
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 23, 1994                   TAG: 9407290051
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: B-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By KATHERINE REED STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

`NORTH' IS SLOPPY SATIRE WITH WEAK JOKES

If Mel Brooks were to sit down with a funny friend (well, funny to him, anyway) and dream up a combination of "Home Alone" and "The Wizard of Oz," the result would be something very much like Rob Reiner's new movie, "North."

Unfortunately, we're talking about the Mel Brooks who made "History of the World - Part I" and "High Anxiety" - not the comic mastermind behind "Blazing Saddles" and "Young Frankenstein."

Reiner, who co-wrote the screenplay with Alan Zweibel and directed, seems to have had something totally outrageous and irreverent in mind with this movie, which follows the travails of a young boy named North (Elijah Wood). North wants to get rid of his selfish parents (Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Jason Alexander) and replace them with a more appreciative set. But like Brooks' less successful efforts, jokes painstakingly set up do not pay off, and sloppy satire ends up having a mean-spirited impact.

Take, for example, the second set of parents that North gives a try out on his journey around the world. Eskimo Mom and Dad wannabes Kathy Bates and Graham Greene ("Dances With Wolves") are sitting peacefully around the igloo, ice-fishing and cross-stitching, when suddenly Dad gets a gander at the time and realize it's time to "floe" Pops.

Huh?

Well, you know, Eskimos take the oldest members of their families, put 'em on an ice floe and let 'em die with dignity. So, off Pops (Abe Vigoda) must go after a long trek, but it is Richard Belzer, barking out orders to the departing old people, who really hammers the last nail in this gag's coffin. His snarling is supposed to be the punchline. Get it?

North's Hawaiian potential parents want to put his CRACK (a la Coppertone kid) on billboards all over the country! "My crack?" North screeches about a hundred million times. "My CRACK?!"

North's Texas potential parents (Reba McEntire and Dan Aykroyd) want to fatten him up like a prize cow so he will look as much as possible like their dead son, Buck. Buck was killed in a stampede. Some good-looking food is piled on North's plate, then Texans are dancing all around, singing and dancing. A big production number. Let the kid eat, I say.

No annoying film would be complete without Bruce Willis (as North's guardian angel - kids and angels are very big this summer) and a despicable child: that would be Mathew McCurley as the scheming Winchell.

But at least Willis has this bit of wisdom to offer, the very best advice to folks thinking of seeing "North" this weekend: "There's no place like home."

North

* 1/2

Columbia Picture release showing at Valley View Mall and Salem Valley 8. 87 minutes. Rated PG for profanity.

by CNB