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REVIEWS<br />
BUDDY ••<br />
Starring Rene Russo, Robbie Coltrane and<br />
Alan Cumming. Directedand written by Caroline<br />
Thompson. Produced by Steve Nicolaides<br />
and Fred Fuchs. A Columbia release.<br />
Comedy/drama. RatedPGforsome threatening<br />
animal action. Running time: 84min.<br />
"Buddy" is a difficult—even painful<br />
film to watch, which is most certainly not<br />
what the folks behind the project intended.<br />
Based on a true story, as recounted in Gertrude<br />
Linz's book, "Animals Are My<br />
Hobby," this first feature from Jim Henson<br />
Productions concerns an eccentric socialite<br />
in 1920s New York who surrounded herself<br />
with animals she raised as children.<br />
Gertrude "Trudy" Lintz (Rene Russo,<br />
poorly served by Caroline Thompson's<br />
script) is a wealthy, generous woman whose<br />
achilles heel is that she thinks she knows<br />
what is best for everyone<br />
including Buddy, a sickly<br />
baby gorilla she nurses to<br />
health. She attires Buddy in<br />
human clothes, forces him to<br />
walk upright, makes him<br />
sleep in a bed and generally<br />
sets out to civilize him, blind<br />
to how unhappy and lonely<br />
the growing ape is becoming<br />
and failing to recognize his<br />
child-like attachment to her.<br />
Well-intentioned though<br />
Trudy might be, her insensitivity<br />
comes across as cruelty.<br />
and that proves an insurmountable<br />
problem in the<br />
film. Thompson, who wrote<br />
Tim Burton's "Edward<br />
Scissorhands" and "The<br />
Nightmare Before Christmas" and adapted<br />
and directed "Black Beauty," is drawn to<br />
creatures who are outsiders, which is perhaps<br />
why Buddy and fellow chimpanzees<br />
are the most developed, empathetic characters<br />
here. Scottish actor Alan Cumming is<br />
the only human to bring any depth to his<br />
role, and the normally lovable Robbie Coltrane,<br />
as Trudy's extraordinarily tolerant<br />
husband, is flat and dull. Although beautifully<br />
shot and bearing first-rate production<br />
design, this Henson effort proves to be a sad<br />
disappointment. Jean Oppenheimer<br />
THE LOST WORLD:<br />
JURASSIC PARK •••^<br />
Starring Jeff Goldblum, Julianne<br />
Moore, Pete Postlethwaite, Arliss Howard<br />
and Richard Attenborough. Directed by<br />
Steven Spielberg. Written by David Koepp.<br />
Produced by Gerald R. Molen and Colin<br />
Wilson. A Universal release. Fantasy/adventure.<br />
Rated PG-I3for intense sci-fi terror<br />
and violence. Running time: 129 min.<br />
After "Jaws," Steven Spielberg publicly<br />
scorned the making of sequels as a "cheap<br />
camy trick." His decision to direct the inevitable<br />
"Jurassic Park" sequel himself, rather<br />
than assigning it to another filmmaker, was<br />
partly a protection against a cheesy followup<br />
to what is the biggest global blockbuster<br />
in movie history. Spielberg amply<br />
delivers the goods with Amblin<br />
Entertainment's "The Lost World: Jurassic<br />
Park," a beautifully crafted series of nightmarish<br />
set pieces with no other goal in mind<br />
than to scare and delight the audience. If the<br />
film ultimately seems more efficient than<br />
inspired, with less emotional and visceral<br />
impact than such classic Spielberg suspensers<br />
as "Duel" and "Jaws," its popular<br />
appeal vindicates his return to escapist entertainment<br />
following "Schindler's List."<br />
Perhaps it's a spillover effect of "Schindler's<br />
List" that makes this dinosaur movie much<br />
darker in look and feel than "Jura-ssic Park."<br />
"Schindler's List" cinematographer Janusz<br />
Kaminski gives 'The Lost World's" jungle<br />
scenes the subtly fantastic haze of Corot paintings.<br />
Spielberg makes no attempt to replicate<br />
