision of a thrillingly romantic espionage escapade, the stage is set for Spy Kids, the first family film released by Dimension Films (responsible for such hits as the Scream trilogy and it's spoofy take-off Scary Movie), the genre subsidiary of Miramax Films, itself owned by the Walt Disney Company.

Comfortable in their square suburban existence, former sleuths Gregorio and Ingrid Cortez (Antonio Banderas and Carl Gugino) spend their days worrying about their children, Carmen and Juni (Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara), and their nights as covert cloak and dagger consultants. As the kids are facing typical school-age problems (bullies, peer pressure), Mr. and Mrs. Cortez are called back into active service when former comrades start mysteriously disappearing. Being a tad rusty back out in the field, they uncover too late an even more sinister plot in motion and are quickly captured. Meanwhile, back at Casa de Cortez, Carmen and Juni discover that not only are mom and dad international spies, but that it is up to them to go to the rescue.

With an arsenal of nifty cool gadgets at their disposal, they must overcome sibling squabbles, double agents, condescending adults and an outrageous villain bent on no less then world domination. (As if a villain in such an over-the-top fantasy such as this would aspire to anything less.) Like a megalomaniacal Pee-Wee Herman, Tony Award-winning Broadway actor Alan Cumming plays Fagin Floop (note the nod to Dickens' classic Pied Piper figure), host of an insanely popular kiddie TV show who's trippy visuals and Toys 'R Us-ready creatures (think of an even-more hyped-up Telletubbies) is a front to control innocent young minds all over the globe. (Hmm ... I wonder if this explains the oddly appealing nature of Barney the Dinosaur...) In his secret lair (a twisted seaside castle that appears to be designed by the architectural firm of Burton, Dahl and Geisel), Floop is in the process of creating an army of robot children, the "spy kids" of the title. With blank expressions, mop tops and aluminum Battlestar Galactica fashions, they are the Children of the Damned for the digital age.

While the basic premise is quite simple (one wonders why no one has contemplated such a high concept before: James Bond Junior!), the film distinguishes itself with it's sly allusions to spy movies of the past. For example, Floop's minion (Tony Shalhoub) goes by the name "Minion" and the femme fatale is played by former Bond girl Teri Hatcher.

Not since the underrated 1995 feature My Family (Mi Familia) have we seen such a strong, positive Latino family unit on screen as the Cortezes. Antonio Banderas is best when he plays larger-then-life fantasy characters as he does here and in past films such as Desperado and The Mask of Zorro. Carla Gugino (formerly of Spin City) is equally charming as his better half; they smartly avoid the kid flick cliché of parents as overbearing ninnies.

Child actors have often been misdirected in such high tech adventure spectacles, coming off either annoyingly shrill (Jonathan Ke Quan as Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom) or frustratingly bland (Jake Lloyd as Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode I-The Phantom Menace). Thankfully, as these junior g-men, twelve year-old Alexa Vega and eight yea-old Daryl Sabara are not your typically cloying Tinseltown tots; they offer naturally winning performances that are the spirited center of the film.

Spy Kids auteur Robert Rodriguez (who not only wrote and directed the film, but was also the F/X supervisor, sound mixer, film editor and camera operator) burst onto the indie scene almost ten years ago with the low budget, ultra-violent El Mariachi. He followed that up with the gory vampire B-flick From Dusk Till Dawn and the bigger budget Mariachi "remake" Desperado, also starring Banderas. While it's quite a leap to go from gunslingers and blood-suckers to family friendly fare, he ably adapts his nuevo Latino style to a film aimed at the Pokémon crowd. From it's crayon-colored settings to the slow-mo strut of our heroes (this time under four-feet tall), Rodriguez obviously relishes reliving these childhood fantasies through the eyes of his young protagonists. A wise decision, as most films aimed at children have a jaded, adult sensibility, talking down to the characters, therefore the target audience as well. Apparently Rodriquez is still in touch with his "inner spy kid".

Toon Talk Rating: B
Running Time: 90 minutes
Now in theaters.

