University of Virginia Library

Film Review

Disney's 'Computer': 'Love Bug' In Reverse Gear

By Steve Wells
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

Last year, Walt Disney Studios
humanized a car and wound up
with the biggest box office hit of
1969. As a follow-up to "The Love
Bug," they have decided to reverse
the idea and computerize a human.
This, indeed, is the premise of "The
Computer Wore Tennis Shoes,"
which is presently at the Barracks
Road Theatre.

There is actually very little
difference between the two movies,
except perhaps in quality. Both
depend upon fantasy plot
gimmicks, both contain almost
identical villains who selfishly try
to get their hands on the valuable
object in question, and both have
slapstick chases which occur near
their happily-ever-after endings.

Precisely, the preposterous story
this time around deals with a group
of college students who successfully
try to outsmart their fuddy-duddy
dean by getting a wealthy computer
magnate (who also happens to
operate several illegitimate gambling
establishments) to donate an
electronic brain to the school. The
dean takes a brighter outlook on
the goings-on when a student
named Dexter receives an electric
shock while fiddling with the
computer one night and, as a result,
is endowed with its brain mechanisms.
Dexter becomes famous
and while the school tries to
financially capitalize on his genius,
the crooked donor tries to "put
him on ice" before he ruins the
gambling operation by unconsciously
blurting out related information
which was somehow
recorded on the computer.

Once the situation is established
the remainder of the movie is easily
predictable, and because the
attempts at comedy show no
originality of thought, the proceedings
never really leave the ground.
The characters are all stereotyped
and the interest we have in them is
minimal.

Kurt Russell offers a rather
bland portrayal of the typical
teenager-turned-genius while Cesar
Romero does likewise with the part
of the smiling swindler. Joe Flynn
(Capt. Binghamton of the old
"McHale's Navy" program) as the
dean and William Schallert (Patty
Duke's TV father) as a professor
do provide a few comic moments.

I should add that "The Computer
Wore Tennis Shoes" has, if
the showing I saw is any indication,
a strong appeal to children. It is a
harmless flick which was undoubtedly
made with the preteen
set in mind and perhaps it is unfair
to subject it to a strict critical
analysis.

But here is what is disturbing.
Disney's name (his death notwithstanding)
has always stood for the
best in children's entertainment.
But now it is beginning to seem
that the features his studio is
producing are derived from formulas
and are noticeably lacking in
the originality and quality they
used to abound in and in which
some of his shorts, such as the
animated/live action "It's Tough. To
Be A Bird" which is being shown
with "The Computer Wore Tennis
Shoes," still possess. Today's
children deserve the same high
standard of cinematic consideration
that Disney afforded us when we
were their age.