Cinema Directory

Languages: English, Dolby Digital 5.1; Commentary by director Phillip Noyce featuring musician Peter Gabriel, actor Kenneth Branagh, screenwriter Chiristine Olsen and author Pilkington Garimara, Unknown

Comments: If you were kidnapped by the government, would you walk the 1500 miles back home?

Summary: In 1931, three aboriginal girls escape after being plucked from their homes to be trained as domestic staff and set off on a trek across the Outback.

Summary: In a small remote town in the Argentine pampas, the young Nati (Nazarena Duarte) refuses to speak, habitually removing her clothes in public for no apparent reason. Her mother Alejandra (Analía Couceyro) is involved in a violent affair with one of the family's few neighbours, Pichón (Javier Lorenzo), the father of Nati's only friend Ladeado (Gonzalo Pérez). Nati spies on the adulterers while they remain oblivious to her silent gaze. Meanwhile Ladeado ostensibly placates his father while keeping his own secret in the forest. And Natí's father Poldo (Víctor Hugo Carrizo) continues his own resentful feud with Pichón.

Summary: In the cold walls of the royal castle buildings live, under the supervision of Madam Safare, three young girls. Rigorous training of them, at least at first glance, creating a perfect sophisticated adult. Only alone, mainly in the large park that surrounds the castle, forced hypocrisy disappears and children take their identities. Three belles - Countess Beatrix, Mylady Lan-Anh, whose father is Chinese ambassador, a fragile Infanta Eleanor - welcome a newcomer, Princess Victoria. She brings to the community of girls another dimension - a love that kept the Christian duke and the king to his parents there, far from home, hidden ...

Summary: After Afblijven and Timboektoe the third adaptation of the popular books by Carry Slee. Paco thinks that it's his fault that something dreadful has happened to his father. Nothing interests him anymore, and with the help of a few beers he is able to forget. But as is also the case with his classmate Yara, who tries to get thinner and thinner, things get worse rather than better.

Languages: English

Summary: Whilst on a family vacation on the Mahurangi Peninsula in New Zealand, 13-year-old Janey begins to realize that her parents' marriage is on the rocks.

Summary: Set in 1910, this film revolves around the 9 year old daughter of a revolutionary and her two sisters who spend their summers growing up in a cottaga by Samara.

Languages: English, Spanish

Comments: Rapture (rap'chur) 1. ecstatic joy or delight. 2. a state of extreme sexual ecstasy. 3. the feeling of being transported to another sphere of existence. 4. the experience of being spirited away to Heaven just before the Apocalypse.

Summary: Sharon, a telephone operator deeply unhappy in both her work and her personal life, seeks relief from her pain by engaging in frequent, anonymous sexual encounters. Then, during one of her erotic adventures, she meets Randy, and unexpectedly discovers in him a man eager to transform her empty world through love. But that just isn't enough for Sharon; she wants something more -- she wants divine salvation. And she believes she's found it when God sends her a vision.
Sharon convinces Randy to join her in her spiritual journey, and for a while she experiences the bliss she's always longed for. Then a tragedy changes everything, and Sharon discovers that the Lord may just demand more faith and strength than she can summon...

Languages: English, Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo

Summary: Glasgow, summer, 1973. Dustmen are striking; bags of garbage add to the blight of council flats and a fetid canal. Ryan, who's about 12, drowns during a play fight with his neighbor, the jug-eared James. James runs home, a flat where he lives with his often-drunk da, his ma, and sisters, who live in hope of moving to newly-built council flats. The slice-of-life, coming-of-age story follows James as he tags along with the older lads; has a friendship with his quirky wee rodent-loving neighbor, Kenny; spends time with Margaret Anne, myopic, slightly older, the local sexual punching bag; and, has a moment or two of joy. The strike may end, but is there any way out for James?

Languages: English, Dolby Digital 5.1

Summary: The target of endless verbal abuse at school, 14-year-old Jamie (Kay Panabaker) documents her pain in a private journal. When she unwittingly submits the journal to a writing contest, Jamie becomes famous and very, very popular. Stardom comes at a price, however, and Jamie must judge the quality of her own character. Director Paul Hoen brings Julia De Viller's book to life in this screen adaptation originally aired on the Disney Channel.

Comments: Thousands of years ago there was a series of bizarre occurrences that many believed to have been the Ten Biblical Plagues. No one thought they could happen again. Until now.

