Boxoffice-September.1997

——
SeDtember. 1997 tR-143) 129
REVIEWS
THE SWAN PRINCESS: ESCAPE
FROM CASTLE MOUNTAIN ifV2
Voices by Michelle Nicastro, Douglas
Sills and Jake Williamson. Directed by
Richard Rich. Written by Brian Nissen.
Produced by Richard Rich and Jared F.
Brown. A Legacy release. Animation.
Rated G. Running time: 71 min.
Though it's somewhat more active and
colorful than its dismal predecessor, "The
Swan Princess," this sequel is pretty much
just more stiff, unpolished animation for
undiscriminating family audiences, lacking
wonder and imagination. The few moments
of charm and sweetness can be traced to
Brian Nissen' s occasionally clever script,
but Richard Rich's pandering, immature
direction is almost as blatantly amateurish
in technique as his handling of the original
(which was a success, unaccountably).
Bright colors and backgrounds are diminished
by an absence of character detail
and personality, with stilted motions and
inexpressive faces in their place. Even
worse, the three original songs by Lex de
Azevedo and Clive Romney are only
slightly more melodic and graceful than the
tunes in the previous film; one number is a
misfired and misplaced attempt at a rockmusic
style. As bland and unsophisticated
as most children's TV, this is the kind of
inept cartoon feature that sets the cause of
good animation back a couple of decades.
One plus: It's short. Dale Winogura
HEAD ABOVE WATER ^^
Starring Cameron Diaz, Harvey Keitel,
Craig Sheffer and Billy Zone. Directed by
Jim Wilson. Written by Theresa Marie.
Produced by Jim Wilson and John M.
Jacobsen. A Fine Line release. Drama.
Rated PG-13 for thematic elements and
some moments of strong violence. Running
time: 92 min.
From the school of film noir comes
"Head Above Water," a sometimes original
but largely ineffective thriller. Nathalie
(Cameron Diaz), an ex-drug addict, is vacationing
in Maine with her husband George
(Harvey Keitel), the judge who gave her a
reduced sentence. Also around is handyman
Lance (Craig Sheffer), a childhood friend
of Nathalie's who's always had a crush on
her. Then another old friend, Kent ("The
Phantom's" Billy Zane), arrives to make a
play for Nathalie when Lance and George
are off fishing—but Kent soon winds up
dead on her bed. Whodunnit?
The acting, which needs to be razor-sharp
in such a film, is substandard. Nathalie is
mainly a reactive character; though Diaz is
onscreen more than in "My Best Friend's
Wedding," she has less to do. Sheffer, the
weak link in "Bliss," turns in another
stonefaced performance. As the seemingly
meek George, Keitel is atypically bland. To
its detriment, the film tries too hard to shoehorn
these characters into complex situations,
which fails because the people are so
dull. But to their credit the filmmakers don't
telegraph their plot twists too often; there
are real surprises. Shlomo Schwartzberg
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