Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 31

DETROIT FREE PRESSFRIDAY, JULY 20, 1984 3C i8; -iff- At (HIGHEST RATING) ONE OF THE YEAR'S BEST MOVIES. An exciting, heartwarming story. The movie really belongs to Pat Morita. It's refreshing to see a completely original character like he deserves a chance at an Oscar nomination." -Roger Kbert, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES "THE FEEL-GOOD MOVIE OF THE SUMMER. You haven't cheered so hard since you haven't felt so good since at the end of this movie you will be on your feet jumping, clapping and cheering." -Joel Siegel GOOD MORNING AMERICA "THE KARATE KID' leaves you cheering.

Uplifting, it's filled with charm, energy and true sincerity." Rex Reed, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST El xi I 4 4 ll 1 LZ The Wolfgang Petersen, director of "The Neverending Story," insists that his creatures, like the racing snail, must be just as thoroughly defined as his flesh and blood characters. Character gives his movies focus KarateKid It's time for his moment of truth. COLUMBIA PICTURES l'nsints a JERRY WEINTRAUBi'riKiu. tmnof a JOHN G. AVILDSEN Film "THE KARATE KID" s.amnK RALPH ACC 10 NORI YUKI "PAT" MORITA- ELISABETH SHUE MXBILL CONTI BROOKS ARTHUR LOUIS ROBERT MARK KAMEN WEINTRAUB JOHN G.

AVILDSEN Ordinal Houndlrut'k Album Available On Cattahlanut Karordu and Tapew i to DOLgSTPp' PGjPWENTAL GUIDANCE SUGGESTED Lome mattmn. mat noi at umtmi fo chum PLEASE CALL FOR SHOWTIMES 17 M-MU Most Americans who see Petersen's film will not have read Michael Ende's classic novel by the same name. Those familiar with the book will soon realize Petersen has filmed only half the story, and that he has changed it. Those changes caused more controversy in Europe than Petersen expects they will in the U.S. "In Europe, millions have read the book," he said.

"And when you read a fantasy, you create it yourself. Sometimes people were surprised by the movie. Sometimes they were disappointed. Sometimes they were positive. Michael Ende took his name off the film, because his imagination became our imagination.

He is still unhappy; I haven't talked to him since the opening." THAT'S NOT an uncommon situation in Germany, said Petersen. "I had the same problem with the writer of 'Das he said. "In Germany, writers don't understand what movie making is about, what it demands. They think you change too much. But I would do the same thing again, because if you do what writers want and they are wrong if you copy the novel, it won't work.

A film must be a new creation. To filmmakers that is clear; to writers it is not. German writers still live in the tradition of Goethe and Schiller they think movie making is strictly commercial, and they think they're on a different level." Petersen's is a familiar director's lament. "Story" opened in Europe three months ago; by now, Petersen said, he feels his artistic decisions have been 1:00 7:30 9:50 1:25 4:00 7:15 9:40 11:55 1:25 4:00 7:15 9:40 ii mm ir i mm 1:30 4:15 7:20 9:50 12:10 10:05 12:45 3:30 7.00 9:30 10:00 12:15 3:00 515 7:30 9:45 amp i 1:20 3:45 7 20 9:45 7:15 AND 9:40 1:15 4:20 7:20 9:45 12:00 By CATHARINE RAMBEAU Free Press Movie Critic Wolfgang Petersen, the 43-year-old German director whose last picture was the highest-grossing foreign film ever released in the U.S. "Das Boot," about life on a World War II German submarine has done a powerful about-face.

His latest movie, 'The Neverending Story" opens today at Detroit area theaters), is adapted from a children's book. "The Neverending Story" is, at least on the surface, wildly different from Petersen's somber, passionate "Das Boot." But both were made by a man who passionately believes that in the long run the human element character is what really makes a movie tick. AFTER THREE YEARS working on "Das Boot" (including one year inside the submarine), Petersen wanted to "change lanes," he said from his studio in Munich during a telephone interview. "I had the wish to do something really different," he continued, "something not so claustrophobic, something that would let me breathe. I decided to go back to my youth, because I wanted something positive, something uplifting something, really, for my soul." (His English is rapid, cadenced and fluent; not once is he at a loss for words.) And, Petersen added, he had another motive: He wanted to do a movie for his son, Daniel, then 13 years old.