Toon Talk Trivia:

• Former Oingo Boingo front man and prolific film scorer Danny Elfman (Dick Tracy, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Good Will Hunting) composed the "Spy Kids Theme" and well as "Floop's Song", sung by Floop himself, Alan Cumming.
• Cumming also played Rooster Hannigan in the recent Wonderful World of Disney television production of the Broadway musical Annie.

-- Originally posted April 3, 2001

Remember the Titans

Gridiron Family Drama Scores

1971 was still a turbulent time for the Civil Right movement in America. Three years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., public schools remained segregated and violence often erupted in the streets. Coming on the heels of a racially-motivated murder, the desegregation of T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Virginia caused a highly-charged environment to become even more volatile. Nowhere was this potential tumult more apparent then with the forced integration of the celebrated T.C. Williams football team, the Titans.

As we are told in the beginning moments of Remember the Titans (released last fall and now available on home video and DVD), high school football in the South is a religion. The film's plot, using the true life story of Coach Herman Boone (Denzel Washington) and how he fostered interracial teamwork within the team, is a macrocosm depicting the times in which it is set: football is a way of life, thus life is reflected in football. If black and white can't get along in the real world, how can they win a simple football game?

Director Boaz Yakin deftly balances the perilous line between melodramatics and realism, only occasionally lacquering on the high-gloss sheen of typical Hollywood "feel good" message movies (Pay It Forward, anyone?) a little too thick. His greatest asset is in the fine ensemble of actors assembled for the film.

In previous films ranging from Philadelphia to The Preacher's Wife, Denzel Washington has always been a bit of a cypher to me. His well-honed characterizations, while technically impressive, are often cold and distant; it's as if he's too dignified to break a sweat. But then along comes a role such as his Oscar-winning turn in Glory. With a mischievous glint in his eye and a sly smirk of a grin on his face, one can sense the power bubbling just below the surface. He brings a touch of this "wild side" within to his performance in Remember the Titans. Barking orders like a drill sergeant, clenched fist beating the air, Washington takes command over the audience as easily as Coach Boone commands his players. As Edward James Olmos accomplished in the similarly themed Stand and Deliver, Washington resists the deification of the non-fictional individual he is portraying. Not a saint, he is simply a regular man just trying to do his job the best way he knows how, even if it is in the middle of a modern civil war.

Washington is ably supported by Will Patton (in a subtle performance that is a far cry from his most famous role to date, the ambiguous presidential aide in No Way Out) and an impressive cast of young men filling the uniforms of the Titans. This roster of talent is filled with faces to watch for: Kip Pardue (hippie Sunshine), Donald Adeosun Faison (wise-ass Petey), Ryan Hurst (loyal team captain Gerry Bertier) and Wood Harris (noble Julius). Young Hayden Pannettiere plays Patton's football loving tomboy daughter Sheryl. Spouting stats like a pro sportscaster, she meets her polar opposite in Washington's girlie-girl daughter Nicky (Krysten Leigh Jones), who would rather accessorize her dolls than toss the pigskin.

The performances help to overcome the predictability inherent in sports films. In other words, if you don't know who's going to win the "big game", then you've obviously never seen The Bad News Bears, Hoosiers, et al. Originally, Gregory Allen Howard's script was more "adult", laced with profanity as any film that takes place in a high school athletic department realistically would be. Credit the filmmakers for realizing the inspirational potential of the film, a message ideally suited for a PG-rated audience.

Toon Talk Grade: B+
Running Time: 114 minutes
Available on VHS, standard DVD and widescreen DVD

Both DVDs include two audio commentaries (one by real-life coaches Herman Boone and Bill Yoast, another by Boaz Yakin, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and writer Gregory Allen Howard), deleted scenes and the featurettes "Denzel Becomes Boone", "Beating the Odds" and "Remember the Titans: An Inspirational Journey Behind the Scenes"

Toon Talk Trivia:

• Producer Jerry Bruckheimer is better known for his loud action flicks then for a character-driven period piece. For the Disney company, Bruckheimer has produced such hits as The Rock, Con Air, Armageddon and Crimson Tide, the latter which also starred Denzel Washington. His next project is the big summer movie event Pearl Harbor, due this Memorial Day weekend.
• Hayden Pannettiere, who plays Sheryl Yoast in Remember the Titans, is well-known to Disney fans for supplying the voice of such spunky characters as Princess Dot in A Bug's Life and Suri in Dinosaur.

