THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 18, 1996 TAG: 9608160051
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E11 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: 59 lines
WHO WOULD have thought that the baby Moses would end up directing his dad or that Moses and Ben-Hur combined would have a movie stolen from them by a polar bear?
It happens in ``Alaska,'' a somewhat cornball but still entertaining family entry that features breathtaking mountain scenery that was photographed in British Columbia, not Alaska. The scenery itself is worth the price of admission (and makes us ponder how wonderful this film would have looked if photographed in the new IMAX 3-D format for the screen over at the Marine Science Museum).
The director, Fraser C. Heston, was, indeed, the baby Moses in ``The Ten Commandments,'' the Cecil B. De Mille spectacle that starred his dad, Charlton, who went on to win an Oscar for the title role in ``Ben-Hur.'' Here, Dad is the super-evil poacher who is trying to capture a baby polar bear to sell to a Hong Kong client. Agee, the cub who plays Cubby the bear, steals everything but the camera lenses.
The plot, a familiar and predictable situation concocted by Andy Burg and Scott Myers (a Virginia Beach native), has two youngsters, a tomboy age 13 and a big-city boy age 15 traipsing across snow, mountains and danger to rescue their father, who is downed in the wilderness.
Thora Birch (``Patriot Games,'' ``All I Want for Christmas'') and Vincent Kartheiser (``The Indian in the Cupboard'') bicker believably in brother-sister terms. Dirk Benedict (``Battlestar Gallactica'') is the hapless father, who hangs on the edge of a cliff for most of the movie.
It has a lot of implausibilities to sell. For one, the kids capsize in freezing rapids, but appear to dry off instantly, and without a chill. The bear, as adorable as he is, seems to change sizes from scene to scene (he looks huge when he's on the screen alone, but appears to be an itsy cub when seen with the kids). To make things more hokey, something sounding like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sings heavenly choruses whenever the kids get near a mountaintop. You might expect Julie Andrews' Mother Superior to break into ``Climb Every Mountain.''
No matter. ``Alaska'' is one of those ``Don't ask. Don't tell'' movies that persuades us to go along with the innocence and simplicity of it all. After all, it's near the end of summer and movies of this type are being rushed to the screen weekly.
Agee, who was born in Sweden and trained on a farm in Canada, is so winning, especially in his snow-play scenes, that he deserves a movie of his own - minus the humans. MEMO: MOVIE REVIEW
``Alaska''
Cast: Thora Birch, Vincent Katheiser, Dirk Benedict, Charlton Heston,
Agee
Director: Fraser C. Heston
MPAA rating: PG (mild language, adventure risks may be intense for
the smallest)
Mal's rating: three stars ILLUSTRATION: CASTLEROCK ENTERTAINMENT photo
Thora Birch and Vincent Kartheiser brave the Alaska wilderness to
rescue their bush pilot father, whose plane has crashed. by CNB