BARNEY'S GREAT ADVENTURE: THE MOVIE (G)
Directed by Steve Gomer Running Time: 75 minutes Originally Released: April 3, 1998
Reviewed by E. Benjamin Kelsey
* * (out of four)
Barney, that big purple dinosaur everybody loves to hate, is finally stampeding off your local PBS station and into movie theaters everywhere. Some are laughing, some are vomiting, and some are just plain baffled that such an occurrence has indeed taken place. But let's get one thing straight - Barney is not and never was intended for adults, so, keeping that in mind, grab your imagination caps and head into the wonderful world of BARNEY'S GREAT ADVENTURE: THE MOVIE.
Over the river and thru the woods, Cody (Trevor Morgan), his little sister Abby (Diana Rice), and her best friend Marcella (Kyla Pratt), are heading to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a summer vacation. Cody, who's getting to that mature age of 12 or so, is having doubts about the trip . . . there won't be any cable TV to entertain him, just a farm complete with smelly, noisy pigs. On the other hand, Abby and Marcella couldn't be happier it seems, running around, playing hide-and-go-seek and tag, and basically using the most archaic toy of all - their imaginations. It doesn't take long for Cody to find something to do - he steals Abby's precious Barney doll and taunts her relentless efforts to retrieve it. That is until, lo and behold, the 14" plush replica of the big purple dinosaur magically transforms into the life-size, walking and talking, singing and dancing, genuine article.
Always a skeptic, the first little bit of the film follows Cody as he tries to shrug Barney off as an oversized, grape colored hallucination. But the more Barney dances and prances around the barn, singing rounds with Abby and Marcella, the harder this is for Cody to do. Eventually, the four of them unite when a mysterious, color-changing egg is found and, thru the help of neighbor Mildred Goldfinch (Renee Madeline Le Guerrier) and her extensive library, they discover it is a magical wishmaker, able to grant everyone's wish once all the colors have changed. The trouble is, the egg is constantly being misplaced, and if it isn't returned to the exact spot it was found by the time all the changes have taken place, it will never work. This leaves the group on an city-wide, hour-long expedition to recover the magical egg, allowing for plenty of sing alongs and guest appearances by Barney's humble friends, Baby Bop and BJ.
Surprisingly, and luckily, there are very few moments that will actually make even the most sophisticated of adults want to cringe. The only time I was highly agitated was when Baby Bop came onscreen with her whiny, piercing squeal of a voice. Like the television series, Barney happens to be the least annoying character there is, and thankfully, none of those nauseatingly over- zealous kids from the show appear in this movie. Morgan, Pratt, and newcomer Rice all handle their roles as well as can be expected, although Pratt is given very little to do besides tag along. Their performances are a bit corny, but for a kids' film, not much more can realistically be anticipated, and any hokeyness can be attributed as much to director Steve Gomer as the actors. But once again, these are details that nobody extremely interested in seeing this film is going to care about. The target audience of preschoolers isn't likely to scoff at the low-budget special effects or mock the amateurish acting abilities, and since this film is for them, and not us, why should we be so quick to trespass on their innocent wonderment with our magicless, adult cynicism?
All I can say is, thank heavens there's not a "Bananas in Pajamas" movie . . . at least not yet. I know most people out there are ready to lynch Barney, but it's those oversized Aussie fruits that scare the heck out of me. They're creepy! So, however much you may despise Barney, there are plenty of TV shows we should be rejoicing haven't been adapted into big screen versions, especially when nearly every TV show seems to wind up there eventually. Did we ever have to suffer a "Hee Haw" movie? Alas, from many of the right perspectives, BARNEY'S GREAT ADVENTURE: THE MOVIE is quite tolerable, and if you're under five years old, it's probably wonderful.
April 04, 1998
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews