Madeline Kahn Movies

John Lasseter, director of Pixar's movie phenomenon Toy Story, has set new standards in computer animation with this effort, another Disney-released children's epic entitled A Bug's Life. Blending classic Disney storytelling characters and the mysterious underground world of bugs, Lasseter has created a film that can be enjoyed by all audiences, and another franchise in the process. A Bug's Life is a computerized retelling of the Aesop fable The Ant and the Grasshopper, made as a cartoon-short by the one-and-only, Walt Disney, in the mid-'30s. However, A Bug's Life has modernized the story with many new twists and celebrity voices. The story focuses on a colony of ants who seasonally gather food for themselves and a wild gang of rowdy grasshoppers. When bumbling worker ant Flik (David Foley) destroys the food supply, the angry grasshoppers, lead by the maniacally warped Hopper (Kevin Spacey), threaten to kill the ants if they don't produce a new supply of food by the time they return -- an impossible feat. Flik leaves the anthill in search of help in the form of bigger bugs, and to wage war against the grasshoppers. What he doesn't know is he has actually discovered a group of down-on-their-luck traveling circus insects in need of a job. When the ants realize that their heroes are really circus performers (and the circus bugs realize these grasshoppers are really big and mean), the situation goes from bad to worse. Ultimately, the ants use their large numbers to overcome the grasshoppers. ~ Chris Gore, Rovi

Crafted in the mold of his classic play-cum-films Plaza Suite and California Suite, the legendary Neil Simon authors London Suite, a made-for-television movie that took its first bows in September 1996. As in the prior films, Simon presents a series of couplets that unfold in and around a single hotel, this one in the city of Big Ben and Westminster. Of the four sketches, the first stars Julie Hagerty (Lost in America) and Michael Richards (Seinfeld) as husband-and-wife Mark and Anne Ferris, who journey to Wimbledon for the matches, only to suffer gravely when they lose their tickets and Mark injures his back; matters go from difficult to unbearable when Mark takes a trip through comic hell at the hands of a sadistic chiropractor. Episode two features Seinfeld's Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Weekend at Bernie's star Jonathan Silverman as Debra and Paul Dolby, honeymooners who lose track of their suitcases and then each other. In episode three, Frasier's Kelsey Grammer and Far From Heaven's Patricia Clarkson portray divorcees Sidney and Diana Nichols, who meet up in London town, where Diana hopes to promote her new television program and Sidney schemes to wheedle money out of his ex, to pass it along to his gay lover, Max. In the final segment, the late Madeline Kahn (Blazing Saddles) plays Sharon Semple, an American on a London shopping spree with her daughter, who meets and falls in love with Dennis Cummings, "The Snorting Scotsman," (Empty Nest's Richard Mulligan), only to contend with his penchant for Ferraris and his obnoxious laugh. London Suite is helmed by Jay Sandrich, veteran director of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, and Laverne and Shirley. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

This 1995 episode of Saturday Night Live is hosted by Madeline Kahn and features musical guest Bush. ~ Skyler Miller, Rovi

A holiday comedy with dark overtones, Mixed Nuts presents a supposedly humorous look at the behind-the-scenes events at a crisis hotline on Christmas Eve. Philip (Steve Martin) runs Lifesavers, a Venice, California organization dedicated to helping the depressed and troubled. Unfortunately, Philip is a bit down himself, having learned that Lifesavers is on the verge of eviction. His staff isn't feeling particularly helpful either, with Mrs. Munchnik (Madeline Kahn) giving gruff, often insulting advice, and Catherine (Rita Wilson) obsessing over her own unspoken love for Philip. As the holiday approaches, various weirdoes of all shapes and sizes -- from to a pregnant clothing store owner (Juliette Lewis) to a disenchanted Santa Claus (Anthony LaPaglia) -- begin dropping in, throwing the already strained office into utter chaos. Director Nora Ephron followed her smash success Sleepless in Seattle with this remake of the cult 1982 French comedy Le Père Noël est une Ordure, co-authoring the script with her sister Delia Ephron. However, Mixed Nuts met with little box office or critical approval, with most viewers finding the film's manic farce disappointingly forced and abrasive. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi

