Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 51

14D1 DETROIT FREE PRESSFRIDAY, MARCH 26, 1999 Bland Doug's 1st Movie' should be his last 'Doug's 1st Movie' out of 4 star Rated nothing objectionable "ZTnJcya higher erder ef necks in an adventure where moon-suited scientists lurk at every turn. Of course, Doug dresses the creature up like a girl, which makes Patti jealous, and you get the picture. The animation in "Doug" is simply rendered, except for clever fantasy sequences like the one where Doug is an Allied commander in a scratchy black-and-white war movie, pointing to a map while an adoring Patti gazes at him. But these moments are few and far between, though there are enough pop culture references to keep parent chaperones from squirming too much. Doug is a nice enough kid, but he should go home where he belongs on the small screen.

By John monaghan Krw Press Sprcial Wriler In a world where Bart Simpson is still America's animated poster child, Doug is a breath of fresh air. He's warm. He's bright. He's resourceful. He's all those things and more in his first full-length feature.

Problem is: He's also pretty bland. Based on the popular "Doug" cartoon TV show, which airs Saturday mornings on ABC, "Doug's 1st Movie" follows a time-honored formula in bringing TV to the big screen: String together a couple of episodes and release it to a hungry public. And when that public is composed of preteens, 70 minutes of Doug (with a Donald Duck short, and popcorn) can wit- i seem pretty exotic. In Story One, dot-eyed Doug comes up with a brilliant idea. He will encourage secret crush Patti Mayonnaise to sign up as cochair on the middle school dance committee.

He'll take the other slot and spend day and night with her preparing for the big event. In Story Two, Doug and best friend Skeeter discover that the legendary monster of Lucky Duck Lake is not only real, but real friendly. Soon they're up to their pencil Doug and a furry friend. 'Harmonists is a sweet, simplistic biopic The Harmonists' out of 4 stars Rated nudity, violence while the German people themselves adore the Comedian Harmonists, which may be one of the reasons the film was such an amazing success in its homeland. Another would likely be the fast, Noethen, a wiry-haired, sadr faced charmer, is a much admired stage actor, tyhile his costars are all popular filni.

and television stars. Then, of bourse, there's the lingering affection for Me Comedian Harmonists, whose cpntinue to sell in Germany today. Here, I suspect, audiences nifty be Inore resistant to the sugary, old-fashioned stylings of "The this movie makes the complex look so easy, it hardly seems to have happened at all. but serves as this movie's equivalent of the obligatory strip bar scene. After being turned down at their first audition for being too funereal, they pep up the score with syncopation.

Later, having drowned their frustration in they begin to improvise, emulat-r ing the sounds of instruments on an Ellington blues record. So is; born the Comedian Harmonist sound, the name chosen by an entrepreneur because it sounds; "international." i 1 When: the, boys are rich -famous, the movie concentrates on their love lives and their politi-' cal implications. The film fairly soft-soaps the By Terry Lawson Free Press Movie Critic In 1927 Berlin, an unemployed, would-be musical arranger named Harry Frommermann (Ulrich Noethen) goes into a music store and asks the clerk, Erna (Meret Becker), to play a record by the American group the Revellers. "Here it is," she says, reading the label. "Negro vocal." "I don't care what it says," says Frommermann.

"I only care how it sounds." That sums up the message of "The Harmonists," a sentimentally simplistic biography of the Comedian Harmonists, a German sextet that enjoyed international fame in the years preceding World War II. Frommermann, who loved the preciseness of vocal harmonies and the freedom of American jazz, combined the two in elaborate, complex arrangements that he insisted had to sound "easy." Frommermann's dream was achieved in the group he formed out of beer hall waiters and opera aspirants, only to be thwarted by a national socialism that could not abide Aryans and Jews in close harmony. Working from a script based on the recollections of Roman Cy-cowski, the sole surviving mem- ber of the original group, director Joseph Vilsmaier has fashioned a film that is not only set in the '20s and '30s, but might have been made then, too. While the film obviously hopes to attract the same audience that has made "Life Is Beautiful" the most popular foreign language film in history, any comparisons are as superficial as "The Harmonists," which, like its subjects, just wants to entertain without offending anybody. The first half of the movie is all struggle and sacrifice and hokum hard times, as unassuming Frommermann, with help from the ambitious, business-minded Robert Biberti (Ben Becker), assembles a group straight from central casting: womanizing Ari (Max Tidof), aristocratic Erich (Heinrich Schafmeister), religious, serious Roman (Heino Ferch) and quiet piano man Erwin (Kai Wiesinger).

When Frommermann's neighbors complain about the racket, they begin rehearsing in a brothel, which not only boosts their spirits, LMA ft a 1415 HURON CHURCH RD. 4 WINDSOR, CANADA Lower Level, Studio 4 3rd Liaht from Bridae CcmtUufl rise of the Nazis. Its primary villain is a member of the Hitler Youth who is jealous of the group's success with music and German women. Initially, the group is ordered only to remove songs from Jewish composers from its repertoire, and only after Frommermann offends a high-ranking party member by refusing to sing a traditional German folk song as much for aesthetic as political reasons is the band's performing future threatened. Indeed, the Nazis are little more than bristly bureaucrats, KUADIIPHJ bagel with (Philadelphia.