Summary: The death of a child in mysterious circumstances; sparks of a series of events that seem to represent biblical plagues, start occurring in of all places a town called *Haven* located deep in the bowels of bible belt country in the bayous of Louisiana. A former Christian missionary turned religious phenomena debunker and her top open minded student turned personnel assistant is sent to investigate.

Languages: Russian

Summary: Two friends, Valya and Slava, think up an interesting game for the children of the district -- "The Marine Crew", and an old abandoned shed is their "ship". But this is all just play, and they want to partake in the real world. Then, they receive a letter from a senior friend -- on a virgin soil, where he worked heroically. there are not enough tractors. Here it is, the 'real world'! It's necessary to collect scrap iron enough to build a tractor! Moreover, the kids decide to raise the sunken barge from the bottom of the Neva...

Languages: English

Comments: CANNON MOVIE TALES: Lavish, feature-length new versions of the world's best-loved storybook classics!

Summary: The high spirited daughter of the village lord and her mother have been living in the forest for seven years near her wise grandmother. They wait for her father to come home, meanwhile, her literally heartless uncle rules. He sells his soul for the aid of an enchanted wolf who turns himself human in order to spy. As the tyranical lord begins to see his niece as a threat, he sends the wolf to deal with her.

Languages: English, Dolby Digital 5.1

Summary: A young girl entrusted with the task of delivering a special package to her grandmother finds herself faced with a most unpleasant stalker in this retelling of the classic fairy tale starring Daniel Roebuck, Debi Mazar, Sam Stone, and Joey Fatone and served up with a curious contemporary twist. Red is an adolescent girl whose ailing grandmother lives in the deepest reaches of the magic forest. Asked by her mother to deliver a package to the elder family member, Red eagerly agrees without realizing that her assignment isn't as much about getting the package to grandma as it is about carrying on the legacy that has been passed down through generations. In order to achieve the status of the legendary maiden in red, this frightened young girl will have to overcome her ultimate fear by outwitting the malevolent wolf that will do everything in his power to get the tender young morsel on his dinner plate.

Summary: Eleven year old gymnast Elin has discovered that there are secret rules, that if obeyed, one can fly. Will she try?

Summary: Jimmy and Sheila Broadbent (Rex Harrison and Kay Kendall), welcome to London Jimmy's 17-year-old daughter, Jane (played by 15 year old Sandra Dee). Jane is from Jimmy's first marriage to an American and has come to visit her father and the step-mother she has never met. While visiting Sheila has the idea of making Jane a debutante, an idea Jane resists. Difficulties range from Jane's apathy to being placed on the marriage block, the determined efforts of Sheila's cousin, Mabel Claremont, (Angela Lansbury) to win wealthy David Fenner (Peter Myers) for her debutante daughter Clarissa (Diane Clare), and Jane's attraction to David Parkson (John Saxon), an American drummer who plays in the orchestra at the coming-out balls.

Languages: English, Dolby Digital 5.1; French, Unknown

Comments: They came together when their classmates and loved ones would not.

Summary: Suburban Virginia schools have been segregated for generations, in sight of the Washington Monument over the river in the nation's capital. One Black and one White high school are closed and the students sent to T.C. Williams High School under federal mandate to integrate. The year is seen through the eyes of the football team where the man hired to coach the Black school is made head coach over the highly successful white coach. Based on the actual events of 1971, the team becomes the unifying symbol for the community as the boys and the adults learn to depend on and trust each other.

Summary: It has been described as both a nature doc and "fairy tale" look at the story of young girl and her friendship with a fox.

Languages: Deutsch

Comments: Er kam, sah und quiekte!

Summary: An Egyptoligst and his family win a baby pig on a visit to the countryside. The kids plead to bring the pig back home with them to the big city, and when they get their way, havoc strikes. Eventually they are evicted from their apartment, as the pig grows and grows, but they soon learn that their unusual pet has a special talent: he is fast and wins races.

Summary: Up to now, Nickel and his single dad Thomas have been managing very well together. Then Nickel goes on a school excursion and brings the little piglet Rudy back with him in his rucksack. Once he's home, he makes a terrifying discovery: dad has a girlfriend! Worse yet, she's moved in with him and brought her daughter Felicitas, "Feli", along! Nickel makes a deal with Thomas: if those two stay, then so can Rudy. When life becomes unbearable for Nickel, he flees with Rudy to "Porkland," followed by Feli and pursued by two dumb crooks. It's the beginning of an adventure that ends in the swamps of the Oder Valley, where Rudy saves the lives of the two children and finds a new home.

