Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 26, 1993 TAG: 9306260012
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: B-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Their worst fears have been realized.
Some children will be entertained by this unashamed "Home Alone" clone, but just as many probably won't be. And older viewers who have outgrown juvenile humor should make other plans.
This film version has little to do with Hank Ketcham's comic strip. In print Dennis is an active suburban kid whose mischievous deeds occur off the page. On screen, he's a prepubescent terrorist. And with his limp dishwater hair, young actor Mason Gamble doesn't look a bit like the original Dennis. Instead, the filmmakers have turned him into a Macaulay Culkin wannabe.
Most of the "humor" in little Dennis' hi-jinks involves hitting adults in the crotch with hard objects. And grown-up characters - particularly women - who don't devote their lives to children are presented as failures or selfish monsters.
Writer/producer John Hughes didn't spend too much time or effort working out a plot. There are two conflicts in the film. One, of course, is between Dennis and Mr. Wilson (Walter Matthau). The other involves a nameless villain, called Switchblade Sam in the credits and played by Christopher Lloyd. Even though he's supposed to be a comic figure, with his nasty teeth and greasy appearance, he looks like a refugee from a cheap horror flick, and really has no place in this kind of kid's movie.
Margaret (Amy Sakasitz) and Joey (Kellen Hathaway) are on hand, too, but they really don't have much to do. Gina, the best supporting character in the strip, didn't make it to the screen.
The film itself is a series of slow, involved sight gags. The Little Rascals could have polished off all the action in a good one-reeler. It takes director Nick Castle ("The Boy Who Could Fly") more than an hour and a half to work it all out.
As for the acting, the adults and animals aren't bad. Matthau is well-cast, and so is Joan Plowright as Martha Wilson. Her reading of "Winkin, Blinkin and Nod" is the best moment in the film. Ruff is portrayed by a shaggy canine named Betty who bears a strong resemblance to the cartoon original.
It would be unfair to criticize the film too harshly. The young audience at a preview screening seemed about evenly divided between those who laughed in the right places and those who practiced their wind sprints in the aisles. Beyond a little crude bathroom humor, there's nothing really offensive about "Dennis the Menace." For kids who aren't ready for "Last Action Hero" or "Jurassic Park," it's an acceptable summer time waster.
Dennis the Menace: **
A Warner Bros. release playing at the Valley View Mall 6, Salem Valley 8 92 min. Rated PG for comic violence, some rude humor.
by CNB