Kazaam

If basketball star Shaquille O'Neal had three wishes at the premiere of Kazaam, they'd probably go something like this: "please get me out of that ridiculous costume," "please let me have a new co-star," and "please, pretty please disguise me as someone else." Well-meaning but annoying to the core, Kazaam follows a smart-ass brat (Francis Capra) who releases a 3,000 year-old-genie (Shaq) from a boom box and gets three wishes. But even a genie can't get his mom and dad together. Director Paul Michael Glaser will probably go down in history as the man who got paid for making Shaq look like an idiot; Shaq will go down in history as a basketball player--not an actor; and Capra, with his overdone performance, won't go down in history at all. Sappy drivel that even the kids won't love, Kazaam can stay in the box. (L. Russo) [Blu-ray/DVD Review—Oct. 16, 2018—Kino Lorber, 93 min., PG, DVD: $11.95, Blu-ray: $19.95—Making its latest appearance on DVD and debut on Blu-ray, 1996’s Kazaam features a decent transfer and a DTS-HD 5.1 soundtrack, but no extras. Bottom line: not recommended a decade-plus ago, not recommended now.]