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While Dinosaur delivers amazing special effects, Center Stage offers spectacular dancing, and Small Time Crooks features big-time laughs, Christian critics are more enthralled by the meaty story of The Big Kahuna, which wrestles with the role of one's Christian faith in the everyday business world.

In a nutshell: Dinosaur features special effects you've never seen—in a story you've seen one time too many. Michael Elliott of Crosswalk.com calls Dinosaur's visuals "the best that human technology has to offer … a remarkable blend of computer animation and digitally enhanced photography." The U.S. Catholic Conference marvels that the "spectacular computer-generated digital images are extraordinarily lifelike." Yet most critics agreed with J. Robert Parks of The Phantom Tollbooth, who said "someone forgot to tell the producers that beautiful images alone do not make a compelling story." Dinosaur recycles earlier Disney films like Bambi and Tarzan, as a baby dino whose mother was killed grows up among a different species. Many were willing to recommend the film, despite its unoriginality, because of its family-friendly appeal; Focus on the Family's Bob Smithouser says the film "offers adolescents and adults with meager expectations a reasonably enjoyable, morally grounded 80 minutes of distraction." (I'm guessing Disney doesn't reprint that endorsement in its ads.) Some recommendations were stronger, pointing out the admirable lessons of "taking care of those who are weaker" (Movieguide), "standing up for what you believe in" (Crosswalk.com's Holly McClure), and "how compassion and hope are important and rewarded" (Dove Foundation)—although the movie's PG violence detracted somewhat from their enthusiasm. It was actually mainstream critic Michael Sragow of Salon.com who most loudly proclaimed the Christian emphasis of Dinosaur, arguing that the protagonist dino brings a "Judeo-Christian tradition into the dinosaur worldview and win[s] all the herbivores away from the cruel Darwinian fatalism of the bullying herd chief." Christian reviewers only mentioned that "evolution theories are not overtly present" (John Adair of Preview). While many first-look reviews of Gladiator were pleased to find art-house thoughtfulness at the center of the popcorn-entertainment trappings, later Christian reviews have been less generous toward its serious side. Josh Spencer of Stranger Things magazine calls the film's inclusion "of 'deep' content" an effort to disguise its "exploitation of violent combat in order to make millions of dollars." Focus on the Family's Tom Neven says it amounts to little more than "a rehash of the Ben-Hur story—without the redemptive ending." Christian Spotlight guest reviewer Emmett W. Elliott, perhaps thinking of that biblically minded Best-Picture winner, was disappointed that Gladiator would "censor any mention of Christianity … in a time when Christianity was sweeping across Rome." That omission didn't bother Christian History assistant editor Elesha Coffman, who says on ChristianityToday.com: "There aren't any Christians in Gladiator, but I don't think this is a major oversight. Persecution wasn't particularly severe under [emperors] Marcus or Commodus." But there were plenty of historical facts distorted for the film, which she details in her informative coverage, including the depiction of Marcus Aurelius being "so revolutionary as to plan the rise of the Senate at the expense of his son's reign. In fact, contra the film, Marcus and Commodus ruled together from 177 to 180." Fans of the movie were pleased that, if history was going to be rewritten, at least nobility of spirit was emphasized. "The film displays men of courage fighting for freedom and justice," praises the Dove Foundation. Movies and Ministry's Doug Cummings appreciated the emphasis on the protagonist's spirituality. "Maximus prays to various gods and yearns to be reunited with his loved ones. Images of 'home' and the afterlife are combined into one, and the movie impressively suggests a higher reality that ultimately relays justice."The raunchy, low-budget sex comedy Road Trip made a surprising showing this weekend, opening to a $15.5 million haul and largely positive mainstream reviews. Christian critics, however, could not have been more outraged at the film, which features a college student who cheats on his longtime girlfriend, accidentally mails her a videotape of the act, and takes a road trip with his pals to intercept the evidence. The U.S. Catholic Conference says it's merely an "onslaught of tedious vulgarities and dumb sight gags." The Dove Foundation calls it "void of morals or any positive life-lesson," and Michael Elliott of Crosswalk.com bristles at the depiction of "self-destructive behavior from a testosterone-filled, hormonally unbalanced" group. Paul Bicking of Preview was particularly bothered by its "warped discussion of what constitutes cheating in a relationship," which the production notes describe as: "It's not cheating if you're in different area codes. It's not cheating if you're too wasted to remember it, because if you can't remember it, it never really took place. It's not cheating if you're with two people at the same time, because they cancel each other out." Mainstream critics were largely unaware this might bother people. Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times in fact praises the "filmmakers' ability to view life with a clear-eyed lack of sentimentality." It's official, folks: fidelity has been downgraded to sentiment.

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May (Web-only) 2000, Vol. 44