"Jurassic Park's" awestruck contemplation of<br />
the majesty of prehistoric beasts, concentrating<br />
LOST WORLDS: The 1 925 silent version of<br />
Arthur Conon Doyle's tale fabovej, and Steven<br />
Spielberg's latest via Michael Crichton.<br />
inslcaU on unrcleiiiingly creepy and horrific<br />
images of genetic engineering gone awry.<br />
The unruly dinosaurs on Site B, the island<br />
where the beasts of Jurassic Park were<br />
bred, have far more interaction with the<br />
human characters than did their predecessors.<br />
Dinosaur creators Dennis Muren,<br />
Stan Winston and Michael Lantieri outdo<br />
themselves with astonishingly believable<br />
creatures moving and breathing with utter<br />
physical dexterity and abandon.<br />
The dialogue and structure by screenwriter<br />
David Koepp ("Mission: Impossible")<br />
substantially improve on Michael<br />
Crichton' s dull and perfunctoiy source<br />
novel. But, with the exception of the edgily<br />
heroic Malcolm (a returning Jeff Goldblum)<br />
and an enigmatic big-game hunter<br />
("Dragonheart's" Pete Postlethwaite), the<br />
characterizations remain stubbornly twodimensional.<br />
The film occasionally exhibits<br />
a winning strain of self-satire, as in<br />
Malcolm's running stream of ironic<br />
asides and an uproarious finale in San<br />
Diego that plays like a spoof of a 1950s<br />
monster movie. Joseph McBride<br />
ADDICTED TO LOVE ^^^<br />
Meg<br />
Starring Matthew Broderick,<br />
Ryan, Tcheky Karyo and Kelly Preston.<br />
Directed by Griffin Dunne. Written by<br />
Robert Gordon. Produced by Jeffrey Silver<br />
and Bobby Newmyer. A Warner Bros, release.<br />
Romantic comedy. Rated Rfor sexual<br />
content. Running time: 100 min.<br />
Revenge is Sweet and Hell Hath No Fury<br />
Like a Woman Scorned are popular cinematic<br />
themes these days. (See 'The First Wives<br />
Club" and "Waiting to Exhale" for other recent<br />
movies that would be apt to elicit an<br />
exuberant cry of "you go, girl!" from some of<br />
the more overenthusiastic audience members.)<br />
"Addicted to Love's" Maggie (Meg<br />
Ryan), the former fiancee of an exploitive,<br />
arrogant French waiter-tumed-restaurateur<br />
named Anton ("La Femme Nikita's" Tcheky<br />
Karyo), adds another colorfully vengeful archetype<br />
to film's pantheon ofjilted Jills. And<br />
Matthew Broderick plays simpy Sam, whose<br />
love of his Ufe, Laura ("Jerry Maguire's"<br />
Kelly Preston), left him for Maggie's Anton.<br />
Sam moves into an abandoned apartment<br />
next door to the paramours' residence<br />
to spy. On her quest to decimate<br />
her ex, the intimidatlA<br />
ing Maggie moves into<br />
Tj, Sam's spy hovel against his<br />
wishes but soon persuades<br />
him to join her in her devious<br />
plot to break up the happy<br />
couple. Wacky schemes<br />
ensue, and Sam and Maggie<br />
begin to bond while reveling<br />
in conspiratorial glee. Eventually,<br />
though, they must<br />
come to terms with the fact<br />
that what they thought<br />
would make them happy<br />
doesn't seem to be doing so.<br />
Ryan takes a refreshing<br />
90-degree turn from her<br />
usual screen persona as the<br />
aggressive yet cool, eclectically<br />
garbed, tough-as-nails Maggie<br />
(though there's sensitivity beneath), while<br />
Broderick' s perennial puppy-dog appeal<br />
and subtle sardonic delivery fit him perfectly<br />
into the role of Sam. And Karyo as<br />
Anton delves with relish into his role as an<br />
egomaniacal dictator-type who, through ascendingly<br />
outrageous humiliations, is reduced<br />
to being a painfully pathetic loser.<br />
Although ultimately predictable and in<br />
need of a wider array of^inventive revenges,<br />
"Addicted to Love" is fun, spirited and frequently<br />
clever. Christine James
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