Summary: This film is based on the story which happened in 1984 in Czechoslovakia. The main hero is Marika, 14th years old girl who was by mistake of authorities sent to madhouse for young. Here she founds that wards are terrorized by their tutors. Those tutors are also responsible for deaths of several wards due overdosing of medicaments. Marika tries to escape several times but she is always caught and sent back. She also tries to protect other kids against of tyranny. When she doesn't see a chance how to change the situation she lights fire and the madhouse burns.

Languages: English

Comments: Sinister forces from this world against two young space travellers from another.

Summary: In this sequal to "Escape From Witch Mountain," Tia and Tony (Kim Richards and Ike Eisenmann), teenage sister and brother who possess extraordinary powers, leave their safe refuge on witch mountain for a trip to Los Angeles (their transport ship lands in the Rose Bowl). Tony is kidnapped by the evil Dr. Gannon (Christopher Lee) and his spinster partner Letha (Bette Davis) and brainwashed into helping Gannon and Letha commit various crimes. It's up to Tia and a gang of truant kids to rescue Tony and prevent a major disaster.

Languages: English

Comments: It's an all-new live-action fantasy - filled with Disney adventure and magic.

Summary: Dorothy, saved from a psychiatric experiment by a mysterious girl, is somehow called back to Oz when a vain witch and the Nome King destroy everything that makes the magical land beautiful.

Languages: English, Spanish,

Comments: Return to the Romance, Return to the Adventure...

Summary:

Summary: Well-mounted jungle tale is basically the "Tarzan" story, but that name is never mentioned, thus avoiding lawsuits. What makes this one unusual is the fact that the first half of the film shows the titular character as an infant adopted by the apes (not gorillas) and as a boy growing up as a member of the ape tribe and meeting his first human, a cannibal boy out on a solo lion hunt to avenge the death of his father. As he grows up he becomes a local legend, the White Ape. And when Europeans get wind of it, an expedition is mounted to find this "missing link."

Summary: British conductor Sir Simon Rattle is leading the Berliner Philharmoniker in a special performance of Igor Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps (“the Rite of Spring”) at Treptow Arena. On stage are 250 Berlin dancers, ranging in age from eight to early 20s. Choreographer Royston Maldoom notes that the kids come from all social classes, multiple countries and ethnic backgrounds and represent every sex (“all three”!). Most are school students who have never danced before.

With minimal intrusion from directors Thomas Grube and Enrique Sánchez Lansch, Rhythm is it! follows the familiar structure of a putting-on-a-show musical. Titles mark the passing of each of six weeks of rehearsal. Maldoom and his team certainly have their work cut out for them. Before these kids can convincingly dance, they have to build confidence in themselves and their bodies, learn focus and discipline and discover the power of stillness. To make the guys comfortable, one of the instructors confides that the choreography must make them look powerful.

By the third week, it seems the kids – unused to such rigorous discipline – have reached their limit. Grube and Lansch periodically cut to interviews with several of the more motivated and engaged students. There’s a 19 year-old man who’s forced to confront his discomfort with physical intimacy. You see the self-esteem of a pimply 14 year-old girl blossom over the course of rehearsals. A Nigerian refugee in his late teens, who has arrived friendless in Germany after the death of his parents, makes his first close connections in an alien country.

Intercut with the kids’ progress is Rattle’s rehearsals with the orchestra and his passionate outpourings about music. Music is for everyone, with the power to join people. He likens himself to a conductor of electricity. After the choreographers describe how dancers use their bodies, you become aware how Rattle conducts an orchestra with far more than his baton. The music flows through his whole body like a surge of power.

Languages: English, Dolby Digital 5.1; French, Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround

Comments: An adventure so big... even the world's richest kid can't afford to miss it!

Summary: Based on the classic Harvey Comics character, the richest little 12-year old in the world, along with the help of his friends, must invade the Rich manor to rescue his billionaire parents from a hostile takeover.

Comments: What happens when kids grow up and parents don't?

Summary: Twelve year old Franny (Trini Alvarado) seeks comfort in a male peer (Jeremy Levy) whose parents are divorced since she realizes hers are soon to do the same. As the adults around her grow more and more consumed with their own problems, the young couple "elopes" to play married for a weekend. Might everyone gain a better understanding of everyone else by the time the credits role? A sweet and intelligent look at upper-class kids and their troubles. [plot summary from CVMC.net]

Summary: Based on a true story about two sisters who came out on top of a man's sport. The story is based on Erica and Courtney Enders, two sisters who get in to junior drag racing and make it all the way to the top. The two sisters fight a battle of fellow racers who are against having girls race with them therefore it pushes them harder to compete against there competition. Erica becomes stressed when her racing life becomes mixed with her social life and academic goals, and decided to quit racing, until she realizes racing is what she truly wants to do. Finally towards the end of their teen years the Enders sisters come out on top to win the junior drag racing national title. They continue to race throughout high school and college, and still do so today.

