ALASKA
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1996 James Berardinelli
RATING (0 TO 10): 5.5 Alternative Scale: ** out of ****
United States, 1996 U.S. Release Date: 8/14/96 (wide) Running Length: 1:48 MPAA Classification: PG (Dangerous situations, mild profanity) Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Cast: Thora Birch, Vincent Kartheiser, Dirk Benedict, Charlton Heston, Duncan Fraser, Ben Cardinal Director: Fraser C. Heston Producers: Carol Fuchs and Andy Burg Screenplay: Andy Burg & Scott Myers Cinematography: Tony Westman Music: Reg Powell U.S. Distributor: Columbia Pictures
With a title that sounds like it belongs to a James Michner novel, ALASKA represents the latest children-and-a-cuddly-animal adventure. As such, it includes a raft of requisite stock elements: the kids are brighter and braver than the adults, there's a mammoth natural obstacle for them to overcome, and the wildlife they meet is inevitably helpful (no need to be afraid of a bear with Reg Powell's cheerful music playing). The problem with this sort of script-by-numbers method of screenwriting is that rarely are even the most prominent characters invested with any depth or individuality. ALASKA gives us cardboard people who struggle to engage our sympathies on even the most basic level.
Another characteristic of this sort of movie is great cinematography. Tony Westman, ALASKA's director of photography, offers up a portfolio of breathtaking, panoramic shots. Admittedly, it would be difficult to mess up the look of a film set in such a gorgeous locale, but Westman takes full advantage of his surroundings. In fact, this film is almost more successful as a travelogue than as an adventure -- too often, I was paying attention to the background while action was taking place in the foreground. Remove the badly-developed characters and silly plot contrivances and film this using the IMAX process, and you might have a winner.
The story, such as it is, hinges on formulaic situations and difficult-to-swallow implausibilities. Children under 10 might be impressed, but anyone who appreciates a degree of complexity in their motion picture entertainment will be galled by some of the film makers' choices. There are some involving action sequences that enable the viewer to forget, however momentarily, about what got the characters into this hard-to-swallow situation. Unfortunately, these scenes, which include riding rapids and climbing mountains, aren't involving enough to allow perceptive audience members to forgive the weakness of the linking material.
When ALASKA opens, airplane pilot Jake Barnes (Dirk Benedict) and his two children, Jessie (Thora Birch) and Sean (Vincent Kartheiser), have moved from Chicago to Alaska following the death of Jake's wife. In the "starting over" department, Jake and Jessie are doing okay, but Sean misses his old life, going so far as to wish his father had died instead of his mother. Then, one night, while Jake is winging his way home, he runs into a storm and crashes somewhere around a peak called Devil's Thumb. When the rescue effort fails to locate him, the two intrepid children, accompanied by a baby polar bear cub they save from a poacher (Charlton Heston), set out to find Jake.
One might wonder why an actor of Charlton Heston's status would be slumming in this sort of film, especially considering that the only other recognizable name is Dirk Benedict, a C-level personality best known for roles in TV's BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and THE A-TEAM. The mystery really doesn't run all that deep, however: the star of epics like BEN HUR and THE TEN COMMANDMENTS is director Fraser C. Heston's father.
The two children, Vincent Kartheiser (THE INDIAN IN THE CUPBOARD) and Thora Birch (NOW AND THEN), are reasonably fresh faces, although both can boast previous screen exposure. Neither is especially good or bad as a performer, although the script challenges their physicality more than their acting range. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view), they are constantly upstaged by their four legged companion.
ALASKA would have been marginally better without the heavy dose of Native American mysticism that has been injected into the screenplay. The poachers are also an unwanted distraction -- why add human villains when the terrain itself is enough of a hazard? Yet, even had the writers trimmed these elements, ALASKA still would have been trapped by the confines of a formula-driven genre. It would be a welcome pleasure to witness the results of someone taking a real chance with a movie like this. As such, ALASKA is a lost opportunity. This film plays it safe, and, as a result, will follow the similar-but-better THE AMAZING PANDA ADVENTURE on the fast track to the "family" section of the video store.
- James Berardinelli e-mail: berardin@bc.cybernex.net ReelViews web site: http://www.cybernex.net/~berardin
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