Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 25, 1995 TAG: 9503270044
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: B-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It aspires to be the John Ford Western version of "The Wizard of Oz" as produced by the Disney studio. For brief moments, it comes close to that ideal, but more often it's a stuffy film that's too slow for younger children and too tame for those a few years older.
In 1905, 12-year-old Daniel Hackett (Nick Stahl) is ready to leave his idyllic farm in Paradise Valley, which looks like a computer-generated Hudson River landscape. He's entranced by horseless carriages and other new-fangled inventions until the evil Stiles (Scott Glenn) tries to force the people to sell their land for his railroad.
After Stiles' thugs shoot his father, Nick, carrying the deed to the farm, falls asleep in a rowboat. When he wakes up, he's far away from Paradise Valley in a place where the legendary heroes his dad has told him about are real.
There's the cowboy Pecos Bill (Patrick Swayze) with his blazing six-guns. (This being a Disney picture, he shoots bad guys in the trigger finger.) Paul Bunyan (Oliver Platt) is an environmentalist who looks and acts like a refugee from TV's "Northern Exposure." John Henry (Roger Aaron Brown) doesn't like the railroad, and seems out of place in Monument Valley.
To no one's surprise, they agree to help Daniel return to Paradise Valley and save the ranch, if he agrees to live by the Code of the West:
"Respect the land.
"Defend the defenseless.
"Don't spit in front of women and children."
Beyond the script by Steven L. Bloom and Robert Rodat, which veers wildly between chaotic action and formula cliches, the film's main problem is the characters themselves. These guys aren't exactly larger than life; they're hardly larger than Daniel. It isn't simply a matter of physical stature. In making these familiar characters warm and fuzzy for today's juvenile audience, the filmmakers have removed their mythic dimension. For legendary heroes, they spend a lot of time whining about the good old days.
Director Jeremiah Chechik (``National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation," ``Benny & Joon") does come up with some effective moments. Stiles' train is an impressive piece of cinematic sleight of hand, though nothing much is done with it.
Like the heroes, the film itself comes across as a pale knock-off of an original.
Tall Tale: The Unbelievable Adventures of Pecos Bill
* 1/2
A Walt Disney release playing at the Valley View Mall 6, Salem Valley 8. 96 min. Rated PG for mild violence, mostly comic.
by CNB