On N List of Movie Reviews
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North (1994)
Rate:
9
Viewed:
7/25
7/25:
What the heck was everybody talking about???
North is not that bad! It's a kid's movie. Jeez...why can the critics understand that? I wanted to see it
for decades but hadn't until now. That's because of the incredible star-studded cast: Bruce Willis, Alan Arkin,
Dan Aykroyd, Kathy Bates, Jon Lovitz, Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Graham Greene, John Ritter,
Alexander Godunov, Kelly McGillis, Ben Stein, and Abe Vigoda, among others. Not that it matters, but the
eight-year-old Scarlett Johansson makes her screen debut to begin her overrated career.
I've said this many times before as indicated in my review of Seinfeld
that George Constanza and Elaine Benes always belonged together. Here they are in the film: married! It makes
perfect sense. Despite not being a fan of Elijah Wood, I have to say he did a good job, doing a better version
of The Good Son. The best performances come from Bruce Willis
and Matthew McCurley as Winchell with the Gordon Gecko hairstyle.
Playing out like a fable, the story is funny, creative, and well-edited with many witty lines. Even the
stereotypes are true. I've noticed the subtle references to various films such as
It's a Wonderful Life, Witness, and
The Last Emperor. Many kids have harbored a fantasy of wanting
better parents for some reason or another, and it's perfectly normal. If there's a negative, it's Kathy Bates
and Abe Vigoda who are spray-faced as Eskimos. Rob Reiner can do better than that.
All in all, North is among the reasons why I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate that fat fuck named Roger Ebert.