CINEMA: SHORT TAKES: ALIEN RESURRECTION

LESS FRIGHTENING, BUT AS MUCH FUN AS EVER

Familiarity also breeds affection. The aliens still have pretty teeth, ooze slime from every pore and maintain their relentlessly hostile attitude toward all things human. But by now--Alien Resurrection is their fourth screen appearance--there's something funny about their reliable malevolence. It's sort of like Mr. Magoo's nearsightedness; you await its inevitably disastrous consequences with high comic anticipation.

Naturally, the creatures' old nemesis, Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), has been--literally--reincarnated, and her wit and toughness were not forgotten in the cloning. Nor did screenwriter Joss Whedon (of TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer) neglect to provide her with a spaceship of fools who refuse...

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