Invencíveis e Invisíveis

The second of the "Dexter Riley" Disney feature film vehicles for Kurt Russell, this is good, amiable, goofy fun. Sure, it's not exactly "great cinema", but it sure as Hell isn't trying to be. It follows its formula to a tee while serving up a respectable amount of decent invisibility effects and engaging laughs.

This time, Kurts' Dexter Riley is in a science class, and by accident he manages to perfect an invisibility spray. The problem is, of course, that master criminal A.J. Arno (Cesar Romero) finds out all about it, and figures to exploit the spray for his own ends. Dexter and his friends (chief among them, Michael McGreevey as Richard Schuyler and Joyce Menges as Debbie Dawson) must work overtime to both give their grumpy dean (Joe Flynn, who's in very fine form) an assist, and ultimately foil bad guy Arno.

"Now You See Him, Now You Don't" is great fun for anybody looking for a lively campus comedy. As said before, the special effects are pretty decent, and director Robert Butler maintains a reasonable pace. (Things go along kind of deliberately until the typical, manic Disney finale where the studio pulls out all the stops.) Kurt is a joy in this recurring role of Dexter, who may not be a top student, but has the personality of a hero and a definite charisma. Romero is fun as usual as the bad guy; other reliable and familiar actors in supporting roles include Jim Backus, William Windom, Richard Bakalyan, Alan Hewitt, Kelly Thordsen, Kurt's dad Bing in the small role of Alfred, George O'Hanlon, John Myhers, Edward Andrews, and Ed Begley, Jr. Legendary and extremely prolific voice-over artist Frank Welker has one of his early career, on-screen roles as one of Dexters' many associates.

If you're a fan of Kurt, or any live-action Disney from this period, this is guaranteed to deliver some agreeable entertainment.

Followed by "The Strongest Man in the World".

Seven out of 10.

College dean Higgins (Joe Flynn) is trying to cut the chemistry department budget. He dismisses all the science being done by the students. A lightning strike hits the lab. The next day, Dexter Riley (Kurt Russell) checks the damaged experiments and discovers an invisibility liquid. He shows his friends Richard Schuyler and Debbie Dawson. Crooked investor A.J. Arno (Cesar Romero) has bought up the college's mortgage. The Dean is clueless but the three friends suspect Arno has nefarious motives.

This is the second of the Dexter Riley movies from Disney. It is charming family fun. There is an endearing innocence about these movies. Baby-faced Kurt Russell is great. I also love the pre-CGI special effects. As a kid, I was engrossed by them. As an adult, I am enchanted by them. The story is silly but that's also part of the charm.

In this underrated sequel to the 1969 film The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, we find Dexter Riley inventing again. This time, he's working on a theory of invisibility. And yet again, Dean Higgins is in need of money. Makes you wonder what happened with all the money Medfield was awarded in the first film.

This film wasn't always readily available from the Disney library, not until they were releasing the Dexter Riley trilogy on dvd. Therefore, that made the film somewhat obscure and almost unknown. One of the downfalls of this installment is that Professor Quigley (William Schallert) wasn't involved in the production. He was replaced without explanation, but does reappear in The Strongest Man in the World. Richard Bakalyan returns but as a nephew to A.J. Arno.

However, the film is funny and the special effects were great for the time period. It's a very family friendly film.

Kurt Russell and a whole bunch of the cast from The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes got to repeat their characters in Now You See Him, Now You Don't. The biggest surprise of course was Cesar Romero who with Richard Bakalyn should have been in jail because of what happened in the last film.

But Romero apparently had a good lawyer and he's out and holding the mortgage on dear old Medfield College. Kurt and his buddies find out that Romero plans to foreclose on the college and open it up as a gambling palace with dogtrack, casino and all.

In the meantime Russell as Dexter Riley again is now conducting experiments with invisibility. Lightning strikes once again and he's got himself a liquid invisibility formula which could win a science award and solve dear old Medfield's problems.

But not if Romero gets his hands on it because he has other more nefarious plans as any crook just might.

Some nice special effects characterize Now You See Him, Now You Don't as the kids use the invisibility formula to help Dean Joe Flynn win a golf match. Golf pro Billy Casper never was up against something like this when he faced off against Hogan and Snead.

And once again absolutely no hint of what was going on in the real world coming into the the Disney created world of Medfield College.

Still the film has some good laughs in it and it shouldn't be taken all that seriously.

Just as good as its predecessor, perhaps even slightly better in moments.

All in all I narrowly prefer 'The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes', but 'Now You See Him, Now You Don't' most certainly still produces solid fun. Everything revolves around invisibility this time, the stuff that Dexter & Co. get up to is suitably entertaining.

Kurt Russell reprises the role of Dexter, again positively - no surprise he went on to become such a well known star. Cesar Romero is also good for a second film running, as Arlo. Joe Flynn gets a bigger part as Higgins this time, he's definitely better in this production.

For the majority I felt it was superior to the 1969 original, but the third act drags ever so slightly to the point it brings it back down on a similar footing. Still, this is Disney's best live-action sequel up until this point - way more enjoyable than 'Son of Flubber' or 'Savage Sam', among others.

Can they make it a hat-trick of fine films with the other sequel in 'The Strongest Man in the World'? Hope so!