Summary: Based on the Novel by Madeline L'Engle. During the summer her grandfather is dying of leukemia and death seems all around, 15-year-old Vicky finds comfort with the pod of dolphins with which she has been doing research.

Summary: When a teen-age girl(Belle) and her father(Brown) come to an island on Hawaii, they find a closer relationship to each other and think about changing the island. During her adventures, Sydney finds friends, a new hobby with her fantastic photograghy, and the truth about her mother.

Comments: No one stays innocent forever.

Summary: When their abusive parents are killed in a car crash, twin sisters Rosie and Violet vow to run away to Kentucky in search of a better life. While on the road, the girls meet up with Pete, a drifter working as a grounds keeper on a derelict army base, who takes them in. While Violet falls for him, Rosie becomes increasingly angry and hostile, and the sisters' childhood bond is eventually destroyed forever.

Summary: A schoolteacher is accused of rape by one, then two, three of his pupils."The risks of the job"! (check the title). Overnight, it completely breaks his life. For his wife, it's also a nightmare. It was singer Jacques Brel's first (and best) part and he had good support from Emmanuelle Riva -the scene when she depicts the torture of the wheel to her stunned pupils may be the best of the whole movie. [~IMDb]

Summary: A father is having his holidays with his two kids Moritz (Karl-Alexander Seidel) and Nele (Anja Stührk). After the death of his wife he has found a new partner and hopes that his two children will accept them. But Moritz and Nele can't stand the new wife at the site of their father and prefer a women they meet during their holidays.

Summary: Like the literary character Robinson Crusoe from the book written by Daniel Defoe, Blaženka likes to imagine she is on a desolate island and has to find a way how to survive. After the death of her mother she stays together with her baby brother and has to take care of the family. In this difficult situation, she plays this role-game that helps her to deal with the sudden loss of her mother. Kachyňa again uses poetic images with symbols to present the inner world of the teenage girl (such as scene when he shows the girl lying in the bed with the horizon of an open sea to signify not only her loneliness and desolation, but also the presence of death or more exactly the world of dead symbolized by the sea).

Summary: This children's film is based on a book by Sjoerd Kuyper. Jakob's grandfather has lived in France for years, but comes back to Holland to spend his twilight years in his old home town. During the autumn holiday, Jakob stays with his grandfather and listens fascinated to his exciting folk tales set in the village. But when he is doing up his new home, grandfather slips and ends up in bed. In feverish dreams, he keeps gibbering about a swan. An elderly lady who is looking after his grandfather tells Jakob that his grandpa as a child had a wooden swan that he then lost. Worried about his ailing grandfather, Jakob sets off in search of the red swan and finds himself in an adventurous fairytale world.

Languages: English, Dolby Digital 5.1; English, Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French, Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Commentary by Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, Don McAlpine, and Craig Pearce, Unknown

Comments: My only love sprung from my only hate.

Summary: Shakespeare's famous play is updated to the hip modern suburb of Verona still retaining its original dialogue. The gun-toting members of the families wage a vicious war on the streets as the star-crossed lovers, their tragic destiny.

Languages: English

Comments: The 1968 Royal Film Performance [UK Theatrical]

Summary: Shakespeare's classic tale of romance and tragedy. Two families of Verona, the Montagues and the Capulets, have been feuding with each other for years. Young Romeo Montague goes out with his friends to make trouble at a party the Capulets are hosting, but while there he spies the Capulet's daughter Juliet, and falls hopelessly in love with her. She returns his affections, but they both know that their families will never allow them to follow their hearts.

Summary: Roméo (Thomas Lalonde) is the son of the leader of a notorious biker gang, played by Gilles Renaud. The object of his affection, Juliette (Charlotte Aubin), is a coed who is studying medicine. She is also the only daughter of a judge (Pierre Curzi) who sits on the bench of the Québec Superior Court. By the way, the production team held auditions and after seeing some 10-thousand people gave the title roles to two newcomers. Lalonde was all of 16, and Charlotte Aubin was just 14 years old. Young and inexperienced, they were asked to carry some fairly hefty scenes. For example the film contains several long and almost silent love scenes.

