THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 30, 1997 TAG: 9701300031
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: 50 lines
THERE IS something quirky about a movie that centers upon an obsession between a dolphin and a dog.
More likely, ``Zeus and Roxanne'' is about money-grubbing. The rash of kiddie movies about animal species that do unusual stunts has apparently just about run out of steam. We've had a seal, several canines, a panda bear, ducks and various other creatures. Hollywood took note, though, when both ``Lassie'' and ``Flipper'' flopped at the box office last year. If a solo doesn't work, perhaps the solution is to try a duet.
In any case, Zeus, a pooch, barks once and Roxanne, a dolphin that must be freed, flips. As Tevye the dairyman says in ``Fiddler on the Roof,'' ``a fish may love a bird, but where would they live?'' The scriptwriters, given the cutesie situation, work hard to make this premise last 90 minutes.
Kathleen Quinlan, coming back down to earth after her Oscar nomination for ``Apollo 13,'' plays a marine biologist who has given up rent money to quit her job and free Roxanne.
This, as we know from the Willy flicks, is not as easy as just opening the valve and pushing her through. Roxanne needs coaxing from Zeus, and Zeus is owned by the widower across the street - a rock musician who is suffering from writer's block.
Wide-eyed Steve Guttenberg is 20 years past ``Diner'' and flubbed his box office bonanzas ``Three Men and a Baby'' and ``Cocoon'' by taking four ``Police Academy'' no-brainers. Still, he takes his shirt off at every opportunity and makes cow eyes at Kathleen. He has a likable kind of blandness that never evolved into stardom. Here, he wears an earring and occasionally takes to a motorcycle. Oh well, it was also the week of Pat Boone's heavy metal transformation. Must be the time of the full moon.
Kathleen's daughters play ``The Parent Trap'' with mom, relentlessly setting up romance.
Young theatergoers who want to see the dolphin and the dog will wish the mushy humans would get out of the way, because it's obvious they're going to get hitched anyway. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
MOVIE REVIEW
``Zeus and Roxanne''
Cast: Steve Guttenberg, Kathleen Quinlan, Miko Hughes, Jessica
Howell
Director: George Miller
MPAA rating: PG
Mal's rating: two stars