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I At tffc A 4 4h 'Futurama has feel of 'Simpsons' www.studio4.comadonis mw www.freep.com A A 'II A rliMH 4 Wi 1 though. It has all the sly Groening hallmarks for subversively amusing, sharply written pop culture fun. Besides those Planet Kevorkian suicide booths, loopy life in New New York in the year 3000 includes the Church of Roboto-logy, JFK Jr. Airport and a chain of silicon convenience stores called the Implant Hut. And let's not forget the Head Museum, where the living, talking craniums of famous celebrities are kept in jars.

It's the hot place to find the chatty noggins of everyone from Leonard Nimoy to Pamela Anderson to Dick Clark, who is preparing to host "New Year's Rockin' Eve 2999." Besides, Fry isn't all that upset to be defrosted on the brink of the 31st Century. His 1999 life was going nowhere. He was broke. He was moping. And now? "My parents, my coworkers, my girlfriend," says Fry, "I'll never see any of them again.

Yahoo!" Of course, some things never change. Fry and his pals wind up working for Planet Express Corporation, a futuristic delivery service that transports packages to all five quadrants of the universe. "Futurama," like "The Simpsons," glows with a rebellious, anti-conformist soul. Even in the year 3000, it is noble to do the maverick thing. Question authority at all times.

And in the meantime, merrily poke fun at everyone and everything. Especially the bureaucratic numbskulls in charge. Thanks to. Matt Groening's freewheeling, signature impertinence, "Futurama" is a fresh jolt of astute cartoon lampoon. TV critic Mike Duffy can be reached at 1-313-222-M20 or send E-mail to duffyfafreepress.com from Page ID Drop America's favorite suicide booth since and a one-eyed alien babe who sounds suspiciously like Peg Bundy on "Married With Children." Leela, the purple-haired "Futurama" sexpot from the year 3000, really is Peg Bundy.

Or rather Leela has the voice of Ka-tey Sagal, the actress who played the bonkers Mrs. Bundy. And, yes, Fry, Leela and Bender, a rude attitude robot, become an unlikely family of oddball sci-fi circumstance. So a decade after he sprung the ga-ga genius of "The Simpsons" on an unsuspecting world, Groen-ing has come up with his highly anticipated follow-up to the fractured family tales of Homer, Marge, Bart and the rest of their screwball Springfield crew. But "Futurama," which debuts at 8:30 p.m.

Sunday on Fox, following "The Simpsons," may face I i I i a more troublesome path. For one, prime-time animation mid-michigan Cat Fanciers is no longer the novelty it was i XiALGULST when The Simpsons expanded from itty-bits of cartoon fun on "The Tracey Ullman Show" into a sizzling Fox series phenomenon in ft 1 the early months of 1990. March 27tii ft Z8Uit Saturday Sunday 9-5 1 SATURDAY, WAY 22 PM "Futurama" has to compete for attention in a cluttered channel Adults: $7 Seniors: $6 Iff A (IJ a Youth (5 NOVI tx surfing universe that now includes such network and cable cartoon series as "King of the Hill," "Dilbert," "Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist," "The PJs," "South Park" and Fox's upcoming ions Show of Champ I Tickets available at The Palace Box Office Household Cats iff 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Charge (248) 645-6666. "Family Guy." Speaking of which, Groening is less than thrilled with Fox for giving the raunchy, anything-goes "Family Guy the plush post-Simpsons" slot beginning April 11.

After its own two-week intro ductory run at 8:30 p.m. Sundays, A Tropical Adventure OEstflVAlT THE MIDWEST'S LARGEST THE MIDWEST'S LARGEST "Futurama" shifts to the chillier FEATURED ARTIST Jan Martin McGuire Special Guests Tropical Artists Gamini Ratnavira Richard Sloan Spotlight Artist Care! P. Brest Van Kempen -i V. confines of 8:30 p.m. Tuesdays April 6.

Warm and cuddly ratings may be harder to come by there. Will America embrace "Futurama?" And will fans of "The Simpsons" fall in love all over again with this new global village cartoon carnival? On first encounter, "Futurama" isn't as instantly memorable 3s "The Simpsons." But then, JURIED WILDLIFE AND ENVIRONMENTAL ART SALE Friday, March 26 4 p.m. 9 p.m. Saturday, March 27 10 a.m. 8 p.m.

Sunday, March 28 10 a.m. 5 p.m. FREE PARKING Adults $7, under 12 free FEATURES: Hundreds of original and reproduced works Dozens of the best wildlife, landscape and environmental artists Free wildlife seminars Conservation Row Best Photographs in America (0WAA) Celebrity Decoy Painting and Auction in 'The Simpsons" is Groening's 'Citizen Kane," a certified masterpiece. Don't sell "Futurama" short, All proceeds to benefit wildlife through: Michigan Wildlile Habitat Foundation 6425 S. Pennsylvania, Suite 9 Lansing, Ml 48911 (517) 882-3630 trfW-K- lift 1.