-- Posted March 21, 2001

Recess: School's Out

Summer Lovin'

The stars of Disney's One Saturday Morning animated series Recess make the leap from the small screen to the big screen in Recess: School's Out, a moderately entertaining feature that rehashes that age old conflict, kids versus adults, with the stakes being the ultimate recess: summer vacation.

The plot is set in motion on the last day of school, when the leader of the Recess gang T.J. (voice of Disney Channel TV movie staple Andrew Lawrence) is unexpectedly abandoned by his pals, who are all shipped off to various trendy summer camps. Bored and lonely, he stumbles across strange doings at the abandoned Third Street Elementary. T.J. enlists the aid of his arch-nemesis, Principal Prickly (Dabney Coleman, who has made a career of such blustery cranks), but this leads to a mysterious disappearance that forces T.J. into action. He must recruit his school mates for this pint-size mission: impossible.

The man behind all these mysterious occurrences is the school's former principal, Dr. Philliam Benedict, voiced by James Woods in the film's most obvious attempt at keeping the parents entertained. As with his deliciously wicked turn as Hades in Hercules, Woods puts a sly spin on even his most benign dialogue. Simply, he knows he's the bad guy and revels in that fact. His nefarious scheme, complete with an army of thugs and ninjas, is worthy of Ernst Stavro Blofeld: to eliminate summer vacation, he will do anything. And if that means he has to realign the moon to eliminate summer all together, so be it. Needless to say, it's up to the kids to stop him.

I have only caught a few episodes of the Recess TV show (why do they have to put Saturday morning cartoons on Saturday morning?), but from what I have seen, it isn't any different then any other school-based sitcom, from Saved by the Bell to Boy Meets World. First you have the racially diverse group of mop-tops, teaming with clichés: the nerd, the tomboy, the fat kid. Pit them against clueless teachers and principals. Sophomoric hilarity ensues. This scenario goes at least as far back as Welcome Back, Kotter, and it isn't any fresher now, especially as a full-length feature.

While most of the gags are aimed at those who would find "the principal has a saggy butt" a knee-slapper, there are a few good laughs tossed in for the adult's sake. In fact, not to sound sarcastic, but the high-point of the film for me was the end: during the end credits we are treated to a trippy, psychedelic music video of flower child anthem "Green Tambourine" with lead vocals by Robert Goulet (who played similar duty for the Toy Story 2 finale, with his Las Vegas-y version of "You've Got a Friend in Me".) The soundtrack is also pumped full of boomer-friendly tunes, including "Dancing in the Streets" and "Let the Sunshine In", as well as the over-used "Born to Be Wild" (if I have to hear that song used to illustrate the next time a character decides to hit the road and be rebellious, I will go wild).

Most television animated productions mask their lower budgets and need for mass production with an obviously forced stylization. Thus we have Rugrats' squigglely goofiness, Beavis & Butthead's scratchy minimalism and, with Recess, we get what can best be called lumpy blandness (take one look at schoolmarm harridan Ms. Finster and you'll see what I mean). This is easily expectable within the confines of television, but as the full-length versions of all these programs can attest, it visually suffers when forced into expanded feature film format.

Toon Talk Grade: C
Running Time: 82 minutes
In theaters now

Toon Talk Trivia:
In addition to James Woods, Disney fans will recognize the voices of the following in Recess: School's Out:

• Charles Kimbrough plays a TV newscaster, similar to his best know role, stiff anchorman Jim Dial on the long-running sitcom Murphy Brown. He provided the voice of Victor in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
• The folks at Disney must like R. Lee Ermey's militaristic voice: Here he voices an army officer, just like his Sarge, the leader of the Green Army Men, in the Toy Story films.
• Another Hunchback alumnus, Tony Jay was the evil Judge Frollo in that film, as well as Monsieur D'Arque in Beauty and the Beast. Here he voices a scientist.

-- Originally posted March 5, 2001