Dennis the Menace

As we left the theater after a showing of "Dennis the Menace," my 12-year-old son David came up with a cynical observation:

"I guess now we'll get `Dennis the Menace 2: Lost in New York.' "

His point is well taken. "Dennis the Menace" seems to owe as much to the "Home Alone" pictures as it does to the comic strip that provided its inspiration. And why not, since those films were also scripted and produced by John Hughes.

The difference here, of course, is that Dennis is a precocious 5-year-old whose slapstick violence results from innocent curiosity rather than purposeful boo-by-traps. And Dennis himself, in the form of young actor Mason Gamble, is cute and charmingly naive as he gets into one scrape after another. Somehow Macaulay Cul-kin's Kevin has always seemed more calculating to me.

"Dennis" also benefits greatly from the presence of Walter Matthau as long-suffering old Mr. Wilson" and Joan Plowright as his bemused wife.

Dennis and Wilson have an unspoken understanding. Retired postal worker Wilson never had kids and wonders if he hasn't missed out on something. And Dennis' parents let him have the run of the neighborhood, so he seems to be searching for a father figure.

Matthau has some very funny moments, his bulldog face reacting with perfect comic timing as it stares, scowls, glances at the ceiling or waits impatiently for Dennis' next inadvertent prank. And Plowright complements him very well, allowing for some moments that are more tender and touching than audiences may expect.

Dennis' parents, Alice and Henry Mitchell, are played by Lea Thompson and Robert Stanton, who certainly fit the roles physically but don't have much to do. (Alice is a working mother these days, of course.)

Most of the film is set in an idyllic suburb, one of those movie neighborhoods that is part '50s and part contemporary, a la "Edward Scissorhands." That element works very well in the context of this comic-strip motif.

The oddest character here is Switchblade Sam, a scuzzy, train-traveling hobo who comes to town one day and begins lifting purses and robbing residences, played with grimy nastiness by Christopher Lloyd.

It is inevitable that after a series of encounters with Mr. Wilson, Dennis must take on Switchblade Sam in a climactic confrontation, one which seems far too much like "Home Alone 3." In fact, Lloyd's character is so mean-spirited he seems horribly out of sync with the rest of the film, even when he's getting his comic thrashing. This subplot could have been excised at no great loss.

Another problem here has to do more with self-indulgence on the part of the filmmakers. Director Nick Castle ("The Boy Who Could Fly," "Tap") comes up with some good slapstick sequences (though moments with flatulence and Mr. Wilson getting hit in the groin seem like vulgar excesses). But it's all far too flabby, with lengthy setups that seem to go on forever. Some judicious editing to tighten up the film could have made all the difference in the overall pacing.

Still, on the whole, there are some good laughs. And Matthau alone seems worth the ticket price.

"Dennis the Menace" is rated PG for comic violence and some mild profanity and vulgarity.