The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, December 9, 1998 - ack rost' leaves Michael Keaton out in the cold By Erin Podoisky Da 'Arts Writer how hard he tries to make things work. Soon enough a car accident on Christmas Eve sends Jack to the club her son has gone off the deep end (or into the igloo, as it were) and remains oblivious until the very end, When you're a kid and a parent circuit in the sky and Charlie is left when she and Charlie get to see Jack dies, your deepest wish, the only to fend for himself against his anger back in his real form surrounded by a ng in the world that you really and and abandonment issues. heavenly glow as he floats off into ly want, is to see Mom or Dad The following year, Charlie builds the distance. All together now: again. You try to bargain with Death, a snowman in an effort to make con- "Aww." begging for a second chance even if tact with his father through an activ- One of the main problems with only for a moment. Movies deal with ity that they used to do together. "Jack Frost" is how often it shifts in the return of the Thanks to a magic harmonica (leave tone from serious to ludicrous to dead in one form your disbelief at the door for this mawkish. This is probably a case of or another quite one, kids), the snowman comes to too many cooks in the kitchen, as the often, probably life as Daddy Jack incarnate. movie was written by four extremely Jack Frost because they're Snowman Jack helps Charlie out different writers, including Mark fiction and against bullies, bonds with his son Steven Johnson ("Simon Birch") and therefore can do and even crosses the great hot comedian Jeff Cesario (probably 9 anything no mat- asphalt parking lot divide, melting brought in to punch up Jack's dia- Opens Friday at ter how unbe- all the way, to see Charlie score his logue to an inappropriately adoles- showcase 1 i e v a b I e . first hockey goal. cent one-liner level). R e c e n t I y, Naturally, Gabby The computer and animatronic "Contact" han- thinks that effects in "Jack Frost" look alternat- died the " ingly decent and hideous despite parent/child work by Lucas' ILM and Jim reunion in a Henson's Creature Shop. Part of the small scene and problem is that that the snowman is was dead-on in its portrayal. unappealingly drawn - he looks the "Jack Frost" tries to do the same way fingers on a chalkboard sound. an entire movie, and just ends For a better kiddie effects movie, up well, dead. check out "A Bug's Life" or even Jack Frost (Michael Keaton) "Small Soldiers." ,.a middle-aged-but-young- And then there's the acting. enough-at-heart-to-call-his- Dear me, where to begin. A son-"dude" rocker on the few shorts statements should brink of his big record con- suffice: 1) tact break after years of toil- tng in small Colorado clubs Unfortunately, his lifelong dream of making it big often buts his wife, Gabby (Kelly ston), and I I- year-old son, Charlie (Joseph x Cross), in second cotesy of Waer Bros. place no matter Snowman Jack, voiced by Michael Keaton, enjoys a jolly sledding with Joseph Cross in "Jack Frost." courtesy of WanerB rohers Joseph Cross and Michael Keaton share a father and son moment before Keaton transmorphs into their creation. Michael Keaton needs to find a new ing hockey coach, is frightening, but adults, it's too boring and unattrac-, agent as soon as possible. A Ray probably not in the way the movie tive for the 8-12 set despite its obvi- Nicolet (his character in "Jackie intends. ous intent as a kiddie weepie and it's Brown" and "Out of Sight") vehicle The brightest spot in the cast is the too adult for small children. I was wouldn't hurt. And he should never, snowman-shaped (yet definitely shocked to hear such phrases as "my ever sing. Ever. human) Mark Addy, previously seen balls are freezing" come out of 2) Kelly Preston should seriously being bare to the bone in "The Full snowman Jack's mouth, not to men- consider taking acting lessons from Monty." He is a welcome, grizzly tion an implied sex scene between hubby John Travolta. addition to an otherwise sickly sweet Jack and Gabby, in a movie clearly 3) Joseph Cross looks like a little slate of players. targeted for young kids. A movie Matty Damon but has only half the "Jack Frost" is going to have a ter- that Warner Bros. probably thinks is chops. rible time trying to find an audience. for everyone isn't really for anyone 4) Henry Rollins, playing a rag- It's too saccharine and childish for at all. Worm Jim digs into Wild game Dragon singes player's interest i WIld 9 Shiny Sony Playstation After great success with the "Earthworm Jim" series, the zany programmers of Shiny have moved on to their next project, "Wild 9." "Wild 9" incorporates many of the elements which made the "Earthworm Jim" series so popular, beginning with a wacky story line. The great intergalactic hero, Wex Major, is on a quest to rescue