Good storylines, special effects mark fantasies

Press, 11 December 1989, Page 18

Good storylines, special effects mark fantasies

By

HANS PETROVIC

This week’s two releases, “Back to the Future Part II” and “Honey, I’ve Shrunk the Kids” (both at the Savoy), deserve to be this Christ-mas-holiday season’s most popular films for people of all ages — but particularly the younger set. Both are good fun fantasies, with fast-paced storylines and first-rate special effects. BACK TO THE FUTURE PART II Directed by Robert Zemeckis Screenplay by Bob Gale The trouble with sequels is that they usually lose their originality the second time around. “Back to the Future Part II,” however, does the neat trick of simply picking up where the first part left off and continuing at the same mad pace. It certainly helps to have seen the original to pick up references to past adventures, but “Part II” is sufficiently self-con-tained for new audiences unaccustomed as yet to the intricacies of time travel. In the first “Back to the Future,” Marty (Michael J. Fox) was taken by Doc (Christopher Lloyd) from 1985 back to 1955 to ensure that his mother and father fell in love, thereby assuring his own birth. In “Part II,” Marty has not even had time to adjust to the “new, improved” 1985 that his visit to the past had created when Doc suddenly appears in his customised DeLorean time machine to take the lad on an urgent mision to the future. They are headed for 2015, Doc explains, because Marty’s nerdy son (also played by Fox) is about to embark on a life of crime and has to be stopped. The time travellers manage to straighten out the future McFly, but in the process Marty breaks several rules of time travel, such as becoming too involved with the period being visited, picking up souvenirs and, horror of horrors, meeting yourself — a time paradox that may trigger the collapse of the entire space-time continuum. Marty does see himself (also played by Fox), now a tired and disillusioned old man, and also picks up a sports almanac listing the winners of ail sporting events between 1950 and 2000. Just imagine what someone could do with such knowledge if he could take it back in time.

Marty’s arch-enemy, Biff (Thomas F. Wilson), does so, taking it back in the unoccupied time machine to his much younger self in 1955 — a temporal junction point in which so many of the incidents in these adventures seem to meet. Needless to say, the taking back of that from the future causes terrible disruptions, resulting in an alternate time in which Marty’s Hill Valley hometown has turned into a sleazy, crime-ridden hole, his father murdered and his mother forced to marry the horrible Biff. ■ Most of the film is then devoted to rectifying the situation by removing anomalies. In the process, Marty and Doc also have to return to 1955, meet themselves again and cause so many unlikely mishaps that it leaves the head spinning. The beauty of “Part II” is that the plot is so tightly scripted that it can skip over such complexities without getting bogged down, or confusing the audience. It is only when you try ta explain the story afterwards that the trouble starts. The rich cinematography, art work and special effects are as carefully thought out as the plot, providing plenty of visual and verbal jokes, social satire and good-natured fun. The second time around, the cast’s performances are also excellent, with Fox and Lloyd at their hyperactive best, while Wilson is the meanest villain since Judge Doom in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.” It is no coincidence, therefore, that “Roger. Rabbit” was also directed by Robert Zemeckis and the part of Judge Doom played by Lloyd. With imaginative hits like “Romancing the Stone,” “Back to the Future” and “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” in recent years, the golden touch of Zemeckis has brought him into the league of Spielberg and Lucas as the makers of the pop-entertainment classics of the 1980 s. This is not the end of Marty’s story, however. It seems that Zemeckis, his writer, Bob Gale, and the crew had so much fun making “Part II” that they developed sufficient material to make another sequel on the spot. “Part III,” which will be set in the Wild West and released in the United States in the middle of next year, will most likely be as eagerly awaited as “Manon of the Spring” was after the

French drama, “Jean de Florette.” HONEY, I SHRUNK THE KIDS Directed by Joe Johnston Screenplay by Ed Naha and Tom Schulman Zooming along with a bee in flight, riding on the back of a tamed ant, a fight with a scorpion and being bombarded by gigantic waterdrops are some of the marvels encountered by four children reduced to the size of a few millimetres in “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.” Shrinking people is a cinematic device usually relegated to science-fic-tion and horror films such as “Dr Cyclops” and “The Incredible Shrinking Man,” and for a few magical moments in “The Bride of Frankenstein.” Modern technology,

however, has made this process more readily accessible to a far wider range of film-makers, including those of matinee entertainment such as this film. As usual in such juvenile comedies, the children and adults are about as objectionable as those on TV’s “Married With Children,” which is good for a few introductory laughs, but soon palls if nothing else is offered. With the help of the shrinking process, however, the makers of this film are saved from the idiotic ennui of American suburbia just in time to take the children on the adventure of their lives. Little more need be said, except that the special effects are terrific, and if you cannot shrink your own kids, send them off to see this movie.