THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 24, 1994 TAG: 9411230068
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
BEFORE AND AFTER seeing ``Miracle on 34th Street,'' I could think of no good reason why the 1947 movie should have been remade. There are those of us who think the original is No. 1 in the Christmas sweetstakes. Yes, even better than ``It's a Wonderful Life.''
The new version, starring Sir Richard Attenborough as the kind old man who thinks he really is Santa, is earnest, well-meaning and colorful to watch, but Edmund Gwenn, who played Santa all the way to an Oscar, was authentic. The much-touted efforts to bring the story into the 1990s amount to no more than window dressing.
Attenborough is fine in the central role, ably abetted by little Mara Wilson as Susan, the child who is being made to grow up before her time by her worldly mom. Wilson has the wide-eyed look of wonder, coupled with a precocious bent that is believable in terms of children today.
Actually, ``Miracle on 34th Street'' is more pertinent today than it was in 1947. Everyone is more cynical now. Kris Kringle's message is doubly needed: ``If you don't believe, you are doomed to a life of doubt.''
Elizabeth Perkins is a department-store executive who has been knocked about by life. A failed marriage leaves her tough; still, it's hard to figure why she doesn't notice that the neighborly lawyer (Dylan McDermott) is just about perfect. He loves Santa and he loves l'il Susan. He has a high-paying job. He wears tailored suits. He wants to marry her. Why's she kicking up such a fuss? Anyway, she comes to believe, as does everybody.
Perkins is a fine actress who has scored in good movies (``Avalon,'' ``Big'') but has had numerous flops in between. Here, she spends a good deal of time pushing that sophisticated hairdo out of her face. McDermott, who scored with Clint Eastwood in ``In the Line of Fire,'' is a leading man of tomorrow.
Still, the 1947 plot hasn't been updated enough in some ways. Would a mommy let her little girl visit the man next door, a man she hardly knows? A troublesome distraction is that Macy's foolishly refused to let its name be used, making the whole Macy's vs. Gimbles competition nonexistent. The movie works only when Attenborough and Wilson are on screen.
Many scenes from the 1947 original remain, but, unbelievably, the best has been cut. That's the one when the postal authority delivers thousands of letters to Kris Kringle, seemingly proving that he is the real Santa.
John Hughes, who wrote the new script, substitutes a questionable theory when the judge reads ``In God We Trust'' on a dollar bill. He reasons that the government trusts in God, yet God isn't seen. Shouldn't the court, too, trust in Santa Claus? Besides beings simplistic, it opens the whole movie to a debate that, in effect, compares God to Santa Claus.
This solemn but sweet ``Miracle'' is going to have rough going against the more irreverent ``The Santa Clause,'' but you can't ever count out a John Hughes production. It was Hughes who turned ``Home Alone's'' Christmas setting into the biggest comedy hit in history.
Would people in 1994 be as warmed by a Santa who practices honest salesmanship by sending customers to other stores for better bargains? Sadly, we probably would think he was a good deal more nuts than folks did in 1947. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
MICHAEL P. WEINSTEIN/20th Century Fox
Richard Attenborough is Kris Kringle in ``Miracle on 34th Street.''
Graphic
``MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET''
Rated: PG
Starring: Richard Attenborough, Elizabeth Perkins, Dylan McDermott,
Mara Wilson
Mal's rating: Two stars
by CNB