"He liked said Petersen, "but he wished for me to do something for his world and his dreams. I looked for a long time; then, as it sometimes happens, another director left 'The Neverending and it turned out to be exactly what I was looking for." Disparate as the assignments seem, there were similarities between "The Neverending Story" and "Das Boot," Petersen said. "When I made I concentrated on the people in the boat instead of making it into another spectacular war story. With 'Neverending I was at first a little frightened because I had so much technology. But the story is wonderful and the characters are charming, so I concentrated on the characters and not on the effects." PETERSEN MAY be new to American audiences, but he is hardly a Johnny-come-lately.

He made more than 20 feature films, mostly for European television, and "Black and White Like Day and Night," starring Bruno Ganz, earned him the best director award at the Paris Festival and the grand prize at the Monte Carlo TV Festival. He studied acting and producing, attended the Berlin Film School for four years, won plenty of film and television prizes and was twice nominated for an Academy Award for "Das Boot." Actress Nastassja Kinski, now an international star, debuted in his award-winning "For Your Love Only." vindicated. "The film is an incredible success," he said. IT'S A ROLLER-COASTER RIDE OF FUN." -Gene Shalit, THE TODAY SHOW Thls iS the most "Kids go crazy over the flying, and that's not in the book. Ende agreed that we should use just the first half of the novel there was too much material so we had to invent a new ending.

The second part (of the book) is about Bastian's relationships in Fantasia, so there could be a follow-up movie; Ende has already agreed to that." BECAUSE IT IS, at least in theory, a children's movie, "The Neverending Story" presented its own problems. "We were under a lot of pressure to get it ready in time for Easter," Petersen said. "Summer is not a good time to open movies in Europe. So we had to make a lot of changes, and we had to make them fast." Now that it's finished, Petersen is pleased with his work. And so, he said, is his son Daniel.

"He loves the film," said Petersen. "He was very strict with me. I had to tell him about every cut." Audiences familiar with Petersen's work will notice that the creatures in "The Neverending Story" are just as "human" and just as thoroughly defined as the film's flesh and blood characters. That's no accident. "I'm very much into character," said Petersen, "and I like to work with actors.

It's important not to be overwhelmed by technical stuff, because the center of emotions is still the human being. That's still what it's all about." cheerfully romantic adventure movie since 'Raiders'." -Roger Ebert. CHICAGO SUN-TIMES "This is brilliant movie making. I have never had more fun at the mOVieS. -Joel Siege! ABC -IV "It's a blockbuster, a lollapalooza, I Reality, fantasy merge in kids' magic 4Story a classic.

-Rex Reed. NEW YORK POST "Wow! This is I ma -Richard Corliss. TIME MAGAZINE Br It 'V- Wj sT: THE NEVERENDING STORY rri i mi mm Area Theaters Bastian Barret Oliver Alrevu Noah Halhawav Empress Tami Stronach The Night Hob Tito PruecKner The Teeny Weenv Deep Rov Cairon Moses Gunn Father Gerald McRanev Produced bv Bernd Eichinger and Dieter Geissler. Directed bv Wolfgang Petersen from a screenplay by Petersen and Herman Wicgcl, based on Michael Ende's novel. Photographed by Josf Vacano.

Production design by Rolf Zehet-bauer. Edited bv Jane Seiti. Special and visual effects bv Brian Johnson. Special effects makeup and sculpture by Colin Arthur. PARENTS GUIDE: PG, Occasionally scary and sad.

and the tie in i-Li- or- ooom tfnxSZ u. bi Bastian's mother is dead, he's having a tough time at school, and his dad is the sort of bemused fellow whose idea of a heart-to-heart talk is a mild, stiff-upper-lip lecture conducted while he opens the mail. Like a lot of kids who have no one to listen, Bastian (Barret Oliver) escapes into the world of books. Based on a wildly popular children's book (wildly popular everywhere except in the U.S., something the movie will no doubt correct), "The Neverending Story" has children for heroes. Even better, the actors who play Bastian, the young warrior Atreyu (Noah Hathaway), and the ethereal, ageless empress (Tani Stron-ach) are children themselves instead of 23-year-olds in Max Factor disguise.

