leeper@mtgzz.UUCP (m.r.leeper) (07/24/85)
THE HEAVENLY KID
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
I never planned to see THE HEAVENLY KID. What little I knew about the
film made it sound a little hum-drum and familiar. A teenager gets a
guardian angel to help him through life's trying moments. The idea has been
done to death (you'll pardon the expression) on made-for-TV copies of films
like HERE COMES MR. JORDAN, its remake HEAVEN CAN WAIT, TOPPER, episodes of
THE TWILIGHT ZONE, even a Tom and Jerry cartoon. But I was in for one
shock. Like Holiday Inns says in its ad: "The only surprise is that there
are no surprises." Even HEAVEN CAN WAIT had moments when it was
unpredictable. From beginning to end there is not an original scene or an
original piece of dialogue in THE HEAVENLY KID. This film could have been
written by high school students who pieced it together from made-for-TV
films.
In a reprise of the chicken race of REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, Bobby is
killed. In scenes stolen from HERE COMES MR. JORDAN, he deals with angelic
bureaucrats who arrange for him to return to Earth for a good deed which
will allow him to go to Heaven. He is dispatched to help a young teenager
find himself.
The film sets for itself some hard and fast rules, then goes about
breaking them with no regard for logic. The invisible angel gets into
fights and nobody notices an invisible force is in the fight. One victim
does notice, but never seems to mention it. The angel is allowed to reveal
himself only to his charge, but when the script-writer wants him to, he
reveals himself to other people. In another scene, he sits in a tight
backseat with two women, the actresses desperately trying to act as if they
can't tell there's a third person in the seat.
THE HEAVENLY KID (it's not clear if the title refers to the angel or
the boy--neither fits) is just a string of familiar scenes and a real
yawner. Of minor note is that the stunt co-ordinator was Ricou Browning.
Browning was the man inside the monster suit in CREATURE FROM THE BLACK
LAGOON. The only other familiar name (to me) was Richard Mulligan as the
angelic bureaucrat in beatnik poncho on a motorcycle he can't ride--funny,
huh? Rate this film an admittedly high -2 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
...ihnp4!mtgzz!leeper