New in theaters
New in theaters Mr. Bean's Holiday (PG)
Director: Steve Bendelack. With Rowan Atkinson, Willem Dafoe. (90 min.)
I've always gotten a kick out of Rowan Atkinson's Mr. Bean character – in small doses. Stretched to feature length, his pratfalls can be tiresome. Mr. Bean is on a dream vacation to Cannes, where he's mistaken for a kidnapper at the glitzy film festival. Since Mr. Bean rarely speaks a complete sentence, the effect is of watching a silent movie with sound effects. This was also the dramatic ploy of the great French director-performer Jacques Tati, who is clearly the big influence here. "Mr. Bean's Holiday" is no "Monsieur Hulot's Holiday," but preteens especially might enjoy it. Grade: B
– Peter Rainer
Eye of the Dolphin (PG-13)
Director: Michael D. Sellers. With Carly Schroeder, Adrian Dunbar. (96 min.)
This indie, a "Flipper" for tweens, boasts winning roles by Bogie and Bacall, a pair of dolphins. The human actors don't fare as well. Alyssa (Carly Schroeder), a surly teen who could out glower Rufus Sewell and Joaquin Phoenix, huffily relocates to the Bahamas to meet the marine biologist father she never knew she had. Tediously slow. Grade: C
– Stephen Humphries
The Hottest State (R)
Director: Ethan Hawke. With Catalina Sandino Moreno, Mark Webber, Laura Linney. (117 min.)
Ethan Hawke wrote and directed this adaptation of his novel about a would-be actor (Mark Webber) who finds the perfect girl (Catalina Sandino Moreno) and then gets dumped by her. He also plays a small role as the boy's estranged father, and Laura Linney plays his world-wise mother. At times this indie is as repetitive and self-indulgent as its protagonist, but it captures a bit of the madness of being unrequitedly in love. Grade: B– – P. R.
The Last Legion (PG-13)
Director: Doug Lefler. With Colin Firth, Ben Kingsley, Aishwarya Rai. (110 min.)
Prolific Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis stays true to his days as a spendthrift producer of would-be blockbuster fare – such as his remake of "King Kong" (1976) and the Day-Glo guilty pleasure "Flash Gordon" (1980) – showing that he can still make movies that people want to see, even if they opt to wait until the DVD release. His take on the Arthurian legend is flawed but watchable, thanks to plenty of swordplay (rendered occasionally confusing by the mandates of the PG-13 rating) and a confident turn by Aishwarya Rai, the impossibly beautiful star of "Bride & Prejudice." Grade: C+
– Robert Newton
