Likable `Little Giants' Scores Some Points On Charm

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XX "Little Giants," with Rick Moranis and Ed O'Neill. Directed by Duwayne Dunham. Aurora, Factoria, Grand Cinemas Alderwood, Kent, Metro, Mountlake 9, Newmark, Parkway Plaza, Seatac Mall Cinemas. "PG" - Parental guidance suggested; mild profanity. ------------------------------------------------------------------

Neither better nor worse than most children's movies, "Little Giants" is harmless enough, and it's guaranteed to supply a few good laughs for parents and kids alike. Perhaps that's the best we can hope for when the standards for children's movies have been all but abandoned to the doldrums of mediocrity.

There are always a few choice moments in comedies like this, typically arising from the occasional gag that works, or from the irresistible charms of a young cast having fun before the cameras. That's where "Little Giants" scores most of its points.

It's about a longstanding sibling rivalry in the cozy town of Urbania, Ohio, where mild-mannered gas station owner Danny O'Shea (Rick Moranis) has been wilting in the shadow of his big brother, Kevin (Ed O'Neill from "Married With Children"), a former Heisman trophy winner who is Urbania's egotistical local hero.

Kevin is determined to coach Urbania's pee-wee football team, The Cowboys, to the regional championship, and he ruthlessly cuts unwanted players from his team tryouts. One of them is Danny's tomboy daughter (engaging newcomer Shawna Waldron), a first-rate football player who persuades her dad to recruit a new team, the Little Giants, composed of every misfit, nerd and outcast looking for a chance to get back at the big boys.

League rules allow only one team per town, so the beefy Cowboys are pitted against the puny Little Giants in a deciding playoff. It takes about 15 minutes to establish this set-up, after which "Little Giants" is a foregone conclusion, never straying from the formula that has been going stale since "The Bad News Bears" gave it a fresh spin in 1976.

It took four writers to repeat every tired routine in the kiddie-sports playbook, but what "Little Giants' lacks in originality it almost makes up for in simple, clean-cut comedy. In movies like this, there's always one perfectly cast kid who steals the show, and this time it's a scrawny little hypochondriac (Todd Bosley) who joins the team on his therapist's advice. With his runny nose and asthma spray, he looks at his name on his team jersey and says it's "so they'll be able to identify me at the morgue."

Director Duwayne Dunham is smart enough to give his funniest kids the spotlight, but he's just as quick to stoop to the last resorts of flatulence and cutesy cuss words. Too often, "Little Giants" sinks into the black pit of negligence.

To compensate, "Little Giants" is considerably slicker than most kids' movies; it was warmly photographed by Oscar-winning "Schindler's List" cinematographer Janusz Kaminsky. That's the equivalent of hiring a jet pilot to drive a taxi, but when you're working with underdogs, it always helps to have a few real pros on your team.