The Daily Oklahoman from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma • 88

THE DAILY OKLAHOMAN Weekend December 9, 1988 5 iil On Screen By Chuck Davis Entertainment Editor "DURBANK, Calif. "Oliver non-animated success of DisneyTouchstone films such as "Three Men and a Baby," "Cocktail" and others including the breakthrough smash, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," which is a mix of live-action and animation Disney has made a giant rebound, both artistically and financially. "Walt Disney was the script," says Katzenberg. "I am not Wait Disney, and I am not the script (writer). In today's age, for anyone to sit there and say, 1 do it, or 'He does' A lot of people do.

"Four years ago, only a fool would have thought that they could anticipate the good fortune that's come to us. "Only a bigger fool would think that it would continue on this wonderful course. The fact is, we have not had our fair share of things that don't work (lately). "One of the qualities that is inherent in every single thing that we do TV, animated movies every aspect of things that we do is that we are prudent risk-takers in order to achieve something that is UCompany" is Walt Disney Studios' 27th animated feature film. And with "Oliver Company," generally a higher-quality film that many of Disney's recent "cartoon" flicks, Disney is trying to recapture the feel and flavor of animation that had its hey-day when Walt Disney was alive.

Disney died in 1966. There are many so-called "experts" who believe that the spirit of Disney films died when he did. And there are many so-called "experts" who believe that "Oliver Company" is a giant step in the right direction, toward reclaiming that spirit and feel of Disney classics such as "Bambi," "Snow White," and "Fantasia." The first steps were taken in late 1984 when Walt's nephew, Roy E. Disney returned to the company to Dan Aykroyd (center) and Kim Basinger (right) are married in "My Stepmother Is an Alien," which opens today. Kim Basinger Best Part Of 'Stepmother' Comedy head the animation department.

Also, Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Kat-zenberg came over from Paramount Pictures to head the Walt Disney Studios. From left, Dodger and Oliver take to the streets of Manhattan in "Oliver Company," Disney's 27th full-length animated feature film. "MY STEPMOTHER IS AN ALIEN" Dr. Steve Mills Dan Aykroyd Celeste Kim Basinger Ron Mills Jon Lovitz Jessie Mills Alyson Hannigan Dr. Budleng Joseph Maher Fred Glass Seth Green Running time: 108 minutes.

Rated PG-13. unique and original and creative. Now, I associate those three things as equal to be successful if that's the criteria you use unique, original and creative equal successful, it also equals risky. "If you take risks, (it) means things aren't (always) going to work. It's wonderful having taken the risk of 'Roger 'Roger Rabbit' was a pioneering filmmaking effort.

That is also in the tradition of Walt Disney. "If there was ever a project that 'Would Walt do it's 'Roger It's a breakthrough film. He did breakthrough things. "When you do those kind of things, as he did, he put himself at risk all the time. "We're putting ourselves at risk all the time.

We're going to have six of eight or 10 movies in a row that aren't going to work. It will happen. It would be nice if it didn't happen in my lifetime, but I'm not so foolish as to think that it won't happen. "By definition and personality, we're always trying to do something unique and different." Walt would have done that, too. WHAT we have here is a goofy comic performance by Kim Basinger, weighed down by a decision to use Dan Aykroyd mostly as a straight man.

Too bad. This is one of those movies where the credits list four writers, and most of the funny stuff is in between the lines. Basinger proves here, as she did in "Blind Date," that she has a natural gift for slapstick, with a plastic face and a rubber body. "My Stepmother Is an Alien" tells the story of an eccentric physicist (Aykroyd) "This (animation) is the arena for which Walt Disney was so singularly visible," says Katzenberg, who is chairman of the Walt Disney Studios. "My ambition is to have, whether it's this year or next year, or two years from now, to have created some films for which the rest of the world feels inside their soul that Walt Disney is alive and well and part of our animation company." Plans for 1989 include "The Little Mermaid," Disney's first classic fairy tale adaption since "Sleeping Beauty." The year 1990 will bring a sequel to the popular "The Rescuers" (1977).

The mice will return in "The Rescuers Down Under." Also on the animation drawing board are "Beauty and the Beast" and "An Arabian Night." "I think we're pretty healthy about understanding who we are and who we're not," says Katzenberg. "I actually had a rule for the first three years I was here that we were not allowed to say ever ing that he (Walt Disney) did and say, 'How do you make that work in today's "I would say, in today's world, that no one Walt Disney was the writer, the producer, the director, the he did everything. He, in every single respect, touched every single frame of those movies that were made by his company. "Hopefully, now we have a group of artists who can achieve not what he specifically achieved but can achieve the same quality that he achieved. Who knows what subjective choices he would have how much he liked Billy Joel (as the voice of Dodger in "Oliver Huey Lewis (who sang the theme song for or 'Roger "They're all in the spirit of what he (Disney) did." Times have changed.

Films have become multi-million dollar gambles, says Katzenberg. But with the EBERT Jeffrey Katzenberg 'What would Walt have "Those words were not allowed to be spoken. Because? I don't know. When somebody would ask that question, I would have no idea what the answer would be. I think what you can do is respect the guidelines and the boundaries and the pioneer without inspiration.

