Page 8-The Michigan Daily- Monday, November 25, 1991 Fievel Goes West is a lucrative 'classic' An American Tail: Fievel Goes West dir. Phil Nibbelink and Simon Wells by Austin Ratner Steven Spielberg added animated features to his repertoire of lucra- tive productions in 1986 with An American Tail, which grossed $47 million, the biggest box office suc- cess in the history of animated fea- ture films. With Kathleen Kennedy, one of his two partners in Amblin Entertainment, Spielberg acted as an executive producer of another ani- mated hit:Who Framed Roger Rab- bit?, 1988's top grossing film. In An American Tail: Fievel Goes West, Amblin's and Universal Studios' collaborated sequel to the original Tail, Spielberg continues his central role in the revival of the animated film. Fievel Goes West is not a future classic - but Spielberg has a knack for assembling works that have all the humor, the feelings, the visual flash and the satisfying resolution to make audiences happier when they leave the theater than they were when they went in. Spielberg's magic comes through in movies about mice, dogs, cats and birds that follow their dreams just like people, and achieve them just like people wish that they could. As Fievel Mousekewitz and his immigrant family move west from New York in search of wide open spaces, more American opportunity and lots of cheese, their dreams be- come the film's focus - Mama and Papa Mousekewitz's dreams of a better life, Fievel's dreams of be- coming a hero and Fievel's sister Tanya's dreams of being a singer. The movie immediately estab- lishes that its goal is not to tug on your heartstrings. Fievel's sister re- who what v My definition, my definition of a couple of boombastic hop cats is ... the Dream Warriors. Why is the band so Hip? 1) The Warriors are a rap group from Canada. 2) Instead of "borrowing" George Clinton riffs like most other rap groups, the Warriors sample Canadian game show themes. 3) The Warriors are not associated with Freddy in any way, shape or form. And 4), the Warriors have got a reeeeally cool video. Need we say more? You can see the band tonight at 8 p.m. at Industry, in Pontiac, if you think you're hip enough. where when Qe 0 Dream Warriors turns from the window after mov- ingly singing "Somewhere Out There" (Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram's smash hit from the first film), only to report glumly, "Papa, they're throwing fruit and vegetables at me again." The witty screenplay by Flint Dille can maintain an older audi- ence's interest, especially with the comic talents of John Cleese, who provides the voice of Cat R. Waul, the civilized king-pin of some bad guy cats. Also adding wit are Jimmy Stewart as the voice of the heroic but over-the-hill sheriff of the ani- mal community out West, and Dom Deluise, as the voice of Fievel's fat, slapstick-prone best friend. Alas, Jon Lovitz plays side-kick again, even in a cartoon, but his rendition of T. R. Chula, Waul's beleaguered spider henchman, is hilarious. Cleese is the movie's comic centerpiece, and lines like "Which would you rather have, the crouton or the entire Caesar salad?!" and "I have mentioned that I dislike being referred to as 'Pussy Poos"' become sources of high amusement coming from him. When you're sitting in a theater with a bunch of seven-year- olds on a Friday night, you can at least feel sophisticated when you laugh at the jokes which go over their heads. David Kirschner's conception of the Mousekewitzes and Charles Swenson's story lend themselves to a child's perspective. The clear divi- sion of good and evil -- the eaters (cats) and the potentially but never actually eaten (mice) - casts the conflict in romantically simplified terms that kids can relate to. The clash between dreams of indepen- dence and fear of leaving the safety of family returns to a theme well adapted to a younger perspective - growing up. "If growing up were so easy, would it take so long?" Papa Mousekewitz wisely intones to young Fievel. Fievel Goes West does rehash character types from many of the other films of its genre, and diffuses its focus over too many characters so that the drama is not as pointed as it might have been. But Fievel will certainly entertain, and can muster enough Spielberg and Disney magic to make you feel good. XTC Rag & Bone Buffet Geffen Over the past few years, a major trend in the rock music industry has been the "three R's": Retrospectives, Reissues and Rarities. XTC's Rag & Bone Buffet falls into the latter category - although one could also argue that it's a reissue, since the album was previously available in England for 0 quite some time. Only recently has this domestic version been released, which really pissed off those of us who bought the $20 import disc. (You'd think I would learn to wait ...) A surprisingly tight collection of rare singles and previously unre- leased material spanning the whole of the band's 14-year recording career, Buffet is a must for any XTC fan; but it should also appeal to the uniniti- ated listener. For many groups, rarities = bad, which is probably why they're rare in the first place. In this case, however, rarities = good - much better, in fact, than anything on 1989's mediocre Oranges and Lemons, XTC's most recent album. Most songs on Buffet have good, strong melodies, as well as bountiful hooks and harmonies; and, perhaps more im- 0 portantly, main singer/songwriter Andy Partridge's annoying howling noises are kept to a minimum. The arrangements are also much more daring than on the band's regular releases: "Extrovert" features a driving horn section, "Heaven is Paved with Broken Glass" opens with backward guitar chords and "Looking for Footprints" ends in a long instrumental fade out. It's almost as if the members of the band knew that they weren't going to use these songs and as such felt free to experiment. (The excellent results indicate that they should experiment more often.) Not to worry, though - there's plenty of "usual" XTC, too. Some of the more interesting of the album's whopping 24 tracks are a single version of "Respectable Street" with cleaned-up (more re- spectable?) lyrics; a nearly a cappella dance mix of the catchy "Cockpit"; "Take This Town," a super-charged whistler (the middle section of which might be the only three-chord XTC song in existence); "Thanks for Christmas," a feel-good holiday ditty recorded as the Three Wise Men (produced by The Good Lord); and "The History of Rock 'n Roll," Partridge's album-closing 22-second thesis on the evolution of rock music. Clearly, Buffet has been dying to be released for a long time now. Unlike many acts' rarities collections, this one stands on its own as one of XTC's best albums. As to why these songs - in many cases superior to the@ album cuts - weren't given more attention in the past, I can only plead ig- norance. On behalf of record company executives, that is. -Alan Glenn AN AMERICAN TAIL: FIEVEL GOES WEST is playing at Showcase and Briarwood. 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Evita's balanced pit orchestra was consistently powerful, given the difficulty of the score. Without spoken dialogue, the continual ac- tion exhausts those merely watch- ing it. Evita reflected an incredible amount of effort and enthusiasm. The ensemble, the principle roles and the set came together to cry out their own version of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" with painstaking power. -Sue Uselmann I - W-P-Z-A AM 1050 Radio You Can Depend On 11 Presents the BUSINESS SAMPLER More Than $1000 Worth of Services, Merchandise, and Entertainment For Only $3995 WPZA and Business Sampler Marketing in conjunction with the businesses listed below are cooperating to bring you the Business Sampler Coupon Book. It contains almost 100 coupons worth over $1000. These are not "two for one" or "cents off" coupons. Each certificate in the book is good for something completely free. You can recoup the entire cost of Business Sampler by using just one or two of the coupons. 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