Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 19, 1992 TAG: 9202190355
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
3 KIDVID RELEASES WILL APPEAL TO YOUNG AND OLD
This week, we take a look at a few selections from the lower shelves of the video store. Kidvid - one new and two old.\ "Rover Dangerfield" was scheduled for a theatrical release last summer, but it didn't make the cut. Instead this animated musical arrives as a video original where it will find an appreciative audience.
Comedian Rodney Dangerfield - who also wrote the script and the songs, and served as executive producer - provides the voice of his canine alter ego. Rover does some stand-up routines for his pals in Las Vegas, but still can't get no respect. Then he runs afoul of his mistress's low-life boyfriend and winds up on a farm. Even though this city dog knows nothing about rural life, he falls hard for the pretty collie next door.
At first, this tale of con men, chorus girls and gambling seems ill-suited to a G-rated cartoon, but that changes as soon as the location shifts to the country. Oddly, Dangerfield's brand of comedy makes a smooth transition from adult humor to children's. He doesn't talk down to his young viewers. Jokes about men and women become jokes about various animals. His sense of timing is intact, and Rover's just a funny dog.
The animation is no great shakes; it's closer to Saturday morning cartoons than "The Brave Little Toaster," but again, kids who are more interested in the story and the songs will like it.
More mature young videophiles who have tuned into the sharp humor of the Comedy Central channel's Mystery Science Theater 3000 should take a look at "Earth Vs. the Flying Saucers." This is just the kind of movie that gets tweaked on the show, but Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion special effects make it a cut above average.
The plot of this 1956 B-epic is standard stuff that borrows liberally from H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds." Flying saucers, looking like Frisbees with thyroid disorders, appear everywhere. Before long, the aliens - guys in rubber suits without elbows - are demanding that the earthlings surrender. Can the heroes perfect their new sonic ray before the saucers destroy our nation's beloved capital?
The beginning is far too slow, but toward the end the use of Washington locations is effective. Add in the unintentional humor and cliches, and this one's a winner.
On a much more realistic level, we have "I Wanna Hold Your Hand." Teen- agers who are interested in the 1960s - from the attention being given to the film "JFK" and the revival of interest in the Beatles - will be intrigued by this 1978 comedy. It was director Bob Zemeckis's debut. He went on to make the "Back to the Future" series and "Who Framed Roger Rabbit."
This is the story of four New Jersey high-school girls who run off to New York to see the Beatles' appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. Adventure, romance and lots of policemen stand between them and the Fab Four in New York.
Toward the middle of the film, Zemeckis lets the pace slow in a wonderful sequence where one girl (Nancy Allen) finds herself alone in the group's hotel suite. Her rapturous reactions have a sexual/religious ecstasy that's completely believable, and it explains a lot about Beatlemania.
The rest of the film is a fast-moving throwback to the great screwball comedies. "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" is a real sleeper hiding in the back shelves of your favorite video store.
New releases this week:
Bingo: **1/2 Starring Cindy Williams, Robert J. Steinmiller Jr. Columbia Tristar. 88 min. Rated PG for bathroom humor and strong language.
This off-beat kids' comedy may be a bit too earthy for some parents. The gimmick is that our hero, played by a completely charming mongrel, is smarter than any of the people in the movie. Bingo can drive a pick-up, perform CPR, catch criminals, testify at their trial and even figure out square roots. It's supremely corny stuff made on a low budget, giving it a frayed, lived-in look that should play well with the younger (8-10) set.
Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man: Starring Don Johnson, Mickey Rourke. 95 min. MGM/UA. Rated R for strong language, violence, brief nudity.
This embarrassment rivals "Hudson Hawk" for the Worst Movie of 1991. Allegedly an "action" flick set in the near future, it's slow and boring with a meandering, pointless plot. In several long, long scenes, the dimwitted title characters (Rourke and Johnson) sit around and mumble about the possibility of God's existence or the nature of women or nothing at all. A lot of the time, they just sit and stare into the distance.
Body Parts: Stars Jeff Fahey, Kim Delaney. Directed by Eric Red. 100 minutes Paramount. Rated R for gore.
A modern Gothic tale with "Frankenstein" overtones. It has its share of grisly special effects, but the plot focuses more on an unscrupulous scientist's medical experiments that backfire than on serial murders. Gore-attuned thrill seekers will find it slow-going in the first half, and others too gruesome in the second.
Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead: Stars Christina Applegate, Joanna Cassidy, John Getz. Warner. Rated PG-13.
The title is deceiving, as the premise is dispensed with in seven minutes. But the teen-turned-mom switch-role isn't as bad as you might think. When the babysitter dies while Mom's away in Australia, the oldest sister (Applegate) in a brood of unruly, self-indulgent California kids is forced to find a job.
THE ESSENTIALS
\ Rover Dangerfield *** for kids, ** for adults. Warner. 78 min. Rated G.
\ Earth Vs. the Flying Saucers **1/2 Goodtimes. 83 min. Unrated, contains no objectionable material.
\ I Wanna Hold Your Hand *** Warner. 99 min. Rated PG for strong language, sexual content.