IN SHORT (1992)

VIDEO WALKING ON AIR (Public Media Video, 800-262-8600, $29.95, 58 minutes, ages 5 and up) Danny Pearson is like many 12-year-old boys: He's interested in magic, computers, and basketball. The difference is Danny was born paralyzed from the waist down and spends his days in a wheelchair. The transformation he undergoes to overcome his disability is the subject of this superb WonderWorks production, based on an idea by science fiction writer Ray Bradbury. Lynn Redgrave plays Mrs. Hepp, Danny's eccentric but inspiring science teacher, with just the right degree of zaniness and enthusiasm. When she asks Danny (Jordan Marder) to define gravity, he replies somberly, ''Gravity is my enemy.'' But soon he realizes that his handicap would be neutralized by the weightlessness of space. Thus he decides to do something no other disabled person has ever done: walk in space. His parents adamantly oppose the idea, as do the government officials in charge of the astronaut-training program. Danny, however, is undeterred and devises and executes a headline-grabbing plan to change their minds. Marder, who is not disabled, convincingly conveys all the emotions of a boy frustrated by his physical limitations. James Treuer and Katheryn Trainor are equally compelling as Danny's best friends, Jason and Emily. Their performances are complemented by David Frank's affecting score, which captures the unfolding drama of Danny's quest and the majesty of space. Parents certainly can let their kids watch this uplifting film alone but why let them have all the fun? A -Jeff Unger

TELEVISION WE ALL HAVE TALES: JACK AND THE BEANSTALK (Showtime, June 4, 7:30-8 p.m., ages 4 to 8) Eric Metaxas has written a garrulously funny adaptation of the old story about Jack, his poor mother, their dry cow, the magic beans, and the giant-or the ogre, as the malevolent, strapping fellow is called here. Jack and the Beanstalk is narrated by Michael Palin (Monty Python, A Fish Called Wanda), with illustrations by Edward Sorel. Palin pulls off the neat trick of making it seem as if he's the first person who has ever told this story-and that he's making it up as he goes along.

Jack climbs the beanstalk and finds his way into the home of an ogre who holds captive a goose that lays golden eggs. Well, this ogre is also married. The wife hates her husband, and she tries to help Jack hide from the ogre. Thus, after this meanie yells the standard warning, ''Fee, fi, fo, fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman!,'' Palin reverts to the screeching, old-harpy voice he used to employ when dressed in drag during his Monty Python days. ''Nonsense, dearie,'' Palin-as-wife natters, ''unless of course it's the scraps of that English boy you had for yesterday's dinner.'' Jack and the Beanstalk does without animation; instead, the camera pans across Sorel's drawings. Grown-ups familiar with the artist's advertising work or his regular cartoon in The Nation will recognize his marvelously intricate yet rough-edged style. Decorated with pretty folk music strummed on electric guitar by the Eurythmics' Dave Stewart, Jack and the Beanstalk is a video fairy tale that's just about perfect. A -Ken Tucker

MOVIE WILD HEARTS CAN'T BE BROKEN (Walt Disney Pictures, G, ages 7 and up) ''If you want something bad enough, anything's possible,'' says the plucky Sonora Webster (Gabrielle Anwar) in this inspiring, based-on-fact Depression-era story about a girl who runs away from home to join a carnival act. Determined to become a ''diving-horse girl''-someone who straddles a horse that leaps from a 40-foot platform into a pool-she tracks down master showman Doc Carver (a leathery Cliff Robertson) and to his annoyance sticks around. She's too young to be a glamorous show girl, but Doc lets her care for the horses and shovel manure. ''Why, manure's my speciality!'' Sonora says brightly. ''I can believe that,'' says a rueful Doc. Sonora's persistence impresses Doc and his obdurate son, Al (Michael Schoeffling). When Doc's regular diving girl is injured, Sonora gets her big break. Though Robertson plays the curmudgeonly Doc with a dour kindness that makes him sympathetic, there's no getting around the distraction of his truly terrible wig and makeup.

There's a splashy suspensefulness inherent in Sonora's dives (though production notes mention that the horses really jumped from only about 10 feet), especially when one of the dives results in her having to learn to live with a significant handicap. Equally powerful is the tension between Doc and his son as they resolve their strained relationship and in the broken, then sweetly restored, romance between Sonora and Al. It's heartening to see a movie with a spirited heroine who relies on her own resources to triumph over difficulty. The message that girls and women can be adventurous and boys and men can be supportive celebrates both sexes. That's really just horse sense, but it's a rare kids' movie that dares to convey it. A- -Valerie Monroe

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