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The Odessa American from Odessa, Texas • 120

Location:
Odessa, Texas
Issue Date:
Page:
120
Extracted Article Text (OCR)

PREVIEWMovies (O 0 Wlacaulay Culkin: His world and welcome to it 70 "He's cool, he's a lot like me," says Culkin. "We go to the video arcade. We like animals, carnivals, quads (four-wheel motor CJ bikes). We like goofing off. When together in California, their favorite 3 a activity is shopping.

"We kind of plan out our daily says Culkin. "We, say, 'hey, let's go shopping at but then we'll sleep in and not go till 1 o'clock. We always go to Toys 'R Us. 3 cr (D We each get a shopping cart and go up and Cn down the aisles picking out what we want. Who pays? "He does!" Culkin says gleefully.

"Home Alone," and then pocketed $1 million for a co-starring role in "My Girl." In between he collected $500,000 for three days work voicing a cartoon. Before "Home Alone," Culkin was a respected New York child actor, having begun his career at the age of 4. His first movie was "Rocket Gibraltar" in 1988 with Burt Lancaster, followed by "See You in the Morning," "Jacob's Ladder" and "Uncle Buck." Now he's the biggest child star since Shirley Temple. As Kevin, the mischievous, resourceful scapegoat of the absent-minded McCallister clan, he's struck a national chord as Everykid. But when you ask him if being a superstar has changed his life, he squirms.

"Mmmmmm," he says, rolling his eyes and scratching his head in mock puzzlement. "Not really. I'm just me. Just Mack." Of course, not every kid gets a call from Michael Jackson "every night, usually, maybe every other night." Culkin beams at the mention of Jackson. family.

So does Culkin. During commercial breaks in "Looney Tunes," he heads for a table laden with chips, salsa, avocado dip and huge chocolate chip cookies. Ahhh what a life. It only gets boring when Culkin, better known as Mack, has to settle down in a chair and answer a lot of serious questions. Though two years have passed since "Home Alone," Culkin looks eerily the same.

He's now in seventh grade but looks and acts much younger. "It's funnier," says Culkin about "Home Alone 2." Then he admits he hasn't seen it nor read the script, just his lines. "I really don't know that much about it I'm going to see it in 11 days. I think there's a premiere or something." At this point, it doesn't matter if Culkin can describe the plots of his movies or not As long as he just shows up, the movies do well. "Home Alone" was the third biggest moneymaker of all time, grossing $507 million, just behind "ET" and "Star Wars." Culkin reportedly was paid $100,000 for By Dana Kennedy The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) Quick! What stands 53 inches tall, weighs 78 pounds, is worth more than $5 million and is balancing precariously on the ledge of a balcony 24 floors above Central Park? Mugging for the camera, pointing a pair of mismatched high-top sneakers at the lens, 12-year-old Macaulay Culkin looks anything but nervous.

Grinning maniacally, he points to the sweeping skyline. "Ahhh what a city," he says sardonically, then jumps off the ledge and bounces into the hotel suite. Ahhh what a kid. like Kevin McCal-lister, his alter ego in the phenomenally successful "Home Alone" and the upcoming "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York," Culkin strikes a familiar pose. He flops down on the couch, grabs a remote clicker and turns on the television.

In both films, Kevin indulges his love of junk food when he conveniently loses his Culkin shakes his head when asked if he finds it odd that Jackson likes to play with kids and buy toys at age 33. "No, he's cool," Culkin says, adding that he sometimes wears a surgical mask to school in homage to Jackson's current favorite disguise. Culkin's parents, Kit and Pat, have accompanied their son to the Ritz Carlton for a Please see CULKIN31 'Aladdin' is more dizzying Disney Movie reviews from around the nation rusts mm -fcFJ aff A- Outstandlna Worthy ffort 7 kill. HI, III So-so first-rate: animation both gorgeous and thoughtful, several wonderful songs and a wealth of funny minor figures on the sidelines, practicing foolproof Disney tricks. (Even a flying Oriental rug is able to frolic, sulk and move its thumb, which has evolved out of a tassel.) Only when it comes to the basics of the storyline does "Aladdin" encounter any By Janet Maslin New York Times "Master, I hear and obey," said the Genie in the storybook version of "Aladdin," and his comments seldom went further than that For an exercise in contrast, consider the dizzying, elastic miracle wrought by Robin Williams, Walt Disney Pictures' bravura animators and the Oscar-winning songwriting team of Candyman(R) LJL-I Glengarry Glen Ross (R) Hero(PG-13) DTTTD Jenifer Eight (R) ITDJIGUft Night end the City (R) OiMlondMen(PG-13) DT Patengw57(R) CT The Public Eye (R) TP Pure Country (PG) ff (f (f T(T Reservoir Dogt(R) ft lZ A River Run Through It (PG) ft ft fa ft ft ft ft unremarkable thoughts.