In this made-for-TV comedy, a self-made man (Jack Lemmon) tries to teach is idle son (Jonathan Silverman) and greedy wife a lesson by giving away his hard-earned wealth. However, the plan doesn't go quite as smoothly as expected. Released on video under the title Father, Son and the Mistress. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi

An Emmy Award winning production, this movie depicts the plight of a single parent and her children, who are desperately seeking a Mr. Right for their divorced mother. ~ Tana Hobart, Rovi

In this entertaining feature for the 3- to10-year-old set, the wicked witch Hydia (voice of Cloris Leachman) and her two nasty daughters, Reeka and Draggle (voices of Rhea Pearlman and Madeline Kahn) are scheming to flood Ponyland with a strange liquid called Smooze. The ponies find allies in the Grundles, who have already been made homeless by the Smooze. The challenge is to stop the witch and her daughters, send them back into their volcano, and retrieve the lost land of the Grundles from under its cover of Smooze -- not to mention protecting Ponyland from the worst. Not an easy agenda, even after several adventures gear everyone up for the grand finale. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

An American Tail is a beautifully rendered animated flim that tells an overly familiar story in terms children can easily understand. Fievel Mousekewitz and his family of Russian-Jewish mice escape from their homeland in the late 1800s, boarding a boat headed toward America to evade the Czarist rule of the Russian cats. Fievel, however, is separated from his family upon his arrival in New York City, and he discovers to his horror that there are cats in America too (his father said there weren't). Fievel meets his share of friendly and hostile mice, and he eventually befriends a cat as well. Former Disney animator Don Bluth co-produced and directed this often heartwarming yarn, the first animated feature presented by Steven Spielberg, and it has its charms despite a number of cliché situations. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi

In this spoof of McCarthy-era paranoia and 1950s wholesomeness, the characters and plot are drawn from the popular Parker Brothers board game of the same name. On a dark and stormy night in 1954, six individuals with ties to Washington are assembled for a dinner party at the swanky mansion of one Mr. Boddy (Lee Ving). Boddy's butler, Wadsworth (Tim Curry), assigns each guest a colorful name: Mr. Green (Michael McKean), Col. Mustard (Martin Mull), Mrs. Peacock (Eileen Brennan), Professor Plum (Christopher Lloyd), Miss Scarlet (Lesley Ann Warren), and Mrs. White (Madeline Kahn). Two additional servants, the Cook (Kellye Nakahara) and Yvette, the maid (Colleen Camp), assist Wadsworth as he informs the guests that they have been gathered to meet the man who has been blackmailing them: Mr. Boddy. When Boddy turns up dead, however, the guests must try to figure out who killed him so they can protect their own reputations and keep the body count from growing. Three separate endings were filmed for Clue and shown in different theaters; all three are collected for the video edition. Although the film is set in the 1950s, the original Clue game was actually devised by Anthony Pratt, a clerk in Leeds, England, to pass the time during World War II air-raid drills. First released in 1946 under the name Cluedo by British manufacturer Waddington's, Clue was renamed and released in the U.S. in 1949. Today, Clue/Cluedo is marketed in 70 countries around the world and has been adapted into a British game show and an off-Broadway musical. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

Switching roles is an entertaining concept that has been explored in movies. In Reading Rainbow: Bea and Mr. Jones, a five-year-old girl takes on her father's persona and goes to work, while her dad attends kindergarten. Host LeVar Burton checks out the costume collection of the program and plays dress-up, pretending to be different characters. The series encourages young children to enter the world of books and reading, featuring one picture book per episode. Their entertaining approach to learning has won many awards. ~ Alice Day, Rovi

A behind-the-scenes satire of the world of show business. ~ Tana Hobart, Rovi