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Byline: Rob Lowman Entertainment Editor

The filmmakers behind ``King Arthur'' - director Antoine Fuqua and producer Jerry Bruckheimer - have taken the magic out of the legend.

Their version is aimed at what they maintain is a truer story of the fabled king who helped unite Britain and was known for his round table - a place where he and his knights would meet on equal footing. There is indeed a round table in the new ``King Arthur,'' but a lot of things are changed. Arthur (Clive Owen) is an officer for the Roman empire whose hold on the British isle is reaching an end. Of mixed parentage - half Roman, half British - Arthur holds a shaky allegiance to Rome, which by that time is very much run by the Church.

His group of knights - Lancelot (Ioan Gruffudd), Gawain (Joel Edgerton) and Galahad (Hugh Dancy) - are from the Black Sea area and were pressed into service as youths to serve the empire. Their and Arthur's terms of service are nearly up when the movie begins. As for those other two legends - Guinevere (Keira Knightley) and Merlin (Stephen Dillane) - they are Woads, an indigenous people who have been warring against the Romans for centuries.

Adding to the chaos of the retreating Romans and the insurgency of the Woads are the Saxons, an invading Germanic tribe led by Cerdic (Stellan Skarsgard, who seems to enjoy being the heavy) headed south toward Hadrian's Wall - a fortification that cuts Britain in half.

For the most part, Fuqua keeps the action rolling - with more of a nod to ``Gladiator,'' including a loud Hans Zimmer score, than to any version of the legend by Thomas Malory or T.H. White. An uncut version on DVD brings some texture to the story, but it also adds gore, much of which had been minimized in the theatrical version. Also missing from the legend is the eternal triangle - Lancelot casts longing glances toward Guinevere, but he's mostly content to let off steam in battle, as is she. Armed and painted up in blue like a warrior queen (Britain, indeed, had one named Boudica), Knightley throws herself into the role.

``King Arthur'' is competently made and does have some thought behind it, particularly ideas involving freedom and equality - notions that would give rise to a more democratic system in Britain and eventually here. As filmmaking, though, it still could have used a bit of magic.

Jonathan Demme's ``Manchurian Candidate'' manages to update John Frankenheimer's 1962 original in a fun, edgily paranoid way. Instead of a conspiracy to take over the country between Communist governments and right-wing American politicos, the conspiracy is between a giant corporation and an American right-wing politician - Sen. Eleanor Shaw (Meryl Streep).

Another change is that in the original, the villain (Angela Lansbury) had to manipulate her addled senator husband. Now we have powerful female senators, and many people thought Streep was channeling a certain one from New York State, but that is underestimating her performance.

In Demme's version, taking over the Maj. Ben Marco role played by Frank Sinatra in the original is Denzel Washington, who turns in one of his best performances as a veteran of the first Iraqi war who is having nightmares and believes he's delusional. The object of those nightmares is Raymond Shaw (Liev Schreiber), the sergeant of his squad who was awarded the Medal of Honor for saving the platoon. Shaw, now a congressman, chafes under the influence of his mother, who wants him on her party's ticket as the nominee for vice president.

Amid the conspiracy, Demme throws in numerous little fun references to today's political landscape that add to the charged atmosphere of this smart film and give it some real relevance.

Ah, the living dead ... there are times you look around and wonder. The British zombie comedy ``Shaun of the Dead'' plays off that notion when Shaun (co-writer Simon Pegg) heads off to the local pub for sanctuary as the undead storm through London. Why he believes it's sanctuary pretty much speaks volumes about the unambitious Shaun. While the zombies are really dead, Shaun and his buddy Ed (Nick Frost) seem dead from the neck up - clueless about what's really going on as are many of the people they meet along the way. ``Shaun of the Dead'' is a clever little satire, even if its slacker targets are as easy to hit as one of those zombies.

Earlier this year, singer-actress Andrea Marcovicci performed an evening of Cole Porter tunes in which she talked about a picture taken of Porter - laughing, his head thrown back - while on the set of ``Night and Day,'' a 1946 film biography of his life starring Cary Grant. He's laughing, says Marcovicci, because almost none of the film is true.

It's doubtful that Porter would be laughing much at the new film version of his life, ``De-Lovely,'' starring Kevin Kline. True, it does have more of the facts correct - including acknowledging Porter's homosexuality - but not all of them. That Kline seems too old to play Porter during much of the movie is the least of the film's problems.

More significant is that the movie doesn't have much spark. It's told in the rather awkward method of Porter being taken by his friend Gabe (the angel Gabriel?) to see a musical about his life. It begins on a bare stage, but it suddenly springs into a full-blown film musical, occasionally dropping back in on Gabe and Cole discussing his life.

The only life in ``De-Lovely'' is the music - and even that is marred by some underwhelming performances by contemporary musicians. Elvis Costello, Robbie Williams and Diana Krall acquit themselves well enough, but you wonder why Alanis Morissette and, in particular, Sheryl Crow were chosen. Crow's ``Begin the Beguine'' is painful.

A scene in which Porter explains how one of his songs should be sung is informative, and for a moment you almost remember what made his music so compelling. Apparently, no one had that conversation with Crow.

``King Arthur - Unrated Widescreen Director's Cut'' (Buena Vista; $29.98) includes commentary by director Antoine Fuqua, 15 minutes of added footage, alternate ending with commentary and featurettes.

``The Manchurian Candidate'' (Paramount; $29.95).

``Shaun of the Dead'' (Universal; $29.98).

