WILD AMERICA

Starring Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Devon Sawa and Scott Bairstow Directed by William Dear Rated , with violence and mild profanity Running time 110 minutes We give this film a rating of 5 out of 10

(July 4, 1997) -- I'll admit this upfront: Wild America earned my good will right off the bat because it is one of those rare films with the courage to name one of its heroes Marshall. Marshall is a name which, in TV and movies, is usually reserved for geeks and nerds, a highly offensive generalization. Wild America dares give the lie to the stereotype.

My good will, however, only can be stretched so far. Unfortunately, Wild America doesn't do the rest.

Oh, there are a couple of moments of vulgar revenge humor that hint at the kind of film it might have been. But those come and go in an instant, leaving us instead with this overlong and highly formulated "true story" that tells about the Stouffer brothers and their adventures filming wildlife while still teen-agers in the summer of 1967. The template here is the after-school special, plot No. 26: The teens succeed in spite of a dominant father's discouragement and in the process earn the grudging respect of the disapproving patriarch.

In this case, that would be Martin Stouffer Sr., played with cigar-chomping familiarity by Jamey Sheridan. Dad has built a one-man carburetor business into a thriving family enterprise and hopes one day to pass it on to his three sons: Martin Jr. (Scott Bairstow), Mark (Devon Sawa) and Marshall (Jonathan Taylor Thomas).

But Marty Jr. has other ideas than cleaning carburetors in rural Arkansas. An amateur cameraman, he and Mark make home movies in which they subject young Marshall to wilder and wilder stunts. When Marty spots a used 16mm camera in the local camera store, he gets an idea: Becoming a filmmaker will be his ticket to freedom.

He and Mark hit on the idea of filming vanishing wildlife in America. They convince their father to lend them the money to buy the camera and, eventually, to let the two of them take off for the summer to go make their movie.

Once on the road, they discover a stowaway: Marshall. But, given his history of being forced to be a daredevil, the little brother proves to have survival instincts that surpass those of his siblings.

Their adventures seem homogenized for a young audience; despite encounters with alligators, rattlesnakes and a mythical "Cave of 1,000 Bears," the three Stouffers come away with little more than scratches (even after Marshall winds up riding in a moose's antlers and being tossed through rapids).

The animatronics-rich animal sequences take second place to the more TV-friendly portion of the story: the "Don't make us give up our dream just because yours has been squashed" father-son conflict. The literal depiction of using one's dreams to fly -- with Marshall piloting a small airplane -- keeps the film rolling 10 minutes longer than necessary.

The cast has a commitment and an energy that are admirable, though Thomas, whose character narrates, seems out of place standing up to Dad and delivering the big speech. That moment crystallizes the oversimplified approach of Wild America: It talks down to kids even as it drives adults crazy.

On the other hand, it does have a hero named Marshall.