HILDEGARDE

If anyone hatches the bright idea to remake “Batman” (in Hollywood it could happen) we would like to suggest an even better Joker: Richard E. Grant, South-Africa born actor whose manic manner found an outlet in everything from the romance “Jack & Sara” (20th CIFF 1996) to the irate anti-Thatcherite satire “How to Get Ahead in Advertising.” Grant turns in a grade-A villainous performance in HILDEGARDE, a charming all-ages diversion from Down Under. The title character is, in fact, a mother duck, and a major solace to three children in an Australian family struggling to maintain their home-run redecorating business after their father's death from cancer. Hildegarde was, in fact, a gift from dad, and when she lays a clutch of eggs it seems like a new beginning for the entire brood. Then into town comes Wolf (Grant), mangy-coated manager of Wolf's Wildlife Wonders, a shabby tent show with (mainly computer-screen) displays of rare animals. But Wolf and his dimwit partner Tony (sometimes called Eugene) supplement their box-office income by trapping exotic birds from the Bush and selling the feathered treasures on the international animal smuggling market. When Wolf bird-naps Hildegarde from her marsh, kids Christopher, Jeremy and Isabel takes it upon themselves to put a stop to such…fowl play.