Les studios Walt Disney ne sont pas seulement les plus gros fournisseurs mondiaux de dessins animés ; ils produisent aussi régulièrement des longs-métrages de fiction destinés à un public familial. The Rookie (La Recrue en version française), réalisé par John Lee Hancock et mettant en vedette Dennis Quaid, appartient à cette catégorie.

Même si Jim Morris, la quarantaine bien tassée, a dû abandonner le baseball dans sa jeunesse à la suite d’une blessure, sa passion pour le sport est restée intacte. Ainsi, lorsque l’équipe d’amateurs qu’il entraîne le met au défi de tenter sa chance dans les ligues majeures, c’est son rêve d’enfant qu’il fera revivre, avec courage et détermination, tout en défiant les nombreux avis contraires.

Inspiré d’un fait réel, The Rookie joue avec des ressorts dramatiques éprouvés maintes fois mais efficaces. De beaux sentiments habitent les personnages brossés à gros traits, et les valeurs traditionnelles de l’Amérique sont assénées avec la délicatesse d’un marteau piqueur, sans que le film ne perde ses qualités de divertissement grand public. C’est le rêve américain à la sauce Disney, forcément faite pour plaire à tout le monde. —Helen Faradji

Divorced toy company executive Scott Calvin (Tim Allen of Home Improvement and the Toy Story movies) is pleased to have his son Charlie for Christmas, though the boy himself isn't happy about it. But when Santa Claus accidentally topples off the roof of the house and falls with a thud in the snow, Scott finds himself taking the merry old elf's place and earning new respect in his son's eyes. When the night ends, the reindeer take them to the north pole, and Scott discovers that by donning the fabled red suit, he's inadvertently agreed to become the next Santa Claus. The next morning he wakes up in his own bed and thinks it's all a dream—only Charlie remembers it with crystal clarity. Scott now has to deal with his suspicious ex-wife (Wendy Crewson, Air Force One) and her psychiatrist boyfriend (Judge Reinhold, Beverly Hills Cop), who both think he's playing tricks with Charlie's mind, and also with his own out-of-control body, which is putting on weight and growing a prodigious beard. The Santa Clause probably won't supplant It's a Wonderful Life or Miracle on 34th Street as anyone's favorite holiday film, but it's an enjoyable, straightforward family film, anchored by the affable charisma of Allen. Bret Fetzer

The first of two features Walt Disney made at the behest of the Office of Inter-American Affairs, Saludos Amigos consists of four cartoons linked by live-action travel footage. The very funny "Lake Titicaca" finds Donald Duck high in the Bolivian Andes, struggling with a recalcitrant llama. "Pedro," the story of a little airplane replacing his father on a mail run across the Andes, is a variation on "The Little Engine That Could." "El Gaucho Goofy" continues the popular "How To" cartoon series that juxtaposes a deadpan narration with increasing physical mayhem. Here, Goofy demonstrates Pampas-style riding and the use of the bola. The jaunty parrot Jose Carioca makes his debut in "Aquarela do Brasil." Although largely eclipsed by the wilder The Three Caballeros (1944), Saludos Amigos retains its charm. Included in the supplemental material is South of the Border with Disney, which chronicles the Good Will Tour Walt and a group of his artists made in 1941. The 16mm footage has darkened, but this featurette offers rare glimpses of some of these artists at work, including Frank Thomas, Norm Ferguson, and Mary Blair, whose stylized drawings set the look for much of Saludos Amigos and Caballeros. —Charles Solomon

A minor classic from Disney, this 1973 all-animal, all-animated musical version of the familiar story is more charming than one might expect. Perhaps it's the warm, chummy take on key relationships within the legend—the way Robin Hood (Brian Bedford) gets twitterpated whenever the subject of Maid Marian (Monica Evans) comes up or the way best pal Little John (Phil Harris voicing a variation on his own Baloo from The Jungle Book) admonishes the Sherwood Forest hero, "Aw, Rob, why dontcha just marry the girl?" (Then, of course, there's the canny "casting" of the romantic leads as foxes: Robin the sly one and Marian the, well, foxy one.) The rest of the vocal cast is lively and eclectic: Peter Ustinov, Andy Devine, Terry-Thomas, George Lindsey. Roger Miller provides the songs and voice for the minstrel character Allan-A-Dale. The film is ably directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, whose decades of work in Disney's animation division helped create the studio's rich legacy. —Tom Keogh

No, this isn't a quickie, direct-to-video sequel, cashing in on the success of the 1977 animated hit about adventurous mice, but a full-blown theatrical effort. This time around, Bernard (voiced by Bob Newhart) is trying to pop the question to Bianca (Eva Gabor) when they're summoned to Australia, where a young boy has been kidnapped by a pallid, gray-faced poacher (who looks like and is voiced by George C. Scott). Wilbur, a chatterbox of an albatross (John Candy, replacing the late Jim Jordan's character Orville), and Jake (Tristan Rogers), a kangaroo mouse—Bernard is jealous of the dashing rodent—assist the Rescuers in saving the day and imparting a mild environmental message. The film opens with an absolutely breathtaking aerial sequence—this was made near the beginning of Disney's animation renaissance—so impressive it would seem the story, literally, has nowhere else to go but down, but some smart gags, excellent animation, and rollicking adventures ensue. So why isn't it better known? It had the bad luck to open, in 1990, opposite another kids' film—Home Alone. —David Kronke

