'Return to Me' charming on video

October 31, 2000
Web posted at: 10:28 a.m. EST (1528 GMT)

By Scott Hettrick

'Return to Me'

(Los Angeles Times Syndicate) (MGM, VHS priced for rental, DVD $26.98, rated PG) 2000. Directed by Bonnie Hunt; starring David Duchovny, Minnie Driver, Carroll O'Connor, Robert Loggia, Bonnie Hunt, David Alan Grier, Joely Richardson and James Belushi.

David Duchovny creates a charming character in the light romantic comedy "Return to Me" that recalls many played by the likes of Cary Grant and Rock Hudson. Minnie Driver is equally alluring as the soft-spoken, down-to-Earth target of his affection, and James Belushi revives his familiar comic-relief persona that he has created for films such as "About Last Night ... "

	NEW VIDEO RELEASES
Releasing October 31: "Casper's Haunted Christmas" "Fail Safe - Special Edition" "Fight Club" "Home Alone" Gift Set "Left Behind - The Movie" "Return to Me" "Somewhere in Time" - 20th Anniversary Edition "Three Tenors Christmas"

The far-fetched hook to the story that is perfect for this kind of desirably sappy romance is that Minnie Driver's Grace Briggs character has had a transplant, receiving the heart of her soon-to-be-boyfriend's late wife.

It seems that after a year of mourning, the Chicago construction-worker widower Bob Rueland (Duchovny) becomes strangely attracted to Briggs. The two initially meet when Grace, a waitress at her grandfather's Irish-Italian restaurant, serves Bob while he is on a horrifying blind date with an obnoxious woman.

The drama comes in when Grace figures out where her heart came from (highly improbable but acceptable in this context) and then decides to hide the news from her new boyfriend. Of course, he eventually finds out, and that's when the discomfort and uncertainty lead to exotic and extravagant relationship rebuilding.

Giving the film an extra boost of energy is the amusingly crusty and opinionated group of old card-players, buddies of Grace's colorful Irish grandfather, played delightfully by Carroll O'Connor and including Robert Loggia as a Frank Sinatra-loving gent.

'Casper's Haunted Christmas'

(Universal, VHS $19.98, DVD $26.98, not rated) 2000. Directed by Owen Hurley; voices by Kathleen Barr, Brendon Ryan Barrett, Ian James Corlett, David Kaye, Graeme Kingston, Terry Klassen and Scott McNeil.

Over the past few years Casper the friendly ghost has been reincarnated in a live-action theatrical movie and in a couple of mildly entertaining live-action made-for-video follow-ups.

Now he returns in this completely computer-animated 80-minute made-for-video movie that is cute and clever enough to engage kids and possibly parents. Some amusing re-creations of scenes from classic films, including "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Psycho," have been thrown in to make the child-oriented picture more palatable for adults.

Although Casper and his ghostly trio of less-than-friendly uncles look the same as they have in their previous cinematic outings, here they are computer-animated beings, and viewers will have to adjust to seeing everything else, including people, that way. That adjustment won't take long, as the computer animation is very sophisticated.

The story, set against the backdrop of Christmas, follows Casper as he tries his best to carry out an order from a supreme ruler of ghosts to scare at least one person before Christmas Day. Try as he reluctantly might, Casper is unable to terrify anyone, including a young girl he befriends who thinks Casper is a snowman.

In fear of repercussions that will affect all of them, Casper's uncles secretly recruit Casper's look-alike cousin Spooky to save the day. But Spooky has his own issues to deal with, including a girlfriend who doesn't want him to leave and, like Casper, trouble getting people to be scared of him.

(c) 2000, Scott Hettrick. Distributed by Los Angeles Times Syndicate.

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