members of his team, the Wild 9, who have been kidnapped by the evil oppressor Karn. Each of Wex's kidnapped comrades, from Henry the Aquatic Biped to Nitro the Living Bomb, are unique and crazy enough to warrant their own game, but "Wild 9" uses them to add a twist to several of the stages. Each hostage plays a cru- cial role in their escape from wherever Kamn imprisoned them, *sing their powers to open doors, blow-up obstacles or cross poiso- nous swamps. This game earns points for some unique qualities. Most notably, the player is encouraged - and often times required -to torture Karn's henchmen. Sure, you could just blow them up with a missle or a grenade, but where's the fun in that, right? Wex's main weapon, the Rig - which may be the most versatile gun in the universe - can be used to stun and grab enemies. Once in the grasp of the Rig, the enemy can be treated to car- *oon-style bodyslamming, or worse yet, find themselves being carried by Wex towards some torturous machine. Giant fans, spiked grinders, moving gears and loose wires are among the many places where Karn's forces may spend their last moments. Fans of the "Earthworm Jim" will enjoy the chases that Wex endures between worlds. Wex gets to skim the surface of different planets at high speeds in pursuit of various enemies. There are also scenes where Wex bat- ties for his life while freefalling down tubes. These sequences are graphically well-done, fun to play and provide a break from the traditional side-scrolling boards. Overall, control is pretty good, although working with the Rig sometimes proves difficult. For instance, the game often requires that an enemy be moved to a certain position with the Rig, but the enemies sometimes die from being slammed into too many items on accident while in transport. This is funny, yet frustrating at times. The game is also fairly difficult. Continues can be only be earned by torturing almost everybody in a stage, or by collecting 100 "9" symbols that are scattered across the stages - a task that is more difficult than it sounds. The soundtracks are immersive and fitting for each stage, yet at times, they are so subtle that you might not notice them. The sound effects serve to keep the game lively. From Wex yelling "Yo mamma' to his foes or "Wex-cellent" in IA triumph over them, to the last screams of his unfortunate, ground-up ene- mies, you may find yourself laughing too hard to continue on. Graphically, "Wild 9" is a treat. The backgrounds add a true feeling of depth to the stages and often contain elements that interact with the foreground. The ani- mations are smooth, and the antics of Wex and the enemies will induce more than a few bouts of laughter. "Wild 9" does an excellent job in living up to the lega- cy of"Earthworm Jim," but that is it's only real flaw. The game is more of a face lift on the orginal classic "Jim," than something new in itself. For instance, "Jim" also had the aforementioned chase scenes between some lev- els of the game. Thirteen levels of comic action await as Wex Major looks to stake his claim as a new hero in the market. "Wild 9" is a step in the right direction for Shiny, a com- pany on the move in a major way with this Wex-cellent title. - Deveron Q. Sanders Spyro The Dragon Sony Sony Playstation **I There are just certain video games that you play at around 2 or 3 in the morning after frying your brain out studying for finals and the Vivarin has kicked in. The thought of con- trolling a little purple spunky dragon through the land of Dragon World has so much appeal at that time ... or not. The only thing Sony's new release, "Spyro the Dragon" (which coincidentally is made by Insomniace Games), allows you to do is control a little purple dragon to save the Dragon Worlds. This is not Zelda 64. In a nutshell, the story is that there were five Dragon families liv- ing in their own little Dragon Worlds until one day a Gnore broke a rule. (Please don't ask what. a Gnorc is.) Gnasty the Gnorc was banished to the Dragon Junkyard. After fooling around with a bunch of magic spells,, he finally hit on two winners. One was a spell to trap the dragons in crystal, and the other was a potion to turn those Dragon family jewels into Gnorc soldiers. The hero, Spyro just happened to be playing hooky and didn't get caught up in all the mess. Now he has to save the day. To do that, the gameplayer must make sure that the fabled dragon eggs do not get stolen. Once they are whisked away by the evil Gnores, they can't be returned. Secondly, the Dragon kingdom cannot be restored without the dragons, so be sure to free them from their crystal prisons. Finally, the player must remember he/she is a dragon, and can breathe fire. Use it! Then gargle with Listerine. There are five worlds that must be restored before Spyro heads out into Gnasty's dragon world - the Artisans (culture and beauty), the Peacemakers, the