Comments: Astrid Lindgrens rövarsaga, vildmarkssaga, kärlekssaga

Summary: Ronia, its main character, is a girl growing up in a castle in the wood in a band of robbers; as the chief's only child, she is expected to become the leader of the band someday. Their castle, Matt's Fort, was split in two parts by a lightning bolt on the day of her birth; soon afterwards, a different robber clan, the 'Borkas', settled one section, resulting in perpetual armed strife. Ronia grows up with the robber clan as her only companions. One day, Ronia sees Birk Borkason, the only son of the enemy chieftain, Borka, idling by the chasm that splits the two parts of the castle. She engages him in a game of jumping across the chasm, a game that ends with Birk almost falling to his death. After Ronia has saved him they slowly start to become friends.

The next winter is long and cold and though Matt's robbers are well fed, their counterparts are suffering on the other side of the chasm. Ronia brings food through a secret passageway to Birk who is starving in Borkas side of the castle. They get very close but both know that their families would not accept their friendship. Later that year Birk saves Ronia from being captured by the faeries only to be captured himself by Ronias father. Ronia gives herself as a captive to the Borkas so she can be exchanged for Birk, but as a result her father disowns her and refuses to let her be his daughter. Birk and Ronia run away to live in the woods away from the robbers but in the end, their families repent of their feuding, and everyone is reunited.

Languages: Persian Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo

Summary: This is the story of women at three stages of life in Iran. The first part centers on a young girl on her ninth birthday who is told that she can no longer play with the boys she had been playing with only the day before because she is now a "woman". Told from the perspective of a nine year old "woman" who does not feel like or know what that label refers to, we see how devastatingly this affects both the girl and the boy with whom she had been friends. The second part is about a young woman who decides to enter a bicycle race against her husband's wishes. As first the husband and then increasing numbers of men from the village ride beside her to convince her to return home, the race begins to symbolize a freedom she desperately wants from the limitations which have been placed on her. Finally, the third part shows us an old woman who has come into some money and is now free to do what she wants. The way she chooses to use this freedom, however, makes one wonder just how free she is.

Summary: Fifteen-year-old Rosa is a pop sensation who traverses the globe performing concerts for sold-out audiences of adoring fans. Her records top the charts and capture world music awards. Television networks stand in line to book the young star for interviews on their shows, while the world's leading fashion designers compete to create her onstage outfits. Life could not get any better for Rosa--unless, of course, if she was a real star! During a sunny week at summer camp, Rosa lears a great deal about failing friends, broken hearts, and how a little white lie can create serious consequences. But most of all she experiences just how strong the power of love can be.

Summary: In a juvenile lockup, a new ward answers questions: she's Rosie, 13, no parents, a sister Irene, a brother Michel. In flashbacks we find out what happened. She lives with Irene, who's 27, whom Rosie knows is in fact her mother, but that's their secret. Irene's brother Michel, unemployed, a compulsive gambler, comes to stay with them. Around then, Irene meets Bernard; they come to care for each other. This leaves Rosie without attention, so she puts all her adolescent hopes and romantic fantasies into a relationship with Jimi, a good looking kid she sees on a bus. Is it adventures with Jimi that land her in juvie? Once she's there, why doesn't he answer her letters?

Summary: Centers on a group of five peasant kids who've lost their parents, lead by a red headed girl Zora. They sometimes steal food or other little things to get by. While they break the rules of society, they deeply respect the code within their group.

Summary: Once upon a time there was a little girl named Rotkäppchen. She lived with her father and mother at the edge of a village, and often visited her grandmother on the other side of the woods. Her rabbit friend, Häschen, lives with Grandmother and was sent one day to fetch medicine and milk from Rotkäppchen and her mother. Although her mother was reluctant to allow her to visit Grandmother alone, Rotkäppchen convinces her that she will be safe with Häschen. Together they set out through the woods.

Unfortunately, there were many distractions in the woods: mushrooms to pick and Rotkäppchen's other playmate, the bear. There are also the dangerous fox and wolf, who plotted to capture Rotkäppchen and eat her. Häschen did his best to keep them safe, but he could not prevent the wolf from eating Grandmother . . . and also Rotkäppchen! Who will save them?

Comments: Eat. Sleep. Fetch. Kill.

