Boleyn, Bonneville and big, big mammals

By PHILIP WUNTCH
Film Critic Emeritus

As all pop-culture mavens know, the Tudors are in full bloom. "The Other Boleyn Girl" is an ornamental addition to the Tudor collection.

Not a magnificent addition, nor even a significant one. But ornamental it most certainly is. Great costumes, ornate sets, lovely ladies and dashing horses decorate this tale of back-stabbing and head-chopping during the early years of Henry VIII's blood-stained reign.

Based on Philippa Gregory's best-seller, the movie traces the sagas of Boleyn sisters Anne and Mary and, to a lesser extent, their randy brother George. Several well-known twists and even some surprises enhance the story, which highfalutin historians have greeted with sneers. Still, it makes a beguiling, lusty tale.

Scarlett Johansson plays sensitive Mary, while Natalie Portman is the cunning, witty Anne. Johansson, usually cast in brassier roles, gently registers Mary's soulful spirit, which somehow allows her to hold her own in a regal nest of jeweled vipers. Portman so sharply convinces us of willful Anne's swollen head that her eventual fate seems like poetic justice.

Their ambitious father and wicked uncle use the young sisters as pawns to win the Boleyn family favor at court. Henry, played as a brooding male peacock by Eric Bana, has wearied of his current wife, the weepy Katherine of Aragon, who has committed the unpardonable sin of providing no male heir. Both Boleyn girls ignite the monarch's libido, albeit at different times. Court intrigues loom in every picturesque nook and cranny of the castle interiors.

Director Justin Chadwick, making his feature debut, is guilty of overkill, much like King Henry himself. A close-up of a sharp chopping knife precedes the king's first meeting with Anne. Even the most clueless non-historian will grasp the symbolism. But he clearly respects his actors, and they respond with uniformly strong performances. Kristin Scott-Thomas is particularly moving as the sisters' mother, outspoken in her support of her frequently hapless daughters, while Jim Sturgess also delivers as the doomed Boleyn brother.

Screenwriter Peter Morgan showed his skill at government procedures with superior screenplays for "The Queen" and "The Last King of Scotland" and with "Frost/Nixon" currently before the cameras. "The Other Boleyn Girl" does not belong at the top of the crown, but he keeps the court complications from becoming garbled. It's a beautiful, slightly shallow pond, but it never insults your intelligence.

NEEDS A TUNE-UP: Those nasty varmints known as film critics are going to have fun with "Bonneville." They'll dub it "Thelma and Louise Lite," "Crimes of the Heart Lite" or even "Boys on the Side Lite" (assuming anyone remembers 1995's "Boys on the Side").

Whatever the reference, the emphasis will be on Lite. Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates and Joan Allen play longtime friends who embark on an Idaho-to-California trek with an urn carrying the ashes of Lange's recently deceased husband. They travel in a 1966 Bonneville convertible, which the dead spouse cherished. Does anyone even need to be told that it will a journey of self-discovery for all three?

The women make a couple of detours, all of which can be predicted. With her lovely if shopworn features, Lange gets the most close-ups as the devoted widow who knows how to lighten her grief. As a sassy ex-schoolteacher, Bates gets the best lines. Be warned, though, that even the best lines also are easily predictable. Allen, as a prim, sanctimonious organizer, has the most dramatic character arc. All three actresses have the talent, invaluable in this film, of making the dialog seem sharper than it really is.

But, oh, how that Bonneville sparkles!

GET TO KNOW YOUR WHALE: "Dolphins and Whales 3D: Tribes of the Ocean," currently at Cinemark 17's IMAX auditorium, is academic in approach but stunningly visual in presentation.

Director Jean-Jacques Mantello, in Dallas for advance screenings, spoke glowingly of dolphins, described as people-friendly, intelligent and agile. So agile, in fact, that they can play catch with seaweed without tearing it.

The whales are another story. You have to earn their trust, and each whale has a different personality. Mantello and his crew spent 600 hours underwater during three years of making the film. They got to know their whales by studying them carefully before displaying any camera equipment.

Although the killer whale is featured in the 42-minute 3D IMAX film, director and crew avoided trying the animal's nerves. The killer whale is undisputed king of the ocean. Being its largest predator, the sea beast dines on other whales.

All the creatures are lovingly photographed. Take kids, grandkids, nieces and nephews for a painless, often exuberant zoology lesson.