‘Mel’ Bring Spotlight To North Idaho
What with all the success of “The Basket,” it makes sense that Spokane-based North by Northwest Entertainment would follow up with another family film.
One problem: North by Northwest’s new film, the Joey Travolta-directed “Mel,” was made before “The Basket.” In any case, it begins an exclusive run at AMC’s River Park Square Cinemas today.
Filmed in and around Sandpoint, “Mel” is aimed at an audience that is somewhere between Saturday morning cartoons and weeknight sitcoms. It features overworked parents, slacker kids, a gruff grandfather living in a remote setting, a greedy developer and a mythical lake “monster” that turns out to be even less of a monster than a myth.
In other words, this is a film that teaches object lessons with dramatic/comedic situations familiar to anyone over the age of 3.
Living in Los Angeles, a high-powered couple (Greg Evigan, Julie Hagerty) are too busy to give their two sons (Josh Paddock, Bug Hall) the attention they need. So Roger, the older son, responds by getting into minor scrapes.
Next thing you know, the two boys are living in a log cabin with Grandpa Bill (Ernest Borgnine). Bill had two problems: the developer (Jack Scalia) who wants to buy his land, and the giant turtle-like creature named Mel (after Herman Melville) that Bill wants to protect from the outside world.
Add in the fact that the boys don’t initially take to Bill’s disciplinary ways, and you have the movie’s simple set-up. Add in Vanessa Lee Evigan as the teen love interest, plus the brothers’ growing sensitivity to their grandfather’s plight, and you’re on the road to its simple conclusion.
Make no mistake: We’re not entering Disney country here, but neither are we stuck in “Pokemon”-land. The issues are real even if the characters aren’t particularly, and the special effects — such as they are — aren’t likely to scare anyone except the youngest moviegoers.
Besides, North by Northwest (in this case cinematographer Brian Cox) makes our native landscape resemble paradise as well as anybody.
This sidebar appeared with the story: “Mel” **-1/2 Locations: River Park Square Cinemas. Credits: Directed by Joey Travolta, starring Ernest Borgnine, Julie Hagerty, Greg Evigan, Jack Scalia, Bug Hall, Josh Paddock, Vanessa Lee Evigan, Paul Sampson. Running time: 1:34 Rating: Not rated (but equivalent to a G)