(Jasmine's main concern is deciding whom she will marry.) Luckily, they are surrounded by an overpowering array of secondary characters who make the film's sidelines much more interesting than its supposed center. The scene-stealing monkey Abu (with noises supplied by Frank Welker) is a particular treat, as when he jealously mimics the Princess or otherwise comments on Aladdin's adventures. As directed by John Musker and Ron Clements (the "Little Mermaid" team), "Aladdin" is a shade less smoothly paced than its recent predecessors. An opening number, "Arabian Nights," gets the film off to a grand start but ends sooner than viewers will wish. A sample lyric by the irreplaceable Ashman, who died of AIDS before completing this film's score: I come from a land, From a faraway place, Where the caravan camels roam.

Where they cut off your ear If they don't like your face. It's barbaric, but hey, it's home. A lot of early exposition time is also used to explain the chicanery of difficulties. It may date back to the early 18th century, but the "Aladdin" story has a 1980s ring. Here is the ultimate get-rich-quick tale of an idle boy (a cute, raffish thief in Disney's modified version) who has the good luck to be designated the only person able to retrieve a magic, Genie-filled lamp from a subterranean cave.

Once in possession of the lamp, the original Aladdin goes to work improving his fortunes. He acquires slaves, loot and an extravagant dowry so as to win the hand of a princess, eventually ordering the rYrjrMrjcr d. Under Siege (R) Alan Menken and Howard Ashman in "Aladdin," the studio's latest effort to send the standards for animated children's films into the stratosphere. It may be nothing new to find Williams, who provides the voice of a big blue Genie with a manic stmk, working in a wildly changeable vein. But here are animators who can actually keep up with him.

Thanks to them, the Genie is given a visual correlative to the rapid-fire Williams wit, so that kaleidoscopic visions of Groucho Marx, Arnold Schwarzenegger, William F. Buckley, Travis Bickle and dozens of other characters flash frantically across the screen to accompany the star's speedy delivery. Much of this occurs to the tune of "Friend Like Me," a cake-walking, show-stopping musical number with the mischievous wit that has been a hallmark of Disney's animated triumphs. If the makers of "Aladdin" had Al ages admitted; PG AS age admitted, parental guidance suggested; PO-1 3 Parents strongly cautioned, some material may be inappropriate for children under 13; Restricted, under 17 requires accompanying parent or guardian; NC-17 No one under 17 Mm V- 1110792 Knight- Ridder Tribune Composer proves a triple challenge fairy tale fantasy, from young ro Genie to build them a palatial home. Even in the movie version, this hero, who has been made more boyish and remains unmarried, dreamily tells his pet monkey: "Some day, Abu, things are going to change.

We'll be rich, live in a palace and never have any troubles at all" Compared with the sounder underpinnings of "The Little Mermaid" and especially of "Beauty and the Beast," this has an unfortunately shallow ring, as do the two teen-age types on whom the story is centered. The blandly intrepid Aladdin (with the speaking voice of Scott Weinger) and the sloe-eyed Princess Jasmine (Linda Larkin), a nymph in harem pants, use words like and to express Jafar (voice by Jonathan Freeman), the Sultan's evil vizier, whose chilling, bony features suggest a composite of Nancy Reagan (the animators have mentioned this as a deliberate reference, along with a more pointed one to Conrad Veidt in "The Thief of and Dp-tain Hook. It's a long time before Williams' Genie makes his arrival, and some of the film's early moments nota- By Bob Strauss Los Angeles Daily News LOS ANGELES Composer Alan Menken did more than provide the most apparent creative continuity between "Aladdin" and the preceding Disney cartoons he scored -with the late lyricist Howard Ashman. He also had a major role in keeping "Aladdin's" internal continuity consistent through a plot that gyrated wildly from manic comedy, to mance to terrifying adventure. And all without the help of his longtime collaborator Ashman, who besides writing the lyrics for such classic tunes as "Green" (from their stage musical "Little Shop of "Under the Sea" and "Be Our Guest" and the also wrote "Aladdin's" initial script treatment.

Please see COMPOSER37. their own magic lamp, it's easy to guess what they might wish for. another classic that crosses generational lines as successfully as "Beauty and the Beast" did, and moves as seamlessly from start to finish. "Aladdin" is not quite that, but it comes as close as may have been possible without a genie's help. The fundamentals here go beyond Please see ALADDIN3S.

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Pages Available:
1,523,072
Years Available:
1929-2024