Buddy

It was a bad sign when one of the many fidgety 10-year-old girls in the audience began mocking the movie. "We love you Buddy," she mimicked in her most exaggerated saccharine-sweet voice. Hey, if a little kid doesn't fall for this animal buddy pic, how can you expect me to? Especially when said animal is actually a man dressed in a gorilla suit. Granted, Jim Henson's Creature Shop has made our furry pal look a bit more real than the ape who wrecked havoc in the Kentucky Fried Movie, but still, Buddy ain't no Dunston of Checks Out fame.

Directed by Caroline Thompson, the film is based on the true story of Gertrude "Trudy" Lintz (Rene Russo), a loony but kindhearted rich lady in the 1920s who collected tons of animals and treated them like humans. Dearest to Trudy's heart is Buddy, a cuddly gorilla she saved from dying as an infant. The film ploddingly traces Buddy's growth from baby to adult through to the startling conclusion, when the big guy eats Rene Russo. Okay, so that doesn't happen, but Russo does learn what the rest of us already knew: gorillas don't belong in the living room. At the Harbour Mall, Holiday, Showcase, Tri-Boro, and Woonsocket cinemas.

-- Mark Bazer