What can two little mice possibly do to save an orphan girl who's fallen into evil hands? With a little cooperation and faith in oneself, anything is possible! As members of the mouse-run International Rescue Aid Society, Bernard and Miss Bianca respond to orphan Penny's call for help. The two mice search for clues and, with the help of an old cat named Rufus, track Penny to the clutches of the evil Madame Medusa in a dilapidated ship in Devil's Bayou. It turns out that Medusa is using Penny to locate and retrieve the Devil's Eye Diamond—a stone she'll stop at nothing to possess. With a cunning plan, courageous acts, cooperation from local animal life, and lots of faith, Bernard and Miss Bianca help Penny find the diamond and escape from Medusa. The result of their adventure is that Bernard and Miss Bianca become close friends and Penny gets adopted. This somewhat dark, classic 1977 animated Disney film is based on Margery Sharp's The Rescuers and Miss Bianca, and features the Academy Award-nominated song "Someone's Waiting for You." Voice talents include Eva Gabor as Miss Bianca, Bob Newhart as Bernard, Geraldine Page as Madame Medusa, and Jim Jordan (radio's Fibber McGee) as Orville Albatross. Followed by the sequel The Rescuers Down Under. (Ages 5 to 11) —Tami Horiuchi

Disney's Recess: School's Out dipped in and out of theaters faster than fans of the cable TV show could snap their lunch boxes shut—kind of nice for parents whose idea of grown-up detention is sitting through such fly-by-night kiddie features. Now that home screenings are an option, though, plan for the ages 5-and-older set to settle in for reruns. Also plan to get sucked in yourself—if the screwball plot doesn't do it, the soundtrack will. While TJ and Principal Prickly (the latter the unfortunate bearer of the "saggy butt" that becomes this movie's clunkiest running gag) bust in on a crew of fiendish would-be teachers during summer break, slices of vintage grooviness—Steppenwolf's "Born to be Wild," Strawberry Alarm Clock's "Incense and Peppermints," and Robert Goulet's "Green Tambourine" among them—get you cheering along, whether you're 3 or 43. The reason for all the retro funkiness revolves around the chief bad guy, Phil Benedict, a one-time educational visionary and former Prickly schoolmate. Back in the day, Benedict was a radical school revolutionary, but his manifesto for better test scores misfired when it called for a ban on recess, a concept so barbaric it got him canned from a cushy government job. Now, undeterred in his mission to make life miserable for kids, he's hatching a switcheroo scheme that will forever pull the shade on summer and thus summer vacation. Predictably, right at trigger time, TJ, Prickly, and the gang roar in to the rescue. It's an ending that's as pat as any on the TV show, but so what—this is a movie that aims for summer-linen lightness. Just as the Fifth Dimension promise on the soundtrack, it lets the sunshine, as well as a few well-timed chuckles, in. —Tammy La Gorce

When Principal Prickly's car gets stuck in a snowdrift, he and passengers Miss Finster and Miss Grotke reminisce about the good and bad aspects of their students, segueing nicely into episodes from the animated television series. These include Detweiler's stint as principal for a day, the gang's rivalry with the Ashleys during the Thanksgiving can drive, and the elderly Miss Finster's surprising luau weekend with Spinelli. The final story centers on Mikey's faltering efforts to prove Santa's existence to his friends. James Earl Jones voices the wise old-timer who may change everyone's mind, and Robert Goulet provides Mikey's singing voice during his solo of "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas." The kids wrap things up with an unsentimental version of "Jingle Bells, Christmas Smells." Parents who want their children to believe in Santa might want to avoid this holiday offering, as the pro-Santa resolution may be too subtle for the young ones. Ages 5 and older. —Kimberly Heinrichs

A thoroughly engaging fairy tale that's family friendly without being condescending, The Princess Diaries is your basic Cinderella makeover story given a fresh, affectionate twist courtesy of a game, energetic cast and a screenplay that skirts schmaltz in favor of gentle, effective comedy. Mia Thermopolis (Anne Hathaway) is a frizzy-haired, glasses-wearing 15-year-old girl whose two highest ambitions are to become invisible and to get a few smooches from the slickly attractive school heartthrob. As a girl who can't stand being the center of attention so much that she throws up during debate class, she's stunned and horrified when her coolly continental grandmother (Julie Andrews) shows up and informs her that she's the crown princess of the European principality Genovia. Soon enough, Mia has to undertake "princess lessons" (and a makeover) from her queenly grandmother, and eventually she blossoms into a confident, radiant girl—despite the worries and pressure that her newfound status brings. What makes The Princess Diaries work is director Garry Marshall's guileless, irony-free approach to the material (based on Meg Cabot's novel). In comparison to most snarky, ultra-hip teen comedies, The Princess Diaries is refreshingly and enjoyably square, content to win you over on charm alone and not a slick bag of tricks. Hathaway is a charismatic, appealing role model with a sharp sense of comic timing, and Andrews—who came to stardom as the object of a makeover supreme in My Fair Lady on Broadway—is at her regal best whether teaching Mia the proper royal wave or learning how to eat a corndog. Both leading ladies are complemented by a finely tuned cast, including Hector Elizondo as Genovia's head of security (and romantic counterpart to Andrews), Heather Matarazzo as Mia's best pal, and Robert Schwartzman as the good guy who ultimately wins Mia's heart. All in all, a royal pleasure. —Mark Englehart