Meanwhile, Calvin strikes up a tentative romance (at age 14?) with the king's young daughter, Princess Katey (Paloma Baeza), and tries to help her older sister, Princess Sarah (Kate Winslet, who won acclaim for "Heavenly Creatures"), find a way to marry the commoner she loves.

In the right hands, this might have been funny stuff. But as written by J.P. Guerin and producer Robert L. Levy ("Point Break," the second "Warlock" movie) and directed by Michael Gottlieb ("Mannequin," "Mr. Nanny") it's slow, bland and seldom amusing. And they aren't above stealing gags from other, better comedies, most notably Danny Kaye's classic "The Court Jester."

"A Kid in King Arthur's Court" is rated PG for a fair amount of bloodless violence and a couple of mildly vulgar jokes.

— "RUNAWAY BRAIN," on the other hand, is a certified hit.

This first Mickey Mouse cartoon short in 42 years takes Mickey back to his roots, in both his look and his more aggressive per-sonality. And it fits like the proverbial four-fingered glove.

In style and tone — and certainly in its pacing — the short actually resembles the more recent "Roger Rabbit" cartoons than the Mickey or Donald or Goofy cartoons of old — but that's not a complaint.

The action center's around Mickey's brain being switched with that of a monster (who has more than a passing resemblance to his old nemesis Peg-Leg Pete), courtesty of a mad scientist (voiced by Kelsey Grammer, who plays TV's "Frasier"). And it doesn't let up for a moment.

There are also some delightful gags and clever touches, as when Mickey's wallet photos unfold and we see the familiar black-and-white shot of his 1927 cartoon "Steamboat Willie," and Mickey says, "Oh, that's an old one."

Too bad "Runaway Brain" isn't fronting a better live-action movie, but let's hope Disney doesn't wait too long before releasing it to video.

This one's a keeper.