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>> EVEN WITH GOOD ACTORS, A BAD SCRIPT IS TOUGH TO SAVE--AS 'LAW ABIDING CITIZEN' SHOWS

October 22, 2009 12:35 am

"WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE" (PG) HH STARRING: MAX RECORDS, CATHERINE KEENER, JAMES GANDOLFINI, CATHERINE O'HARA

RUNNING TIME: 94 min.

This big-screen translation of the much-loved children's book starts well, translating a creative child's anger and despair into an imagined world where he can howl with the wild things.

But once young Max flees the house where he has lashed out at his single mother, and makes it to the island where big, round wild things live an unencumbered existence, things bog down.

Young Max--dressed in the wolf suit he dons to be a wild thing back in the regular world--impresses the wild things with creative lies on his exploits with Vikings.

In the wild animals, there are parallels to the alienation he feels from his father, the connection he has with his mother and even the anger he feels for his sister, who doesn't always have his back.

But as he becomes a part of this world, encouraging howling and a big pile-on out in the middle of the wild things camp, the movie bogs down terribly.

Sure, the wild things' village and costumes are pretty cool, and it helps to have pros like James Gandolfini, Catherine O'Hara, Chris Cooper and others voicing the wild things.

But jeepers, nothing much happens, other than the big gruff Carol getting upset with Max, and eventually, the decision the youngster makes to go back home.

Part of the problem is that the film isn't really targeted to a specific group. It's too scary and confrontational to be for the very young.

And it's a little too childish and supposedly filled with childish awe to rivet adults' attention.

That said, it does have enough of a sense of hope to be different from the average offering.

It would be better if the turn on the wild things' island had more of a purpose.

Rated PG for mild thematic elements, adventure action, brief language. [RF, RA, M]

"LAW ABIDING CITIZEN" (R) HH

STARRING: JAMIE FOXX, GERARD BUTLER, COLM MEANEY

RUNNING TIME: 108 min.

What might have been a meaningful thriller about a man failed by the legal system is wasted as it becomes just another film about a crazed guy blowing stuff up.

Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx are wasted in roles that, in cookie-cutter fashion, move them from a brutal murder to the father's high-tech revenge on the bad guys and those in the legal system he felt failed him.

The supposedly cool twist: This dad's the wrong guy to make angry--he's the shadow the Defense Department calls when they want to kill some hard-to-get-at bad guy.

So even after he kills the pair who murdered his wife and child--and a few others--the "fixer" targets the entire legal system and government.

By then, any sympathy we may have felt for him has gone, and things just become one more bloodbath in a film that's nothing special.

Rated R for strong bloody brutal violence and torture, a scene of rape, and pervasive language. [RF, RA, M]

"THE STEPFATHER" (PG-13) HH

STARRING: DYLAN WALSH, SELA WARD, SHERRY STRINGFIELD, JON TENNEY

RUNNING TIME: 101 min.

Speaking of nothing special, why did they remake this tired, old thriller?

Everyone in this cast does the best they can with a story that's been done to death--the evil stepfather who has pulled the wool over Mom's eyes.

But there's never a point in the film where you don't know what's coming next, even if Dylan Walsh does a nice job slowly peeling away the stepfather's cheery fake persona to reveal just how twisted he is.

It's nice to see the talented and beautiful Sela Ward as the mom, and young Penn Badgley does all he can with the weak role of the son who suspects the worst.

Given a lemon this rotten, even this talented cast couldn't make lemonade.

Rated PG-13 for intense violence, disturbing images, mature thematic material, brief sensuality. [RF, RA, M]