THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, May 8, 1995 TAG: 9505060042
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E5 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
WHENEVER CHUCK Norris tries to do something different, he gets shot down. His fans, who keep his cheaply produced action cartoons in production, apparently want the same movie over and over again.
Neither his staunch karate-kick fans nor a kiddie audience is likely to be pleased by ``Top Dog,'' a misbegotten attempt for tough Chuck to get funny.
Norris hops on the derelict bandwagon that prompted a rash of so-called ``family'' movies a year ago, when even Arnold Schwarzenegger adopted a boy co-star in ``Last Action Hero.'' The softened action flicks came across as more hypocritical than ``family''; they overestimated the market and pleased neither adult action fans nor children.
With toned-down fight scenes aimed at a PG-13 rating, ``Top Dog'' is another copy of the man-dog teams of 1989's ``K-9'' (James Belushi and a German shepherd) and ``Turner and Hooch.''
The seemingly foolproof formula is torpedoed by a heavy-handed plot that is totally unsuitable for children (and, at the same time, boring for adults). A white supremacist group, led by a meanie with a German accent, plans to bomb an international Racial Unity meeting. It is a coincidence that the unfortunate bomb plot is released when America is still mourning the real life bombing in Oklahoma City.
TV and film producers are reportedly scrambling to edit bombing scenes from upcoming product. They should be ashamed of themselves that the most prominent theme in last summer's flicks were bomb maulings, including the expensive ``True Lies.''
It is amazing that Norris has made this many movies without improving as an actor. A frequent local visitor, off-screen he's charismatic, smart and entirely likable. Why does he turn into cardboard whenever a camera is pointed in his direction? He's just as stiff and monotone here as in previous outings. If they could capture the real Chuck Norris on film, things would be different.
For the sixth time, brother Aaron Norris (a one-time resident of Virginia Beach) directs. The film moves along briskly but the cheap budget often shows, particularly in the sparsely staged rally finale.
The real star, of course, is the canine headliner. It's Digby, a purebred Briard, a French herding dog. Playing Reno, a police officer with credentials similar to maverick cop Norris, Digby demands a car seat belt and snitches a roast chicken from Norris' table. He's diverting, but hardly enough to make up for the heavy plot.
If nothing else, the movie answers the question: Whatever happened to Timothy Bottoms? Star of such '70s classics as ``The Last Picture Show'' and ``The Paper Chase'' and a local resident while filming ``Rollercoaster'' at Ocean View, Bottoms has been relegated to 10th billing in a Chuck Norris film. It's not a happy situation for those who admired his early work.
Children may be amused by the dog's shaggy flouncing, but they should not be taken to a movie that opens with the murder of a grandfather and includes rantings of the Ku Klux Klan and the Aryan Nation. The mixture is unsuitable. ILLUSTRATION: MOVIE REVIEW
``Top Dog''
Cast: Chuck Norris, Clyde Kusassu, Digby, Timothy Bottoms
Director: Aaron Norris
MPAA rating: PG-13 (bombings, explosions, violence)
Mal's rating: one star
Locations: Chesapeake Square in Chesapeake, Main Gate, Military
Circle in Norfolk, Kemps River Lynnhaven, R/C Columbus in Virginia
Beach
by CNB