Magic crafters, Beast Makers, and Dream Weavers (peacekeepers of thee night). These intricate and large worlds and the puzzles that Spyro has to solve along his way will players interested as long as their near comatose. Spyro has a few friends that help him out in his quest, mainly Sparx the Dragonfly and a lot of multi-col- ored fairies. It is unclear what Sparx's role is, besides taking a few hits now and then from enemies, but he seems helpful enough if some- what lame. The fairies are better allies; they save you from falling, heal you or tell you where to go. This game will most likely be a little immature for a collegiate play-. er's interest level. The game's ability and age demographic seems to be for pre-teens, but if this appeals to anyone at three in the morning, don't think twice about it; this isn't "Madden '99" or "Duke Nukem." This is Spyro, the spunky little pur- ple dragon out to whoop the evil Gnores threatening his world. So go forth and beat those Gnores. Why? Because Spyro said so! - Gabe Smith Hollywood voice actors' abilities are more in demand than ever Los Angeles Tunes *OLLYWOOD - Dylan Pickle, the gnarly new baby on Nickelodeon's long-running animated series "Rugrats," is actress Tara Charendoff's brother-pummeling, toy-grabbing, up- spitting bundle of joy. She supplied Dylan's cries in "The Rugrats Movie" and she'll be with him in February when he crawls, cooing and gurgling, into the small screen to ,l the gang of preschoolers in new odes of the No. 1-rated prime-time children's series. Charendoff is considered a rising star among the newest wave of voice- over actors, a fraternity long regarded as Hollywood's camnival sideshow - the ones who laid the goofy Goofy soundtracks on slapstick cartoons. But with animated shows sprouting like kudzu, and reflecting costlier produc- tion values and better writing, voice- o r work has become a hip thing. 1n TV and film stars clamor for guest spots on children's shows. Her babbling, giggling Baby Dil performance - from the first starkly moving delivery-room cries in the "Rugrats" feature film - have made her a top choice of Hollywood casting directors. And her peers now consider Charendoff a major new talent among those actors following in the footsteps e late Mel "Bugs Bunny" Blanc. ut "Rugrats" is only one of the series that Charendoff is on this fall. The petite, 23-year-old Toronto native also plays Spot, a neurotic hen in "Disney's 101 Dalmatians;" Bubbles, one of the "Powerpuff Girls" on Cartoon Network; and she's lined up a parade of guest spots. While Charendoff is usually only heard, not seen, her ability to act is as important as her voice. "After all, Blanc was a great actor, he had great timing, comedic gifts. He didn't just do a Brooklyn accent, he became those characters," said Maurice LaMarche, who recently won an ani- mation Annie Award for his performance as the Brain on Warner Bros.' lab mouse buddy series, "Pinky & the Brain." "When I do the Brain, people tell me I hunch over and cock an eyebrow; I become the Brain," said LaMarche, a comedy club impersonator tapped to perform Chief Quimby 13 years ago on "Inspector Gadget." Voice actors -take an old hand like Frank Welker, for instance - are nor- mal-looking people who undergo an amazing transformation once they're in a recording studio. They make weird, wild, wonderful sounds - as if they were possessed by zany or bizarre characters. "I tend to do a lot of goofy, crazy stuff. Chairs, dogs, cars, motorcycles, all kinds of animals," Welker said after a recent recording session near Warner Bros. Widely regarded as one of the foremost talents in the field, he has hundreds of credits over the past two decades, working steadily in children's animated shows. He is Santa's Little Helper in "The Simpsons" and Freddie Jones in "Scooby Doo." He played a dog that explodes on an episode of "The X-Files." In feature films, he was Khan in "Mulan" and the murderous female alien Sil in "Species." Welker and other voice actors create the characters that are later given final form by animation artists and, by all measure, greeted eagerly by audi- ences. Indeed, a number of network and cable outlets - notably ABC, Nickelodeon, Fox, the WB - feature wall-to-wall animated kids' program- ming on Saturday mornings, and more of it on weekdays before and after school. Fox's successful prime-time shows "The Simpsons" and "King of the Hill" have spurred the network to order the animated "Futurama" and "Family Guy," to begin early next year. UPN will soon introduce "Dilbert" and there is talk that other networks are considering prime-time projects. That means Hollywood animation studios are running at high gear, hiring voice specialists as well as on-camera actors who enjoy the quick sessions - no need for wardrobe, makeup and hair - and the chance to play out of type or do work their children can appreciate.