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Bob Smithouser (Focus on the Family) thinks the movie is "a good popcorn flick. Sinbad soars when it tackles virtues such as nobility, unselfish love, redemption and supreme sacrifice—great discussion starters for families. It would be an easy film to recommend if not for a few crude lines, an amoral view of piracy, and dubious theology."

Ted Baehr (Movieguide) writes, "It's an extremely exciting, well-written animated movie with some exciting sequences that rival big screen epics. I have seldom seen such an enthusiastic response from children at a screening."

Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon), the not-so-bright blonde bombshell of the hit 2001 comedy Legally Blonde is back in a sequel subtitled Red White and Blonde. This time, she endeavors to persuade Congress to pass a bill opposing the practice of animal testing. But Washington, D.C. proves to be a challenge for our heroine, and she comes to depend upon a hotel doorman (Bob Newhart) for guidance through the political system.

For all of Elle's spunky charm, religious press critics are not overly fond of the film.

Michael Elliott (Movie Parables) says it's "pretty much the same movie as the original…in a different setting. Reese Witherspoon is spot-on perfect in the role. The rest of the supporting cast are functional, but are given little of note to do. Mainly they serve as conveyers of plot points and twists, most of which we see coming long before they arrive."

Tom Snyder (Movieguide) objects to LB2 because the filmmaker is a homosexual. He also disagrees with the film's sentiment that people should speak up about their opinions and be willing to hear the opinions of others. "Some points of view are clearly stupid or evil, so not all points of view deserve to be heard, least of all followed."

Holly McClure (Crosswalk) says, "I don't think I laughed as hard at this movie as I did the first one, but admittedly it's hard to capture that initial 'novelty' in a sequel."

The verdicts of mainstream critics are a mixed lot. You can scan through them here.

At a new online endeavor called The Matthew's House Project, film critic Michael Leary offers a review of Pat O'Neill's new film The Decay of Fiction. He raves, "O'Neill channels our capacity not just to journey to the edges of the understandable, but challenges our ability to dive more deeply into the honest experience of the image and ambiguity of narrative."

Leary also posts part one of a series about Dogma 95 filmmaking, calling this experimental cinematic endeavor "not just to a new way of doing film, but a new understanding of what film really is."

Next week: A chat with filmmakers from the Cornerstone film festival, and another ride on Pirates of the Caribbean.

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July (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47