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CAPTAII{ AMERICA ( C o\umAin

with genuine human When Barry emotion: cuddles in bed with his girlfriend (Paula Marshall.l, finds his cop brother (Tim Thomerson) killed by a terrorist cycle gang, or speaks at graveside
The Flash, resonates

with their grieving father (M. Emmet

Walsh), this film evinces emotions, rather

PG-13) THE FTASH (Warner Home Video, $89.99; tzot rated) Superman and Batman get to star in their own movies, and now every superhero wants one. Held from theatrical release for two years before being dropped onto the video shelves in time to ride the Batman btzz, Captain America stars undergrad-god J.D. Salinger's son Matt as Marvel Comics' superpatriot. The
movie isn't merely wrong for

than effects, that are special. Captai,tt,

America: F The FIasIt: B+

-Frank

Loueae

Books
A MltLI0t{ FISH...M0RE 0R tES$ Patricia C. McKissack, illustrated by Dena $chutzer (Ktzopf, $11, ages ! to 8) This is a fish story with a Louisiana lilt and vivacious, vibrantly colored pictures to match. Hugh Thomas,
an African-Ameriean boy, is fishing in the bayou when two old men row out of the fog.

kids-it

opens

in prewar Italy with a sequence in Italian with subtitles, and a machine-gun slaugh-

ter-it's just all wrong.

The shapeless blob of a plot pits Cap against his Marvel Comics foe, the Nazi Red Skull (Scott Paulin), now inexplicably Italian and mostly seen without a red skull. They resume their battle in the 1990s when Cap awakens after decades in suspended animation. He should have stayed in bed. Conversely, Tlte FLaslt, should have

The two elders tantalize Hugh with outrageous tall tales about mysterious goings-on in the swamp. Hugh isn't sure whether to believe them-but after the men row away,

amazing things begin to happen. Hugh

catches a million fish, and, to protect his catch, has to mateh wits with hungry alligators and greedy pirate raccoons. Did all this really happen-or has Hugh Thomas taken to telling whoppers of his own?

stayed on the TV schedule-the sleekly photographed, 94-minute premiere of the one-season series is a sugar-free screen treat. As a forensic scientist transformed into DC Comics' super-speedster, Shipp's Barry Allen is beiievably bewildered-and when he meets fellow scientist Pays, believablv bewitched. Despite its stylization,

Dena Schutzer's paintings swirl with

movement and high-spirited fun, and Patricia McKissacks' narrative is expansive,

evocative, and tangy with Southein-flavored dialect. In all, a Iine read-aloud for a
hot summer day.

-Mich,ele

Landsberg

74 JULY 31, t9'92