Oliver Galactica," "White is 11, Hathaway "Best 13, and Stronach just 10. BASTIAN, BELEAGUERED by bullies, is manipulated into liberating a "dangerous" book dangerous because, once begun, it is difficult to end. Late for class, Bastian retreats into the school's attic, a magical space crammed with the detritus of years and spangled with dust motes floating in faint yellow sunlight. Soon Bastian is in Fantasia, a world threatened by Armageddon in the shape of the Nothing. The slow co-mingling of Bastian's Earth with Atreyu's Fantasia is what makes "Neverending Story" so special to children.

Fantabla's inhabitants include some very queer humanoids a rvAHl INI I 1 1 IRIS I HI SI I A 1 1 1( AM II I 1 1 l'l JDIK I ION A Ml VI Sill I HI lit III HARRISON FORD "INDIANA jONIS AND Ti ll TLMPIE OF DOOM" KATL CACSI )AW-AMRISH PURI ROSHAN SFTH PHII IP STONE KE HUY OUAN GEORGE I UCAS FRANK MARSI IAI I a. KATHI EFN KENNEDY m. JOI )N Wll LIAMS Wll I ARD HUYCK GLORIA KATZ GEORGE LUCAS ROM RT WATTS STEVEN SPIl LBERG ianavmww a pakamouni iictuki Noah Hathaway as Atreyu strokes his horse Artax before they begin their quest to save the magical land of Fantasia in "The Never-ending Story." one really is. Watch that last scene carefully; eoosebumps. nmmmi- nr.

IRM ttlVi If HKIHIINSI IlK HIW-iH (WIWIN I 1h.iKi1I..miih h. IimX I in I id Children ought to go wild for thisl NOW SHOWING mi DOLBY STEREO 1- 31TOIV1IV1I 12:35 2:55 5:15 7:35 9:50 uni-toothed ancient with pointy ears, a shrimpy Belushi-style Mad Hatter as well as even queerer critters like a racing snail, a hang-glider bat, a Rock Biter, and a fur 'n' feathers luck dragon whose suspect ancestry suggests chameleons and Brittany spaniels. Each of these creatures even a vile berserk wolf with emerald eyes and a nasty case of overbite has personality. FANTASIA'S EMPRESS is dying (in a castle which looks like a bottle of expensive perfume); only the boy warrior Atreyu can save her and perhaps the realm but even he cannot do so without the help of a human. And, slowly, deliciously, Bastian (and the audience) begin to realize who that human must be.

But first, as do all heroes, Atreyu has to pass through trials including a relentfcssly grim swamp and a magic gate in which one sees who or what TO: 00 12:30 2:45 5:00 715 945 1:05 3:15 5:30 7:45 10:00 12:20 2:40 8:00 7:20 9:35 1205 2:25 4:45 710 9:30 movie. It's about them, it about magic, it's about putting up with the worst that comes and still emerging triumphant. There are parts that are a little sappy, but there's a little sap in the best of us. And while I personally have begun to hate Giorgio Moroder's music (and despise Keith Forsey's alleged lyrics), I'll bet if I were nine years old I would be saving my allowance for the sound track record. All things considered, Neverending Story" is a terrif id movie for the whole family.

Catharine Rambeau 1Z45 2S5 5 :05 0 1 4:00 30 1 10:00 1 10:00 12:20 2:40 5:00 7:20 9 3.05 520 7:40 9Sb (1:00 3:10 5:20 7:30 9 45 12:15 2:0 5:05 7:30 9:45 12:30 2:45 5:00 7:15 9:30.