"My Stepmother Is an Alien" is a great idea for a movie, but it seems to have stalled at the idea stage. Universal Press Syndicate who harnesses the power of lightning to send a beam to another galaxy. The response is a visit to Earth by a spaceship bearing Basinger as an alien. rages, while everyone spins dials and screams at computer screens and lightning strikes the radar dish. Since the movie was directed by Richard Benjamin, who made "The Money Pit," you'd expect him to go over the top in a scene like this, but basically, he relies on the special effects and chooses not to add a level of manic satire.

What's left is kind of a Wand updating of the opening of ''The Bride of Frankenstein." Basinger's gimmick in the movie is a purse that is able to manu OKLAHOMA CITY'S LUXURIOUS NEW MOVIE OPENS ENTERTAINMENT CENTER Theatre Opens Today at 6:30. Beginning SATURDAY OPEN DAILY at 1:30 N.W. 23rd WINDSOR HILLS fj I .2 1 IE cinema JJ -I (Parting on north 4625 NORTHWEST 23RD STREET Now you'll experience the ultimate in motion picture presentation in a theatre planned to present movies in an atmosphere of comfort and beauty for your maximum enjoyment. She materializes on the beach, saunters into a party being given by Aykroyd's brother, and starts to nibble on the cigarette butts. Aykroyd falls in love with her, not because she looks sexy, but because she makes him laugh.

I had much the same reaction. The title suggests that the movie's point of view is taken from Aykroyd's 13-year-old daughter (Alyson Hannigan), and if the movie had been told from a teen-ager's perspective, it might have developed some real possibilities. Unfortunately, the role of the daughter is used mostly for negative scenes, in which she stands around and has hysterics because her dad won't believe her when she says she saw Basinger drinking battery fluid and plunging her hand into boiling water. That's a missed opportunity, but even un-happier is the role of the scientist, played by Aykroyd, which seems to have been con facture such items as dresses and ID cards. It also ontains a snake with an eyeball for a mouth, who is her traitorous sidekick.

The purse is a key prop in the movie's best scene, where Aykroyd wants to kiss, and the purse projects movies on the wall behind him so that Basinger can copy her technique from old movies and other even stranger sources. Dan Aykroyd is a solid presence in the movie, but he's the straight nan, the earthling who likes to slave over a hot computer, and can't believe this woman really loves him. Basinger gets most L' BARGAIN MATINEE DAILY ALL SHOWS STARTING BEFORE 6:00 $000 ALL SEATS CONSTANT WIDE WIDE SCREENS NO WAITING OUTSIDE STRETCH OUT Extra Wide seat spacing (or more leg room and comlort. AUDITORIUM SUPERVISION Assures You Maximum Comfort And Enjoyment and Latest State-Of. Purchase same day tickets The-Art Projection for any show at our INDOOR BOX OFFICES.

Stereo Sound. OPENING A TTRA CTIONS A COMEDY OF COSMIC PROPORTIONS TWINS of the good comic moments in tlie movie, and does with them what she can, but Benjamin and his writers seem to have run short of invention. Most of the plot developments are foregone conclusions, and most of the big set pieces (like a wedding) are handled routinely, structed out of spare parts. Everything involving the scientist in this movie seems to have been watered down from other movies. The film opens with one of those basic mad scientist scenes in which a violent thunderstorm DAN AYKROYD KIM BASINGER TODAY AT 7:50 9:45 BEGINNING SATURDAY 2:10 4:00 5:55 7:50 9:45 SCHWARZENEGGER My Stepmother DEVITO Is An Alien, TONIGHT 1 223S5VX nrar A 7:10 9:30 BEGINNING SATURDAY 2:15 4:40 7:10 9:30 WIGHT BEGINNING SATURDAY Beforetime 2i4Ogi19 7i301QiPfl Mil ADirtllC" "A DELIGHT! Calne and Kingsley together arc A REVELATION." Jeffrey Lyon, SNEAK PREVIEWS CHS RADIO FRANK JONES WORLD HQTRS.

This holiday season, Journey to the most wonderful place In the Home. Michael Caine Ben Kingsley 10 More Screens Open Today in City TEN more screens! Ten more screens! Northwest Oklahoma City movie-goers now have 10 more choices, as Windsor Hills Cinemas, 4625 NW 23, opens today. Avpart of the Litchfield group of theaters nationwide, Windsor Hills has 10 screens, available for first-run motion pictures. Some of the films playing this weekend include "My Stepmother Is an-. Allen," "Without a Clue," "Cocoon: The Re-turn;" "The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police and "The Land Before Time." Windsor Hills Cinemas is the second Litchfield tieater to open in the Oklahoma City metro area the past three weeks.

Kickingbird Cinema in Sdmond has six screens, with plans to expand to light screens, COCODl rmour THE RETURN li5lgB. TONIGHT AT BEGINNING SATURDAY 7:05 9:35 2:05 4:35 7:05 9:35 TONIGHT AT: 7:00 9:00 TODAY AT BEGINNING 8ATU RDAY I 7:20 9:40 BEGINNING SATURDAY: 3:00 5:00 7:00 9:00 2:30 4:50 7:20 9:40 i.