Princess Caraboo

If you dismiss Princess Caraboo on the basis of its kiddie packaging, you'll never know that it actually conjures up the dark side of fairy tales. And that's too bad, because the story -- of a homeless young woman (Phoebe Cates) who is either a foreign princess or a common strumpet subject to harsh vagrancy laws in 1817 England -- is as timely a parable about power and poverty as 1995 America could ask for. Of course, you'd also miss its execrable acting: Kevin Kline and John Lithgow hyperventilating, Stephen Rea sleepwalking, and Cates, who should be seen and not heard. Oh, well. You can't have everything. C+