The Winnipeg Sun from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada • 11

THE WINNIPEG SUN Saturday July 30 1994 I BOY BLUNDER: Cabin Boy'S Elliot I Cabin Boy: Ship of foolishness MANE EVENT if you bollevo soma critics Disney now blockbuster Tha Lion King Is violent racist and plagiarism Defending Disney in its row CABIN BOYMfr Chris Elliot known fbr his weird contributions to both sets of David Letter-man talk shows is the kind of comic tal-ent you either love or hate That would explain why Cabin Boy his sole starring effort circumvented local theatres and went straight to video Elliot plays a snobbish private school student oa his way to a pampered life at his rich dad Hawaiian resort But he gets on the wrong boat and ends up as a kind of receptacle of abuse for the Central Casting salty dogs onboard The movie is a bliarre mix of Influences from Slnbad and Captain Courageous to Pee Wee Big Adventure Watch for Letterman sole movie appearance Refreshingly gooQr absolute original author someone could And themselves due for a monster royalty cheque It seems to me If going to attack The Lion King you can vent your hostility on Its commercials Have you seen those ones In which people on the street are singing the featured Lion King song Hakuna Matata? Do they expect us to believe that anyone eomlng out of The Lion King would actually remember any of those forgettable Elton John ditties? While on the subject how about those radio and television commercials that are disguised as entertainment Does anybody really believe those things are something other than commercials? And if so Disney shamelessly misrepresenting Itself? As long as we're slagging the House Moving Pictures HERE ARE better reasons to attack Disney Studios I point this out because tha recent Disney hit The Lion King Menu to be under attack from all (Idea Oa one front it been uid that The Lion King too violent It may be too violent fbr very young kids ranted but it not nearly violent as the lift on the African Savannah in meant to represent The cartoon feature has also been called racist Harvard psychologist Carolyn Newberger has said that the are supposed to be a representation of urban blacks Excuse me These are hyenas The San Francisco Chronicle has been suggesting that the plot of The lion King was plagiarised from a Japanese TV series horn the VOs called Klmba the White Lion Both stories Involve young lion kings exiled when their Aithen are murdered In both stories the good lions are afnilat-ed with a baboon and a chatty bird and the bad lions are allied with hyenas And then then the lion King name 81m-ba They are Interesting parallels and despite Disney official protestations to the CRAPE 46 Another oddball movie in whleh a young man CJohnmr Depp) craves adventure and travel but Is trapped by his responsibilities to his morbidly obese mother (a nice performance by first-time actress Darlene Cates) and his retarded brother (an even better Oscar-nominated performance by Leonardo PiCaprioX A quietly poignant drama LURKING PEARtSi Based oa a story by EP Loveeraft contrary Pm sure 1ft possible that some artists or writers may nave even been sub-liminally aware of Klmba when they were creeting The Lion King But left get some perspective here You could ust as easily argue that Klmba was Inspired by the 1942 Disney film Bam-bl Or that both Klmba and The Lion King are rip-oflk of Hamlet which Is also about a prince who must avenge his uncle fbr the murder of his father And where did Shakespeare get the Idea fbr Hamlet? If we ean track down the these grueling Brady Bunch-wholesome rap routines I shudder at the memory In fket cm the brink of starting a petition STOP RAP IN DISNEY MOVIES NOW1 Now there an Issue lean back this quickie honor melodrama pits treasure-hunting gangsters against SHLOCK AROUND THE CLOCK fWhaft the name of the Spinal Tap special leaguered townsfolk attempting off some flesh-eating zombie typ have long considered their England village to be a Und ofaU-you-can-eat smorgasbord Cheesy and cheap the movie fen- -tures one-time Hitchcock star Jon Finch (Frenry) as the chief gangster From Hitchcock to tbla Now that scary: ALSO RELEASED THB WEEK: By the Sword Unborn 2 No Dessert Dad Until Ydu Mow the Lawn Jamon Jamon Taxi Blues Cabeza do Vacaro Ktottater 4: The Aggressor Angel 4: Undercover Dragonworid Test Tbbe Thens from the Year 2000 Blark Check Scanner Cop Assault at West-point BlndfoU: Ads of Obsession ES ITS THE LONG WSKEND and fa onMnotao much ao thereat of you And y4 Ifeelaeertain rfkmma IhavetimelOAkheadipriapeck-ogee to ghe away ThopaMidMjnaA What the none of the Fmken- musician played by Michael McKean? What was the name of the TV featuring the pre-fab four the dogbatanUrheadeCDceeeandadou-fill fiMi fn fni mrhiriffMfilM ofthinch atom sms ear ws sn wvew wwrav iw osp wmfvp onWtdnmday7pjnaltiieGanids Unfortimatsfy I won't be at my phone until Timday mowing So fa deckled to gin you throotoughortiaiHmialbMaquoetkuwyou con tlow ovor whtio yrntre outing tot your opportunity to enter: The category la dumb tochart Thagueetionearec stein-iwalam-flxker murdered onstage In The Phartom of the Paradse? Phone me on Tueeday between 10 in and IfklOtm (not before and not alter) at 632-2787 with the correct anewon and you could wk Wkmon mutt bo able to pick uptim prize padageoatthaSunrocopIkmdookboteroB pjn on WodnoadayWoYo at 1700 Church An juotoffKoowotin "1 ROCK BOTTOM: Airheads stars.