A Delightful Rip Van Winkle Romance

XXX "Forever Young," with Mel Gibson, Elijah Wood, Jamie Lee Curtis, George Wendt, Isabel Glasser and Joe Morton. Directed by Steve Miner, from a screenplay by Jeffrey Abrams. Factoria, Harvard Exit, Kirkland Parkplace, Metro, Oak Tree, Southcenter. "PG" - parental guidance suggested, due to mild profanity. --------------------------------------------------------------- Judging by its own merits and the buoyant reaction of preview audiences, "Forever Young" could turn into an unexpected hit among the current crop of year-end prestige pictures. It's a fine example of a slightly hokey premise being spun into gold by a director and cast who've found just the right approach to their material.

The movie is an engaging return to good old-fashioned storytelling, perched on the border of idealism and reality and accessible to all ages without insulting anyone's intelligence or sensibilities. Just a decent, harmless and quite delightful little picture. . . what a novel idea!

The story opens in late 1939, where we find Mel Gibson as ace test pilot Daniel McCormick, taking his new B-25 on a death-defying trial run. It's the kind of gutsy move made by a guy who's invincibly in love, as Daniel is with Helen (radiant newcomer Isabel Glasser), who eagerly awaits his marriage proposal. But Dan can't get up the nerve to pop the question, and tragedy leaves him alone with his lost opportunities.

Rather than endure the agony of Helen's accident-induced coma, Dan volunteers to be a guinea pig in a secret, pioneering cryogenics experiment designed by his best pal Harry (George Wendt), a scientist clearly ahead of his time. Neither of them can possibly anticipate the circumstances that will lead to Dan's thawing out, some 52 years later in 1992, by a couple of mischievous 10-year-olds who stumble upon Daniel's cryo-coffin in an Army warehouse.

There are numerous ways in which "Forever Young" could have slipped up, but by downplaying the elements of fantasy, director Steve Miner ("House," "Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken") pulls the heartstrings with a melodrama that never succumbs to its potentially saccharine pitfalls.

Miner tries a few obvious intrusions into Spielberg territory ("Always" comes quickly to mind). But the familiar Rip Van Winkle routine is nicely underplayed, allowing Gibson a comedic blend of intelligence and past vs. future befuddlement.

The film is also sweepingly romantic in the best sense of the word, filled with the nostalgia of vintage airplanes, the preservation of childlike imagination, and the time-tested appeal of a good old-fashioned love story.

While capturing Gibson's best qualities in his most appealing role in years, "Forever Young" is also blessed by Wood, who effortlessly outclasses Macaulay Culkin in the charming kid department, and Jamie Lee Curtis, who makes the best of a limited role.