Cached from the Los Angeles Times:
http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-librarian6-2008dec06,0,3977936.story
TELEVISION PREVIEW
For the 8 PM Sunday, Dec. 7, 2008, premiere on TNT of
'The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice'
Dracula, Judas and Noah Wyle combine for
the type of high-end
family entertainment typical of the franchise.
By MARY McNAMARA
Television Critic
December 6, 2008
There's a vampire theme in “The Librarian: Curse of
the Judas Chalice,” which in these "Twilight"/"True Blood" days
might feel like, um, overkill, but try not to let it bother you.
For one thing, like its predecessors “Quest for the Spear”
and “Return to King
Solomon’s Mines,”
this third "Librarian" film is an old-fashioned family flick with an
emphasis on humor, adventure and chaste romance over disturbing sexual
metaphor.
It stars, once again, the doe-eyed, PG-appealing Noah
Wyle as Flynn Carsen, a callow brainiac pried out of his 15-year
college plan to work for the mysterious Metropolitan Library, where,
under the watchful eyes of the head librarian (Bob Newhart), many
treasures of yore are kept safe. There's Pandora's box and Excalibur,
the Ark of the Covenant (apparently whatever Indiana Jones found was a
fake) and a real live unicorn. Flynn's job is to procure more of the
same, usually a half a step ahead of some dastardly band with nefarious
plans.
"Curse of the Judas Chalice" opens in Bucharest (and
really, all you have to do is flash "Bucharest" across the screen to
know something at least semi-wicked this way comes), where the frail
but feisty Professor Lazlo (Bruce Davison) is finishing up a lecture on
Romanian history, after which he ruefully acknowledges that all anyone
cares about is Vlad
the Impaler,
a.k.a. Dracula. Minutes later, Lazlo is kidnapped by Russians searching
for the cup made from the 30 coins paid to Judas for his betrayal of
Jesus. They hope to use it to reanimate, you guessed it, Dracula.
Meanwhile,
our man Flynn has problems of his own. He's bidding on a Ming vase that
has its own little secret, but he's also trying to placate his
girlfriend, who's getting sick of him disappearing for no good reason
(his adventures are, of course, secret).
He gets the vase but
loses the girl and finds himself reading the riot act to the head
librarian and his curmudgeonly head of personnel (Jane Curtin).
So
instead of accepting the assignment to find Lazlo, he goes on vacation.
A dream of a beautiful woman takes him to New Orleans, where he not
only finds her, Day One, but he is also instantly drawn into the whole
Judas chalice situation. Soon he's racing around colorful New Orleans
with a canny local sidekick and the mysterious Simone (Stana Katic),
trying to stop a bunch of guys who are probably all named Boris from
bringing Dracula back to life.
See, when you say it out loud, it
sounds silly. But it's very fun to watch, and if the theory that Judas
Iscariot was the world's first vampire might not stand up, well, it's
as nifty a plot twist as any. It helps that Katic is as good as she is,
but what's great about "Curse of the Judas Chalice" and the Librarian
films in general is that they are the rarest of breeds -- high-end
family entertainment. (Writer Marco Schnabel and director Jonathan
Frakes again did the honors.)
Wyle is funny and charming
and dispenses just enough fascinating arcane knowledge to keep things
semi-educational, the special effects are great, Newhart and Curtin are
always great to see, the ubiquitous Davison ("Knight Rider") is
obviously having a blast as Lazlo, and really, who doesn't like a good
vampire story?
mary.mcnamara @latimes.com
Copyright 2008 Los Angeles Times