As Usual With Angels, ‘Michael’ Draws Believers and Cynics

You can divide the kid audience for “Michael” into two camps: Preteens who think slovenly angels slouching across the country are lovable, and teens who feel they’re too sappy to be endured.

“He was really cute, the way he laughed and helped all the people fall in love,” said Cynthia Hendrix, 10. “He was funny and nice.”

The Brea girl obviously thought John Travolta’s chubby, beer-swilling angel was a groovy concoction, full of sweetness and light and booze. But talk to older youngsters, and Travolta and the movie come across as a non-groovy conceit.

“It was pretty dumb [because] nobody would believe that guy could be an angel,” said Tim Halpern, 15, from Orange. “It was stupid and boring most of the time.”

Tim understood that “Michael,” which has a bit of sex but nothing most parents should worry about, is a feel-good seasonal entertainment meant to tickle the heart and not necessarily the brain. Still, he found the film manipulative. “I kept feeling they wanted me to cry or something,” he said, frowning.

His pal, Everly Reese, also 15 and from Garden Grove, agreed. He said he was disappointed by Travolta, an actor he usually admires (Everly loved him in “Pulp Fiction,” which he said he saw on video), because of the forced sentimentality.

He prefers Travolta dressed in black and acting cool. “There was only one good [scene], when he got in a fight” in a roadside bar after attracting every pretty woman in the joint, Everly said.

When not flirting, drinking or brawling, Michael does all sorts of heavenly things. He shames bad people into place, brings a dog back to life, conjures romantic miracles and emits the scent of freshly baked cookies.

All dopey stuff to Tim and Everly, but pure inspiration to Cynthia and others like her. “I was crying when he [saved] the little dog,” Cynthia whispered.

That was also a great moment for Betsy Hernandez, 11, of Fountain Valley. She said she was moved by Michael’s sincerity and how everyone he came across seemed to be affected by his goodness. Betsy also thought it was funny how Travolta didn’t look like a typical angel.

“He was such a pig!” she said with a giggle. “He had beer all over his face, [and] his wings didn’t even look that nice.”

Her friend Tracy Fitzgerald, 9 and also from Fountain Valley, enjoyed “Michael” too but was saddened when the angel is called back to heaven at the end.

“That was bad,” she said, then brightened. “But he got those two [Andie MacDowell as the singer and William Hurt as the reporter] to be in love, so he did what he was supposed to. . . . That was good.”