From New York Times Short Film Reviews
A Heartfelt Alien Encounter, June 14th, 1985
For nearly a century, since the time of H.G. Wells, alien invaders have been the stand-in for all of society’s ills: colonialism, communism, nuclear war, environmental decay. But lately, thanks largely to Steven Spielberg, that has begun to change.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind and
E.T. The Extraterrestrial both showed us that aliens can be good, loving, helpful, and curious.
Cocoon, directed by Robert Zemeckis[1] (
Back to the Future) and starring Don Ameche, Wilford Brimley, Hume Cronyn, and Jessica Tandy, turns the mysterious Antareans into virtual angels, and their mysterious mission surrounding the mystical titular cocoons into one of mercy and rescue. It’s also a story of age, youth, and relationships, a story of love, understanding, and responsibility. The all-star cast brings to this sentimental comedy a sense that youth is a state of mind and love and understanding a necessary choice that everyone has to make. Zemeckis’s direction brings out the inherent humor and sentimentality of the sci-fi situation without delving into sappiness or saccharine. As with his earlier works, the comedy can veer into adult territory, so take the “T” rating seriously when considering the young, but in all this is a good, sentimental adult comedy for the young at heart.
Cocoon, rated T for adult language, adult situations, and sexuality, ⭐ ⭐⭐ ⭐
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, June 21st, 1985
Never mess with a classic; that is the lesson that must be soaking in at Walt Disney Studios after their misplaced attempt to make a sequel to the classic 1939 MGM musical
The Wizard of Oz. And if you’re expecting a return to the magic of the original, then you will be sadly disappointed.
Return to Oz is a creepy, atmospheric tale where the magical land of Oz is in ruins, Dorothy’s old friends are turned to stone, and even the yellow brick road is in ruins. Gone (save for cameos) are your favorites from the first film like the Scarecrow, the Tinman, and the Cowardly lion and in their place are the significantly less memorable (and generally creepy) Jack Pumpkinhead, mechanical Tik-Tok, and the flying moose-headed Gump. And all with no cheery musical numbers sprinkled in to soften the blow. While fans of the books may be happy that the film tacks closely to the original L. Frank Baum novels, for those only familiar with the film version (presumably most of the audience) the sight of the head-swapping Princess Mombi or the terrifying Wheelers, much less Dorothy getting electroshock therapy, are sure to leave them shocked and possibly outraged. Children watching this may well be traumatized. And yet, positive features do stand out. Young Fairuza Balk puts in a commendable performance as an age-appropriate Dorothy Gale. The Creatureworks effects are incredible and may get Oscar notice. The music and direction can be atmospheric and moody. And yet all of this doesn’t do enough to make up for the disjointed pacing nor the shocking swerve in mood and tone from the beloved original. By the end you’ll be begging for lions, tigers, and bears (oh my!)[2].
Return to Oz, rated PG for fantasy violence and disturbing imagery, ⭐⭐
“Spies” Slightly Shy of a Success, September 21st, 1985
Hyperion Pictures’ second John Landis film,
Spies Like Us, part of a two-picture back-to-back production deal that included the successful comedy
The Three Caballeros, is a mixed bag[3]. Starring Chevy Chase and Dan Ackroyd with cameos by Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy, the cold war musical comedy follows two inept spies on a mission with apocalyptic implications in what Landis calls “a salute to the old Hope & Crosby ‘Road to…’ films.” In this spirit, and like the successful
Caballeros, the film is full of musical numbers that come out of nowhere and whose diegesis is unclear. And while this worked well in the openly surreal
Caballeros, in
Spies it lacks the self-aware fun and openly clashes with the apocalyptic stakes, robbing it of much of what made the earlier musical comedy work. Chase and Ackroyd are certainly fun to watch and their interactions are the greatest strength of this film, but that screen chemistry is not quite enough to manage a shaky plot that takes us through a series of semi-related set pieces. That said, as an empty popcorn film it will certainly entertain audiences even as it fails to enrich them.
Spies Like Us, rated T for adult language, adult situations, mild violence, and drug use, ⭐⭐½
Through the Looking Glass, Darkly, October 15th, 1985
This is the story of Alice. The
real Alice, not her fictional doppelganger who follows a white rabbit down a hole. And this Alice is far from a little girl. Instead, she is 80 years old and her childhood innocence, and the strange Reverend who told her those fantastic tales so long ago, are far, far behind her. She has come to America for an honorary degree built upon this other man’s stories of her, but when her young escort Lucy falls in love and leaves her sitting alone, the stories, and that past, return to her. And it is not a whimsical and innocent wonderland.
Dreamchild, released and distributed by Fantasia Films, is not the
Alice in Wonderland you remember from Walt’s animation, but a darker place, filled with twisted funhouse versions of your favorite Wonderland characters. Rather than revel in innocence and imagination, this trip through the looking glass explores themes of that same innocence lost, the fears of loss, exploitation, the casual cruelty of human social interaction, and the increasingly dark looking glass of human memory. Imagination here is replaced by hallucination. Whimsey is replaced by fear, guilt, and shame. And Alice’s wonderland friends, painstakingly rendered in seeming flesh and blood from the original Sir John Tenniel drawings by Disney’s Creatureworks, are glorious in their nightmarish apparition. The Mad Hatter, March Hare, Mock Turtle, and Caterpillar come to glorious, and frightening life as the voice of old Alice’s memories, fears, and repressed guilt.
