This is sort of like one of those classic
Disney films of the '30s and '40s, where
magical fairies dance about in glittering
landscapes, eating the flesh of their
still-living victims. You know, like Snow
White and The Seven Horrible, Cannibalistic
Dwarves, or Kill, Bambi, Kill!
Anthony Hopkins plays Hannibal, an irascible
scamp who loves classical music, fine art and
evil. Gary Oldman plays his rival, the cute
little horribly deformed man who wants only
to gambol about and feed Hannibal to the
three little pigs. Well, more like two dozen
flesh-eating hogs. Julianne Moore plays
Clarice Starling, who's kind of like the Good
Woodsman who comes to help out when Red
Riding Hood is captured by the evil wolf who
wants to force her to eat her own brains. Or
it could be that the Disney films they showed
me in the vicious torture gardens where I was
raised were slightly different than those
released to the world at large. Anyway,
Hannibal shares with those films a glacially
slow pace that is only slightly enlivened by
the adorable scenes of cute, fluffy, hugable
murders and mutilations.