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—<br />
REVIEWS<br />
LARGE-FORMAT REVIEW<br />
CHINA: THE PANDA ADVENTURE ••1/2<br />
Starring Maria Hello, Xander Berkeley and Xia Yu. Directed by Robert M.<br />
Young. Written by Jeanne Rosenberg. Produced by Antoine Compin and Charis<br />
Horton. An IMAX release. Documentary. Unrated. Running time: 50 min.<br />
Shot in the lush green landscape of China's Wolong Nature Reserve and the<br />
rocky turf along the Yangtze River, "China: The<br />
Panda Adventure's" most gratifying moments<br />
are the larger-than-life depictions of these<br />
breathtaking settings, unseen by most Western<br />
eyes. Unfortunately, the spectacle provided by<br />
the large-screen format is largely wasted on<br />
the movie's schmaltzy storyline about Ruth<br />
Harkness' ("Coyote Ugly's" Maria Bello)<br />
search for the Giant Panda, with far too little of<br />
the already limited screen time devoted to the<br />
wondrous animal.<br />
Based on the true-life tale of American<br />
dress designer Harkness, who in 1936 was the<br />
first person ever to bring a live Giant Panda to<br />
the West, the movie opens with the desolate seamstress' arrival in Shanghai to<br />
retrieve the ashes of her deceased adventurer husband William Harkness. In his<br />
journals, William had left detailed accounts of having glimpsed the elusive and<br />
gentle Giant Panda, inspiring Ruth to continue her late husband's quest to study<br />
the creature up close. Time, however, is not on the couturier-turned-explorer's<br />
side, since she must race hunter Dakar )ohnston (Xander Berkeley), whose goal<br />
is<br />
to hunt down the beautiful black-and-white creature.<br />
Children, who seem to be the target audience of "China," are less<br />
likely to<br />
mind the simplistic narrative than their parents, but all age groups are sure to<br />
take note of the minimal amount of time that's actually devoted to the Great<br />
Panda. It's quite a shame, too, considering how much the frolicsome and loving<br />
cubs and their doting mama bear light up every inch of the 70-foot-high<br />
screen during their fleeting scenes. Nonetheless, families could do a lot worse<br />
than spending an afternoon catching momentary views of China's awe-inspiring<br />
forests and the endangered species that lives deep within them, forgiving— if<br />
only temporarily—the silly, though, entirely harmless drama that ends up dominating<br />
the movie. Francesca Dinglasan<br />
••<br />
TRAINING DAY<br />
Starring Denzel Washington, Ethan<br />
Hawke, Snoop Dogg and Macy Gray.<br />
Directed hy Antoine Fuqua. Written by<br />
David Ayer. Produced hy Jeffrey Silver and<br />
Bobby Newmyer. A Warner Bros, release.<br />
Drama. Rated R for strong brutal violence,<br />
pervasive language, drug content and brief<br />
nudity. Running time: 1 16 min.<br />
Antoine Fuqua's "Training Day" is an<br />
intense yet frustrating study of the notion<br />
of street justice. Fuqua ("The<br />
Replacement Killers"), working with<br />
David Ayer's script, uncovers the fine line<br />
between undercover police tactics and corruption,<br />
but is otherwise unable to present<br />
any further scrutinj leaving the film and<br />
itsael.irscoastinyc.ua shallow plane.<br />
"Training Day" follows idealistic rookie<br />
Jake Hovt (Ethan Hawke) through his<br />
first day as an undercover narcotics squad<br />
officer.<br />
He's being trained by the head of<br />
the division himself, veteran Detective<br />
Alon/o Harris (Den/el Washington), a<br />
man of lew words, and a formidable presence.<br />
The initial training scenes are quite<br />
funny, with Alonzo relishing his superiority<br />
and indulging his gruff demeanor to<br />
play mind games with his rookie. Alonzo<br />
likes to be blunt both in what he says and<br />
what he does, but eventually his actions<br />