Summary: In 2018, in Spain, the prisoner Dante (William Miller) escapes from a prison and is chased by a robot dog. He tries to reach the city of Puerto Angel, where he left his beloved girlfriend Ula (Irene Montalà). While running away, he recalls his recent past in Spain with Ula.

Summary: 1952, Paris. Nadia, a Red Diaper baby, has a sister, Polish parents, and at 15 is an active Communist. When cops beat her during an anti-American demonstration, she's rescued by a "Match" photographer. As the friendship becomes a love affair and her slogans are tested by new knowledge and emotion, some of the Red youth want to expel her. When she goes with Stéphane to a seaside photo shoot, her father goes to the police. Stéphane faces charges, so leaving to cover the war in Indochina looks appealing. In a parallel story, Nadia's mother meets again her prewar lover, released from Siberia, who challenges the French Reds with very real scars and word of Stalin's anti-Semitism.

Languages: Deutsch, Englisch

Summary: A successful author of children's books falls in love with a woman whose very special relationship to her father ends in a horrible nightmare dramatically changing the lives of all persons involved. Leon, an author of children's books, and his eleven-year old daughter Tanja come to Denmark for their holidays. Here, Leon hopes to forget the trauma haunting him since his wife died in a car accident two years ago and keeping him from writing. But the new surrounding does not free him from his burden - until he makes the acquaintance of Roula, a young woman who runs the vacation house rental agency. Leon is captured not so much by her physical attraction, but by the secret that seems to cast a shadow over her life - and by the scars that they share. Roula lives alone with her father in an isolated house. When Leon understands the true character of their relationship, it is already too late - he can no longer stop the avalanche of events triggered off by him. The seemingly intact and harmonious world breaks apart in as much a consistent as cruel manner, leaving the protagonists to pay a high price for their newly achieved freedom.

Summary: Roxy Hunter, a tumultuous and precocious nine-year-old "going on 35" has just moved to the sleepy little town of Serenity Falls with her widowed mother, Susan, and family friend, the boy genius, Max. Roxy brings her vivid imagination, keen 'detecting skills', and eccentric personality to the small town where she accidentally uncovers a plot that could destroy her new home.

Summary: Roxy is at it again when, in pursuit of a local journalism award, she brings home a mysterious amnesiac who was found soaking wet outside of the local coffee shop. After ceremoniously naming her ANNIE NONYMOUS, Roxy takes the young lady home and finds that even the most common household item is a complete mystery to Annie. When Annie returns dripping wet from the lake several nights in a row, Roxy determines what is abundantly clear to her, Annie is a mermaid. A mermaid who has to find her way home.

Summary: Simone Buchanan plays a young camera fanatic who is marooned on a desert island. Here she is threatened by a refugee from South America (Henri Szeps) who isn't keen on having his whereabouts known. Hostility melts into friendship before the rescue boats arrive.

Summary: The fanciful tale of an introverted little girl who grows up believing she has the power to make wishes come true. She must reconcile this belief with reality when, as a young woman, she journeys to Moscow and grapples with love, modernity and materialism.

Languages: English, Dolby Digital 5.1; French, Dolby Digital 5.1

Comments: On A Family Vacation, No One Can Hear You Scream.

Summary: The long tradition of family vacation comedies continues in "RV", with Robin Williams doing his best to keep things amusing. He succeeds, for the most part, by downplaying his manic persona and settling comfortably into his role as well-meaning husband and father Bob Munro. Determined to combine work and pleasure, Bob rents the titular motor home to drive his wife (Cheryl Hines), teenage daughter (Joanna "JoJo" Levesque) and pre-teen son (Josh Hutcherson) on a scenic vacation in the Colorado Rockies while secretly preparing his presentation for a high-stakes corporate merger. Their dysfunctional road trip leads to repeated encounters with the all-too-happy Gornicke family (led by Jeff Daniels and Kristin Chenoweth), who only "appear" to be stupid rednecks, when in fact they represent the familial togetherness that Bob is striving to regain. As directed by comedy veteran Barry Sonnenfeld (whose image as "Irv" the RV rental king is plastered across the side of the Munro's RV), these warm-and-fuzzy sentiments are strictly by-the-numbers, along with plenty of jokes about raw sewage, scavenging raccoons, and RV's run amuck. There aren't any real highlights, and the outcome is utterly predictable, but "RV" delivers enough comedy to qualify as an enjoyable diversion. Those who remember Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz in Vincente Minnell's 1954 hit "The Long, Long Trailer" may find "RV" similarly entertaining. "--Jeff Shannon"