DATE: Saturday, November 29, 1997 TAG: 9711270090 SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E7 EDITION: FINAL TYPE: MOVIE REVIEW SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC LENGTH: 71 lines
IF FURTHER proof is needed that Hollywood has let special effects replace any semblance of plot, ``Flubber'' is it. This remake of 1961's ``The Absent-Minded Professor'' is all noise and adult-bashing - with no heart.
Why, if you were Robin Williams, would you even want to invent a new energy source? The wild one is noticeably tame as the title character, a kind of green-slime Jello with attitude, takes over.
Invented by Professor Phillip Brainard (Williams), Flubber defies gravity. It encourages jumping and flying among basketball player and automobiles. With the help of computer science, it can even do the mambo. In short, there is no reason for Williams to be in this film. Flubber does what he usually does - and with just as much mania.
The major mistake here, among many, was to miscast Williams in the role originated by Fred MacMurray. (``Son of Flubber,'' in which MacMurray also starred, was the first sequel ever made by Disney.) This film did not need a comedian; what it needed was a foil - a serious actor who would be bewildered by all the mayhem that his invention prompts. Put Ralph Fiennes in the role and it would be funny to watch his reaction.
The original film probably seems better in memory, but at least it had an endearing, small-town charm. Instead, we have producer-writer John Hughes' kind of violent humor. This is the man who gave us the ``Home Alone'' series.
Judging from the preview audience, kids love it. Show them a flick in which adults get beaned and they almost fall out of their seats. Since profit margin seems to be the main goal, it would be accurate to say ``Flubber'' will be a corporate success.
Marcia Gay Harden, a veteran of Virginia Stage Company, has the thankless role of the prof's fiancee, who is left at the altar three times simply because he forgot. She deserves better. Nancy Olson, the leading lady in the original film, has a cameo.
Christopher McDonald of TV's ``Veronica's Closet'' is the villain, trying to steal the professor's scientific secrets and his girl. He has the distinction of being the subject of what is perhaps the noisiest flatulence joke in movie history.
The only character that has much essence is a flying robot named Weebo, voiced by ``The Little Mermaid's'' Jodi Benson. Weebo is kin to Tinkerbell - a jealous type who hankers to break up the professor's romance. But in one of the movie's most embarrassing misfires, she flutters and asks the audience for sympathy.
Weebo is also another nod to technology. In the original, MacMurray had a dog. In the original, the flying car was a Model-T. Here, it's a Thunderbird.
Fortunately, the basketball game, the best scene in the 1961 version, has been retained; it is one of few scenes showing any sign of sustained life. Still, not enough is made of the game to make it really matter.
After the box-office success of its live-action ``101 Dalmatians,'' Disney seems bent on remaking more of its classics. The fact that the studio flubbed ``Flubber'' won't slow it down. ILLUSTRATION: DISNEY
In a remake of 1961's ``The Absent-Minded Professor,'' Robin
Williams plays the scientist who invents gravity-defying flubber,
which is so bouncy that it can even do a dance.
MOVIE REVIEW
``Flubber''
Cast: Robin Williams, Marcia Gay Harden, Christopher McDonald,
Wil Wheaton, Jodie Benson
Director: Les Mayfield
Screenplay: John Hughes and Bill Walsh
Music: Danny Elfman
MPAA rating: PG (some relatively mild language, cartoonish
violence, partial nudity at an art class)
Mal's rating: **
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