For nine months of the year, a movie house is no place to bring a small child.
That's because when movie studio executives talk of the hallowed "youth market" they're taling late-teens, early-20s -- not young children. They make movies to zap the viewers, with more violence, more shocks, more gore than most small children can handle.
But summer, well that's a different story. Summer is when the kids get a chance, and the summer of '82 offers plenty for the smaller fry.
Annie, E.T., Bambi, The Secret of NIMH, Star Trek II; The Wrath of Khan, Grease 2 -- they're all suitable-for-children movies currently showing at Lower Mainland theatres. Yet to come this summer are Tron, Tex and The Dark Crystal.
For the past few years, the censor's General classification has come to be known as the kiss of death for business. No one wants to make family pictures anymore.
But the phenomenal success of Steven Spielberg's E.T., The Extra Terrestrial may cause Hollywood to reassess the situation. In its opening three weeks, E.T. -- a kid's movie which also brings the kid out in adults -- set box office records throughout North America (its 14-day, $44.8 million total beat Superman II's $42.6 million, even taking inflation into account, because it played at fewer theatres than last year's big movie).
In the Lower Mainland, E.T. has set house records at the Park (where people line up three hours for seats), Dolphin, Westminster Mall and Westminster Drive-In.
E.T.'s success story proves that a good storyline and identifiable characters still appeal to moviegoers (cynics might suggest that the Spielberg name is responsible, but the horror show Poltergeist -- produced and partially directed by Spielberg -- is averaging less than half the audience per screen nationally as E.T.).
All this is important when you consider the pessimistic aura surrounding release of two animations: The Secret of NIMH and Bambi. Word out of Hollywood was that such light wholesome films are anachronisms. The trade paper Variety called Secret of NIMH "a return to old standards, if anybody wants to go back."
The Secret of NIMH successfully recaptures the magic of early Disney animations. It was made by a group of animators (headed by Don Bluth) who broke away from Disney Studios because they felt quality at the established studio was going downhill. NIMH retains the sentimental story and characters you find in Disney animations, and reintroduces fluid motion, shadows, lighting tricks, background action and special effects (such as sparkling water and flickering flames).
The Secret of NIMH also has its modern touches; its pace is faster than most Disney animations, and some of the effects are pure space-age (a pen's impression leaves a laser-like light burned into the paper).
Bambi is one of the animations Bluth and other connoisseurs list as being one of Disney's best (Snow White and Dumbo are others). Celebrating its 40th birthday this year, the movie stands up surprisingly well. It is gentle, but it also instills fear and suspense in the young audience.
Joining E.T., Secret of NIMH and Bambi at the top of the kids' stakes is Star Trek II. Unlike the first Star Trek movie, which failed because it paraded special effects while neglecting story, this one flows more like the television show. Sensitive children may be frightened by a grotesque parasite which tunnels into a man's ear, but overall I'd recommend this film for child consumption.
Because it's a musical, Annie may lose a few tykes, but the children I saw at the theatre appeared to be well entertained (my six-year-old nephew thought it was great, even when Annie punched out the boys). Grease II has a narrower audience in mind -- the 10-14 bunch -- and is the only movie in the pack which parents will find difficult to sit through (it is perhaps the lamest salute to the late-'50s, early-'60s era around).
Tron, which starts next Friday, could be the huge theatrical hit Disney Studios has been waiting for. On the surface, it can't lose. All the action takes place within a video game, and any kid with a passion for things that go blip will want to see it.
To ensure audience expectation, Disney's promotional wing is in full gear. To date, 34 manufacturers will produce Tron items, with $60 million invested in tabletop, computer and arcade games alone (by the Tomy Corporation, Mattel and Vally-Midway, respectively). The campaign culminated in a Tron national video tournament, with the finals to be held in Madison Square Garden.
Disney has yet another summer movie slated for August. Tex, a love story set in Oklahoma, stars teenage heartthrob Matt Dillon and a 19-year-old actress from Victoria, Meg Tilly. Muppet creator Jim Henson brings out The Dark Crystal, a sorcery-and-monster fantasy which combines puppetry with live action, late in the summer.