The Cincinnati Post from Cincinnati, Ohio • 23

The Cincinnati Post Friday August 13 1W) 7B Acting portrays teen fears By David Lyman Emile Charles and Tony Forsyth star In the suspenseful Wonderland Movie review the characters director Philip Savilevand writer Frank Clarke wander off on several dramatic tangents each of them exquisitely woven into the fiber of the movie Gradually the focus of the movie turns more to the constantly victimized Eddie Even Michael in his fumbled efforts to become a protector betrays his friend only refuge is his Eddie only refuge is his Moat movies race their way from beginning to end barely down to reveal much about their characters or why they operate the way they do What a pleasure then to run across a movie that leisurely wends its way guided more by dramatic need than by imagined time limits It begins as a tale about adolescent frustrations albeit with a slight twist Eddie and Michael are 16 and gay and feel totally out of place in their lower middle-class Liverpool lives Michael deceitful and manipulative sells his body on the street Eddie painfully sweet 'and honest humors his fantasies and withstands the hu- initiation of his hostility But when they witness the murder of a bar owner they are forced to flee aided by an opera star who has Just deserted his international career to become a television personality In order to reveal more about WONDERLAND VMtran Picture O-ractsd by PhMp Savto Produced by Btev Morrison Written by Frank Clark Director of photography Dick Pop Editor Richard Bad-lord Muaio by Hane Zimmer WHh EmNe Chartee Tony Fotsylh Robert Stephana Robbia CoNrana Bruce Payne Running Oma: 103 minute Rated for nudity aexual aitue-tlona adult thamee Daily through Auguat 24 at The Movies S3J0 dreams At night he dreams of dancing like Marilyn Monroe During the day he dreams of freeing the dolphins that entertain the crowds at the seaside resort where they have landed Though "Wonderland" works its way to an inevitably tragic conclusion the finale also offers liberation Though Inexperienced actors Tony Forsyth (Michael) and Emile Charles (Eddie) bring extraordinary range to their roles especially' Charles whose modesty is so sincere that one can only nod in agreement when a character calls him "a offers a fanciful epic HOW ImxouMTis showing mfasar By David Lyman Movie review LAPUTA Straamikte Plctura Directed by and written by Hayao Miyazaki Praduoad by laao Takahate Muale by Job HiaaiaM Running tima: 124 minutes Unrated Daily enough Auguat 23 at Tbs Movias 3350 of the story is Sheets a little girl pursued by pirates secret agents and the army All are after the powerful glowing amulet that hangs around her neck But Sheets is not without friends A little peasant boy Pa-zu has become her protector Like her he is searching for Laputa a legendary floating city that was once seen by his father who was hounded to death when he tried to share his secret with a skeptical world Along the way the pair encounter spells anti-gravitational gems and an army of towering and all-powerful robots The specific legend of Laputa Is drawn from a passing reference in But the world Miyazaki creates with his stiff-limbed animation is one that belongs to no age or nation Though the movement in animation itself is not especially subtle it is reminiscent of the "Japanimation" Perhaps Just coincidence that "Laputa: Castle in the Sky" opens in Cincinnati just three days after "The Wizard of Oz" turns 50 But the timing could hardly be more auspicious For Hayao Miyazaki's full-length animated work is rich with the legends and mythology that gave birth to Eden and scores of other tales of lost utopias While films can make such stories more animation has the advantage of being free of limitations like the laws of physics or gravity Ail result is a fanciful epic a saga that sprawls across worlds that never were exploring places and powers that could never be The plot in this longish (124 minutes) movie is far too convoluted to detail But at the center that dominates Saturday morning cartoons its images have the striking handsomeness of primltlvlst paintings And the script superbly dubbed from Japanese has the simple magic of classic storytelling Straddling the line between fairy-tale -and science fiction "Laputa: Castle in the is as much adult fere as it is for kids And like the best works of either of these fantastic genres it has everything to do with our everyday lives and the way we live them James THE ABYSS is a marvel of a movie adventure-fantasy that combines state-of-the-art tecwiique with high-intensity story telling THE ABYSS is one of the most ambitious action-adventures of recent vintageafilmthat attemptstooffer an engrossing human drama a riveting action film and an affecting science -JKk Omar GANNETT NEWS SERVICE A JOHN HUGHES A THE ABYSS is monumental mold-breaking entertainment It is an experience like no other one of the best pictures of the year and it is something even mowalove story of shattering impact THE ABYSS confirms James Cameron as a world class filmmaker" -MteTnwr ROUJNG STONE imilil A MEOTII! James Cameron's new film THE ABYSS is an underwater rollercoaster riderdonl think the summer excitement is over at the -rhim attic moves Out-Aliens it's a feeding-frenzy for those who dig high-tech R1 have you inhaling and exhaling fester than me panic-stricken divers on-screen It's a 10T -Owy FtenMn KASC-TV LOS ANGELES iwiiiiwiiMiBHiai unis BramiwuHim crude crass family NEWBORN AMYMADIGAN Ixxn JOHN HUGHES andTOM JACOBSON JOHN HUGHES SSSSSSSSSS MIPGInWteTW WUCt MK1TM Oi 0 LOCWS CAROUSEL MOOteADMSKX 71-1170 1M-C0UNTY 1-5 iWOOWCBCHWa 771-4844 ROW SHOWING LOCWS NORTHGATE V727COUMINAVI 808-8S05 LOCWS FLORENCE 1.