North

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=200 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="006dba33.gif"> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id107.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="9"><U>9</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="All I Want"><U>All I Want</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id5.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ash Wednesday"><U>Ash Wednesday</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id6.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Avalon"><U>Avalon</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id7.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Black and White"><U>Black and White</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id104.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bobby"><U>Bobby</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id8.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Bumblebee Flies Anyway"><U>The Bumblebee Flies Anyway</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id9.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chain of Fools"><U>Chain of Fools</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id10.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Child in the Night"><U>Child in the Night</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id106.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Day Zero"><U>Day Zero</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id62.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="DayO"><U>Day-O</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id11.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Deep Impact"><U>Deep Impact</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id12.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"><U>Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id80.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Everything Is Illuminated"><U>Everything Is Illuminated</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id13.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Faculty"><U>The Faculty</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id14.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Flipper"><U>Flipper</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id15.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Forever Young"><U>Forever Young</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id16.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Good Son"><U>The Good Son</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id98.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Green Street Hooligans"><U>Green Street Hooligans</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id103.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Happy Feet"><U>Happy Feet</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Adventures of Huck Finn"><U>The Adventures of Huck Finn</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Ice Storm"><U>The Ice Storm</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Lord of the Rings/Fellowship of the "><U>The Lord of the Rings/Fellowship of the Ring</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Lord of The Rings/The Two Towers"><U>The Lord of The Rings/The Two Towers</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Lord of the Rings/The Return of the "><U>The Lord of the Rings/The Return of the King</U></A></div> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">North</B></div> <div> <A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Oliver Twist"><U>Oliver Twist</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Paradise"><U>Paradise</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id105.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Paris je taime"><U>Paris je t'aime</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Radio Flyer"><U>Radio Flyer</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id65.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sin City"><U>Sin City</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Spy Kids 3D"><U>Spy Kids 3D</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id27.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbeli"><U>The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Try Seventeen"><U>Try Seventeen</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The War"><U>The War</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id31.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Witness"><U>The Witness</U></A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=110 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="006dba33.gif"> <bR> <div> <A HREF="http://www.frodolivesin.us" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.frodolivesin.us"><U><IMG SRC="021ef530.jpg" border=0 width="239" height="83" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A>  |    <A HREF="http://www.frodolivesin.us" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.frodolivesin.us"><U> </U></A><A HREF="http://www.frodolivesin.us" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.frodolivesin.us"><U>home</U></A></div> <div> back to  <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="RE: 35 Elijah Wood Movies"><U><B>RE: 35 Elijah Wood Movies</B></U></A><B> </B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=370 colspan=2 BGCOLOR="#FFCCCC" TEXT="#080000"> <div>   </div> <bR> <bR> <div> <I><B>North </B></I><B>[PG] </B><B>[1987] </B></div> <bR> <div> (I need to rewatch this one before rating it.)  </div> <bR> <div> Although this is far from my favorite EJW movie, I don't think it deserved <I>all </I>the bad press it got. If I had to label its style I'd call it surrealistic, and when it's hitting on all cylinders it can be pretty funny.  I love the Machiavellian kid who schemes to make a fortune from North's situation. The problem is that this particular story line, which is used as a bridge between the movie's various episodes, is funnier than any of the scenes it's supposed to be connecting. IMHO, one or two of the episodes are so unfunny that they border on distasteful (particularly the one involving Eskimos--not even Abe Vigoda deserves this fate); I'd suggest parental guidance for children not yet able to easily distinguish between reality and fiction. </div> <bR> <div> Another problem is that the movie's geared towards children's interests but it really takes an adult sense of irony/satire/whatever to "get" it, so it can easily lose both audiences. Then, at the very end, it drops the satire and turns sweet and simplistic. </div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>(Spoiler alert!)</B> In fact, since most of us here are fantasy lovers, I'll give away enough of the ending to warn you that it turns out the rest of the story was only - you guessed it - a dream! So much for fantasy and surrealism. Especially when compared to something like <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Radio Flyer"><U><I>Radio Flyer</I></U></A>, which "even" as a serious adult film manages to treat its fantasy elements with respect, this was a real disappointment. </div> <bR> <bR> <div> Afraid I have to rank this toward the bottom as far as Elijah's acting, too. He seems lost a lot of the time. He's in the unenviable position of playing the one normal character (if "perfect" can be considered normal) surrounded by broad, no-holds-barred stereotypes (think Dan Ackroyd as a billionaire Texas rancher/oilman). Elijah, as North, is supposed to be the straight man, I guess, but it just doesn't work. It's as if each family he visits is a different comedy skit and he's dropped into the middle of it without any lines. </div> <bR> <div> Although I wasn't quite sure what to make of Bruce Willis as the Easter Bunny (don't say I didn't warn you), he did interact with Elijah's character more than did most of the adult actors, some of whom seemed more concerned with their individual "star turns" than with the story.</div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="253" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 38 WIDTH="121"><div> <I><B>Buy VHS</B></I></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="121"><div> <I><B>Buy Book by Alan Zweibel</B></I></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 75 ><NOBR><div>  <iframe marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" width="120" height="240" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?o=1&l=as1&f=ifr&t=afewworabo-20&dev-t=D68HUNXKLHS4J&p=8&asins=B000056HQ8&IS2=1&bg1=ffffff&fc1=000000&lc1=6373B5&IS2=1&lt1=_blank"><MAP NAME="boxmap-p8"><AREA SHAPE="RECT" COORDS="14, 200, 103, 207" HREF="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm/privacy-policy.html?o=1" ><AREA COORDS="0,0,10000,10000" HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect-home/afewworabo-20" ></MAP><img src="http://rcm-images.amazon.com/images/G/01/rcm/120x240.gif" width="120" height="240" border="0" usemap="#boxmap-p8" alt="Shop at Amazon.com"></iframe>  </div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div>  <iframe marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" width="120" height="150" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?o=1&l=as1&f=ifr&t=afewworabo-20&dev-t=D68HUNXKLHS4J&p=6&asins=0679748245&bg1=ffffff&fc1=000000&lc1=6373B5&lt1=_blank"><MAP NAME="boxmap-p6"><AREA SHAPE="RECT" COORDS="1, 140, 83, 150" HREF="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm/privacy-policy.html?o=1" ><AREA COORDS="0,0,10000,10000" HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect-home/afewworabo-20" ></MAP><img src="http://rcm-images.amazon.com/images/G/01/rcm/120x150.gif" width="120" height="150" border="0" usemap="#boxmap-p6" alt="Shop at Amazon.com"></iframe>  </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="id22_m.htm" TITLE="North"><U><B><IMG SRC="1647d3c0.jpg" border=0 width="125" height="60" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </td> </tr></table></body>