``De-Lovely'' (MGG; $26.98) includes commentary by Winkler and Kline, commentary by Winkler and writer Jay Cocks, featurettes, deleted scenes and an alternate ending.

'Napoleon Dynamite,' 'Thunderbirds,' 'Danny Deckchair,' 'Two Brothers,' 'Young Black Stallion,' 'Surviving Christmas'

There are some - even critics - who found ``Napoleon Dynamite,'' the first film from 24-year-old filmmaker Jared Hess, charming and funny. It's not entirely bereft of either, but this quirky concoction about a nerdy high-school student in Idaho isn't nearly as polished or interesting as something like Wes Anderson's ``Bottle Rocket,'' which he made at 25.

Napoleon, his open-mouthed dweebiness played to near-perfection by Jon Heder, may provoke laughter - especially from those closer to high-school age, but some of us want to drop-kick the guy. Hess aims his humor at the small-town oddness of his Idaho home. But while the slow-moving rhythms of the people capture some of that, too much of the film seems odd for oddness' sake. So when Hess opts for a feel-good, improbable ending, you just take it in stride, even though it's most likely Hess has just run out of ideas.

As a first-time filmmaker, Hess has some talents - Heder's performance alone shows he knows something about casting - but ``Napoleon Dynamite'' is a trifle.

``Thunderbirds'' tries to bring to life the '60s British TV sci-fi puppet series. But despite the updated gadgetry and the addition of live actors, it's still pretty wooden. Directed by ``Star Trek's'' Jonathan Frakes, ``Thunderbirds'' is - if nothing else - colorful. Every once in a while, a dollop of wit is sprinkled in, but in the end it's all fairly silly stuff - even for kids, I suspect.

``Danny Deckchair,'' starring Rhys Ifans as an Australian truck driver named Danny, is a somewhat amusing flight of fancy. Upset by his girlfriend's amorous intentions toward another man, he blows up some helium balloons, attaches a deck chair and floats off. When he disappears after causing a few UFO sightings, it sparks a media frenzy. Eventually, this piece of fluff comes down to Earth, but ``Danny Deckchair'' has a bit of charm.

``Two Brothers'' is a family-friendly movie about two tiger cubs who, despite expectations to the contrary, behave in a more civilized manner than most of the humans in the film. Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, who has done this sort of thing before with his 1988 film, ``The Bear,'' ``Two Brothers'' is always at its best and liveliest when it's following the tigers. The humans are all rather boring and mostly morally bankrupt. The film, which has a gentle vision of nature, was rated PG, so it's fairly suitable for most children even if not entirely accurate.

``Young Black Stallion'' was originally an IMAX film and was based on a book that was a prequel to the Walter Farley novel that Carroll Ballard turned into a lovely 1979 film. Even with more footage added to the 45-minute IMAX version, ``Young Black Stallion'' is still more beauty than drama with spectacular scenery and little plot - but it's family-friendly.

Less than two months after coming out in theaters, the uninspired Ben Affleck comedy ``Surviving Christmas'' is out on disc. That should be warning enough.

``Napoleon Dynamite'' (Fox; $29.98) includes commentary by Hess, producer Jeremy Coon and Heder, a featurette and deleted scenes.

``Two Brothers'' (Universal; $29.98) includes commentary by Annaud and stuff about tigers.

``Thunderbirds'' (Universal; $29.98) includes commentary by Frakes and featurettes.

``Danny Deckchair'' (Fox; $26.98).

``Young Black Stallion'' (Buena Vista; $29.99) includes a number of featurettes.

``Surviving Christmas (DreamWorks; $29.99).

'The 4400,' 'The Simpsons,' 'Star Trek Voyager'

The USA network miniseries ``The 4400'' proved to be above-average sci-fi fare. The premise is a group of missing people (4,400 to be exact) have been returned to Earth by aliens. The abductees had been taken over a period of some 70 years, so their return poses a number of social as well as legal problems. Why they were taken is unknown, but some of them begin to exhibit strange powers, alarming authorities who had to allow them back into the populace. Though there are special effects, the series' strength is keeping the stories small and interesting while the mystery builds.

Every season of ``The Simpsons'' has some gems. Season five is no exception - ``Cape Feare,'' with the voice of Kelsey Grammer; Michelle Pfeiffer in ``The Last Temptation of Homer''; and Albert Brooks in ``Bart's Inner Child'' are a few. Other guest voices that season were those of George Harrison, the Ramones, Robert Goulet, Kathleen Turner and James Woods. Thankfully, the Simpson family never grows up or old.

By the seventh and final season, ``Star Trek Voyager'' had lost some thrust (not that it had a lot to begin with). Like all the ``Trek'' series, though, there were some above-average episodes among the stories of the spacecraft captained by Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) on its long journey home.

``The 4400 - The Complete First Season'' (Paramount; $26.99) on two discs.

``The Simpsons - The Complete Fifth Season'' (Fox; $49.98) includes commentary on all 22 episodes with creator Matt Groening on many of them, deleted scenes and a featurette on the 100th episode, on four discs.

``Star Trek Voyager - The Complete Seventh Season'' (Paramount; $129.99) includes all 26 episodes and featurettes, on seven discs.

Rob Lowman, [phone]

robert.lowman(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1) no caption (KEIRA KNIGHTLY and CLIVE OWEN in ``King Arthur'')

(2) MAHERSHALA KARIN-ALI in ``The 4400''

(3) JON HEDER in ``Napoleon Dynamite''