HAIRSPRAY@ (PG) (All major cinemas) IN THE wake of The Producers, here is another cult movie that was turned into a hit stage musical and now returns to the big screen in updated format. Hairspray remains the most accessible and likeable work produced by renowned but inconsistent movie maverick John Waters. His early career was all about pushing back the boundaries of what was considered good and bad taste but in 1988, he came as close as he ever has to mainstream with the original Hairspray which had an eclectic cast that included drag artist Divine, Blondie diva Debbie Harry and a young, fat Ricki Lake. The screen musical version of The Producers was, quite frankly, dire and there was every reason to expect a similar fate befalling Hairspray particularly with director Adam Shankman at the helm – a back catalogue that includes The Wedding Planner and Cheaper By The Dozen 2 doesn’t exactly inspire. But against the odds, he has been getting pretty good reviews for this kitsch look at early 60s teen culture in America which has, as the basis for its story, an obsession among young people with a TV show that has some Pop Idol or X Factor echoes. The Corny Collins Show is a dance party TV hit that allows ‘ordinary’ teenagers the chance to strut their stuff on camera. Needless to say, some of the teens become minor celebrities themselves and are invited to join ‘the Council’. Star attraction is spoiled brat Amber Von Tussle (Brittany Snow) whose bitchy Mom Velma (Michelle Pfeiffer) is determined to see her daughter crowned Miss Teenage Hairspray for the fourth year running. More by luck than judgment, overweight but good-hearted girl Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky) ends up on the show and is invited to join the Council. It is her exuberant and skilful dancing that causes a sensation and threatens Amber’s supremacy. As this story unfolds, it develops through the use of some genuinely enjoyable and brilliantly staged musical numbers that set this version well apart from Waters’ original. In fact, the only apparent misfire is the gimmicky casting of John Travolta in drag as Tracy’s elephantine mother. STAR RATING: *** FIREHOUSE DOG (PG) (All major cinemas) A LITERALLY shaggy dog story which is perfect fodder for undemanding junior school audiences as the long summer holidays get under way. The canine hero is Rexxx (yes, that’s with three Xs) who is the Lassie or Benji of his day – a pampered Hollywood superstar. A situation is contrived to separate Rexxx from anyone who knows him and he ends up wandering the streets like any old stray until he ends up at an inner-city fire station run by Bruce Greenwood who gives his estranged son (Josh Hutcherson from Bridge to Terabithia) the task of trying to find the dog’s true owner. Eventually, though, Rexxx proves his worth as an heroic rescue dog and starts to bond with Dad and son and draw them back together at the same time. STAR RATING: ** | 
