November 29, 1997 -- The movie "Flubber" is nothing like the substance. The substance is bright and bouncy, full of energy. The movie just sits there like a lump. It has no energy.

The remake of the "Absent Minded Professor" lacks the charm and innocence of the 1961 film starring Fred MacMurray. The special effects are very good in this film, but they were good in the original, too.

Robin Williams stars as Phillip Brainard, the college professor who invents flubber, an energetic rubbery compound that defies gravity and gains energy when bounced. Brainard becomes so engrossed with his experiments that he leaves his fiancée, Sara Jean Reynolds (Marcia Gay Harden "Spitfire Grill") at the alter, for the third time.

In an effort to win her back, Brainard sets off to impress her with the many capabilities of flubber, including its ability to enhance the jumping ability of the school's basketball players. In his way is the evil Wilson Croft (Christopher McDonald of "Happy Gilmore" and "Quiz Show").

Ordinarily, Robin Williams can rescue a movie like this almost single-handed. The problem is, this isn't a normal Robin Williams character. Brainard is meek and quiet. He doesn't have that high energy level that Williams needs to really strut his stuff. The laughs in this film are few and far between. Many of the jokes have to do with banging bad guys on the head with various objects, sort of a poor imitation of "Home Alone."

These kinds of jokes are probably O.K. for kids, but adults need a little more. Another problem with the story is a new character, added since the original. It is a flying robot named Weebo. Weebo can fly silently through the air in any direction, with no visible means of propulsion. It can also speak with a human voice, display videos, transmit holograms, and act as a computer. The problem with Weebo is that it upstages the invention of flubber.

The big thing about flubber is its ability to overcome gravity. Brainard builds a flying car around flubber. Yet here, at the beginning of the movie is this flying robot. He's already beaten gravity with an invention worth trillions of dollars. He doesn't need flubber at all. Not only that, but the device is years ahead of current computer technology. Yet it is tossed into the story as if it is no big deal. This film rates a D for adults, maybe a C for kids.

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