Childish drivel

Rating: Null/10 (13 January 2002)

With more emotionally potent oversimplifications per reel than any Nazi propaganda film, this sickening spectacle paints a false portrait of everything it depicts whether it be the state of childhood or the state of Kansas. Garish scenery competes with bearish scenery-chewing in a contest to see which can turn your stomach faster -- although there are incidental pleasures: despite its fraudulent utopianism, the film's melodic ballad contrasts nicely with the noisily mechanical show tunes that desperately try to jumpstart the flagging narrative every few minutes (until the filmmakers finally give up and offer a feeble concluding half hour that is, at least, thankfully song-free) -- and the veteran comedians who befriend the heroine manage to salvage a small amount of humor from their underwritten roles (which only depressingly reminds one how cruelly Hollywood wasted their talents). All in all, an unhealthy excursion into two-dimensional fantasy wish-fulfillment -- made for the immature, by the immature.