So far ticket sales have been brisk[4], but parents take caution, because this is not a whimsical take on the Lewis Carroll tales, but an existential exploration of innocence, time, and memory. This is fantasy drama that will scratch at your fears, both childhood and adult, and tug at your heartstrings. It is an unvarnished look at the challenges of life and the limitations of innocence and memory.
Dreamchild, rated PG for disturbing scenes and adult situations, ⭐⭐⭐⭐.
A Sentimental Journey, November 28th, 1985
Sort of this…
Taking an old film and remaking it is a challenge. And when done as a labor of love, sometimes the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia can blind producers to the elements that were abandoned in the modern day for a reason. Such might easily have been the case with Amblin and Universal’s
Always, staring Richard Dreyfuss, Holly Hunter, John Goodman, Rob Lowe, and Audrey Hepburn. A remake of 1943’s
A Guy Named Joe, the supernatural relationship story was super sentimental to begin with, and both Spielberg and Dreyfuss have a deep love for the piece[5]. Such a scenario could easily lead a very sappy a super reverential passion-piece, but in the hands of up and coming director Ron Howard the results are a beautifully sentimental WWII period romance that avoids the pitfalls of sappiness and self-reverence and delivers a story that tugs the heart strings without strangling you with them. The story follows Pete Sandich (Dreyfuss), a WWII bomber pilot, who is killed on a reckless mission, but returns in semi-angelic form to help save hotshot young pilot Ted Baker (Lowe), who is also in a budding romance with Sandich’s widow Dorinda (Hunter). The film marks a triumphant return for Dreyfuss following his earlier issues with substance abuse and marks a brilliant big budget debut for Howard, who tackles the Old Hollywood plot well, maintaining that old fashioned sentimentality but balancing it with modern sensibilities. The end result is a date night must.
Always, rated T for language, some violence, and adult situations, ⭐⭐⭐½
A Delightful Return to Form for Disney, November 23rd, 1985
Essentially this…
After taking a dark turn with 1984’s
The Black Cauldron, Disney Animation has given us their most delightful and whimsical film since
The Rescuers.
Elementary! is based upon Eve Titus’ and Paul Galdone’s
Basil of Baker Street stories and follows the adventures of Basil, a great mouse detective who lives in the floor of Sherlock Homes’ apartment at 221B Baker street in London. Basil and his friends must rescue the father of innocent Olivia from the Moriarty-like Professor Ratigan, who is brought to glorious, scenery-devouring life by the great Vincent Price. The film is fun, light-hearted, and comedic more in the vein of Classic Walt Disney animation features. Directed by Ron Clements, Bunny Matheson, and John Musker, with art from animators Andreas Deja and Patty Paulick[6],
Elementary! maintains a gorgeous balance between the soft and warm colors associated with Basil and the dark, cold pallet associated with Professor Ratigan. It’s a simple story of loving good versus cackling evil that is full of heart, beauty, and adventure, with exciting aerial balloon chases and a manic dash among the grinding gears of Big Ben. For those who love the darker turn taken by
Cauldron, this movie may feel quaint and safe, but for those who prefer the cute whimsy of Old Disney, then this is the animated feature you’ve been waiting for. Either way, it is highly recommended for fans of Disney and, unlike its predecessor, is wholly appropriate for children of all ages.
Elementary!, Rated G, ⭐⭐⭐½
[1] Originally intended to direct
Cocoon in our timeline, but after the failure of his earlier films (e.g.
Used Cars) and the executives being unimpressed by the screening of
Romancing the Stone that they saw, 20th Century Fox fired Zemeckis (who instead went on to direct
Back to the Future once
Romancing the Stone became a big hit) and replaced him with Ron Howard, who is coming up in this very post! In this timeline Zemeckis is directing
Back to the Future in ‘83/’84 for Disney and someone else is directing
Romancing the Stone. Fox execs in this case liked what they saw with
Back to the Future, so they went ahead and kept him on board for
Cocoon. It will perform pretty much on par with our timeline.
[2] As in our timeline will make about $11 million against a $28 million budget, but will get Oscar nominations for special effects and will gain a cult following on VHS.
[3] Critics will be mixed on the film, as per our timeline, but audiences will enthusiastic, with the film capturing a good share of the box office, $67 million box office against a $22 million budget, worse than our timeline by a bit since the campy musical numbers alienated some.
[4] In our timeline Universal was going to handle distribution, but legal disputes limited the film to only making a short-lived “arthouse” run. It received glorious reviews, but suffered a major financial loss. Here, when they went to Henson for the effects he agreed to distribute and share production through Fantasia Films. It will be a mild success in this timeline and be nominated for several awards.
[5] The film was a long running passion project for Spielberg and Dreyfuss since the days of
Jaws. In our timeline it was on hold until 1989 when Spielberg directed it himself, falling into exactly the sentimentality trap the reviewer is discussing. Here butterflies and the availability of Howard (who is
not directing
Cocoon) allows him and Dreyfuss to launch it four years earlier. In this case It remains a WWII story, not a modern story with fire bombers. It will perform well but not spectacularly ($64 million worldwide against a $22 million budget) and serve as the breakout film for Howard.
[6] Since Mike Peraza is still working on
The Black Cauldron in this timeline, his wife Patty Paulick takes his place on Basil.