12/24/97
MOVIE REVIEW: Mr. Magoo
'Mr. Magoo' is out of focus

By MICHAEL JANUSONIS
Journal-Bulletin Arts Writer

*1/2 (out of five)
Starring Leslie Nielsen, Kelly Lynch, Matt Keeslar, Nick Chinlund, Stephen Tobolowsky, Ernie Hudson. A Walt Disney picture written by Pat Proft and Tom Sherohman, directed by Stanley Tong. Rated PG, contains comic violence. Running time: 85 minutes.

The advertising tagline for Mr. Magoo, in which Leslie Nielsen plays the belovedly nearsighted cartoon character, calls him "the eighth blunder of the world."

The ninth blunder of the world was when the producers decided to put a new Mr. Magoo cartoon, complete with voice that sounds like longtime Magoo mouthpiece Jim Backus, at the start of the film during the opening credits.

Instead of getting into an elevator, Magoo walks out a window. Driving, he takes a right turn onto train tracks. It's funny, innocent mayhem perpetrated on himself, yet without any recognition of the mess that he's causing. It's a snappy, hilarious, irreverent couple of minutes.

It's too bad the producers didn't go with a winner and let it go at that. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie shows up next, a clunky and too broadly played slapstick in which a female thief (Kelly Lynch) tries to snare a giant ruby called the Star of Kuristan, which has accidentally -- and unbeknownst to him -- fallen into Magoo's hands.

But the damage has been done. The cartoon short outshines both Mr. Magoo and the Star of Kuristan. The latter looks like a big wad of red plastic that doesn't sparkle at all. Neither does the film.

Hong Kong director Stanley Tong, who found hits with the Jackie Chan films Rumble in the Bronx and Supercop, has plenty of action to work with but little sense of comic timing. The film is played too slowly and the elaborate setups for most of the laughs telegraph where the action is headed.

There are some funny sight gags -- Magoo applying toothpaste instead of sunscreen to his body; Magoo coming down ski slopes on an upturned ironing board. But like Magoo's vehicle, which is shaped like a giant eggplant, too much of Mr. Magoo's silliness is just plain silly. It has a simplistically childish plot that even Leslie Nielsen in shaved head can't save. Nielsen doesn't create a character who is as lovable as he is dumb.

By the time the thief, Magoo, his nephew (Matt Keeslar) and competing federal agents who are looking for the gem all descend on a Brazilian wedding party where an international crook is behind the ruby's theft, Mr. Magoo has collapsed in inanity.

The funniest thing may come at the very end of the film, however. As a sop to groups for the visually impaired who have protested this fantasy film, a politically correct message appears. "This film is not intended as an accurate portrayal of blindness or poor eyesight," it reads, and then goes on to assure us that many people with disabilities can hold many types of jobs.

Keep telling yourself, it's only a movie . . . and one that should be out of theaters pretty quickly.