become inexplicably unnerving.<br />
The problem arises when the elements<br />
of the story switch over into mind-boggling<br />
extremism. Alonzo's wicked plans<br />
unfurl abruptly, without a carefully constructed<br />
intensification. Alonzo's character<br />
exists<br />
to represent an idea, to make a<br />
point, and subtlety is not often included in<br />
such an equation. Had Alonzo's character<br />
been less bipolar—the crazed bully and the<br />
teasing jokester— the tension building<br />
between the two main characters would<br />
have been electrifying. The same could be<br />
said for the film itself—eventually it just<br />
rises to the level of a veil and remains<br />
there.<br />
Jake, on the other hand, spends most of<br />
the film in a state of distrust and disbelief<br />
one that the audience is meant to<br />
share. This is the most interesting aspect of<br />
the film, the confusion between duty and<br />
morality, but Fuqua cannot surpass the<br />
script's superficiality. In a film that introduces<br />
such potentially powerful situations,<br />
its level of predictability and its misuse of<br />
its talented cast is simply disappointing.<br />
— Barbara Goslawski<br />
VAMPIRE HUNTER D: BLOODLUST<br />
• ••1/2<br />
Voiced by Andrew Pltilpot, Mike<br />
McShane, John Rafter Lee, Wendee<br />
Lee, Julia Fletcher, Matt McKenzie,<br />
John Dimaggio, Alex Fernandez,<br />
Jack Fletcher, Pamela Segall, John<br />
Hostetter, Dwight Schultz and Mary<br />
Elizabeth McGlynn. Directed by<br />
Yoshiaki Kawajiri. Written hy<br />
Yoshiaki Kawajiri, Mataichiro<br />
Yamamoto and Masao Maruyama.<br />
Produced by Mataichiro Yamamoto<br />
and Masao Maruyama. An Urban<br />
\ision release. Animated!Horror.<br />
Rated R for violencelgore. Running<br />
time: 105 min.<br />
With the 1985 release of the original<br />
"Vampire Hunter D." the gothic romanticism<br />
of author Hideyuki Kikuchi's series<br />
of classic vampire novels met the graphic<br />
action of Japanese Anime. It was a smash<br />
video hit, scoring again with its release to<br />
DVD in 2000, whetting the appetite of<br />
goth/anime fans for more. "Vampire<br />
Hunter D: Bloodlust" is adapted from<br />
Volume 3 of the series, and it does not disappoint.<br />
In the middle of the night, the beautiful<br />
Charlotte Elbourne (voiced by Wendee<br />
Lee) is kidnapped by the notorious<br />
Vampire, Meier Link (John Rafter Lee).<br />
Her rich family immediately hires bounty<br />
hunters to bring her back. First they set<br />
the infamous Markus Brothers on the<br />
trail; then they offer the legendary<br />
Vampire Hunter D (Andrew Philpot) S20<br />
million to bring Charlotte home—or kill<br />
her if she has been turned into one of the<br />
undead.<br />
The Markus Brother's crew includes<br />
BorgolT (Matt McKenzie). the oldest and<br />
leader of the clan: Nolt (John Dimaggio).<br />
the largest brother; Kyle (Alex Fernandez),<br />
an expert with knives; Grove (Jack<br />
Fletcher), whose ghost does his fighting<br />
for him; and Lelia (Pamela Segall), a girl<br />
on a mission to kill every Vampire she can<br />
find. D, as he is referred to in the film, is a<br />
special kind of Vampire Hunter, a<br />
Dunpeel half-vampire, half-human. No<br />
one trusts him. and his only companion is<br />
a parasitic entity in the shape of a face on<br />
his left hand. Nevertheless. Dunpeels have<br />
a code by which they live: Don't kill anybody<br />
who's not trying to kill you, unless<br />
it's<br />
a vampire.<br />
This is an extraordinary film: A gothic<br />
romance with vampires, monsters, magic.<br />
graphic violence of every possible stripe,<br />
stunning visuals an operatic score and a<br />
Shakespearean plot-line. Not bad for a<br />
cartoon.— Tim Cogshell<br />
148 (R-136) BOXOFFN
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