Good-Natured Fun From ‘Ski Patrol’

“Ski Patrol” (citywide) is a kind of “Police Academy” set down in a ski resort, which is not as unlikely as it sounds since it has the same producing team as the long-running series. It’s a swift, shrewdly devised youth comedy, a reliable blend of dazzling stunts on the slopes, including mind-boggling somersaults on skis and cornball humor. Clearly, debuting director Richard Correll and debuting writers Steven Long Mitchell, Craig W. Van Sickle and Wink Roberts know what’s expected of them.

Not surprisingly, the members of the film’s Ski Patrol, employed at a Utah ski resort, are much like the Police Academy line-up. Roger Rose has the Steve Guttenberg lead as the amiable Jerry, enamored of the pretty niece (Yvette Nipar) of the kindly operator (Ray Walston) of Snowy Peaks Lodge. The other patrollers include T. K. Carter, a terrific singer/dancer/impressionist; Paul Feig, who plays a nerd until he hits the dance floor, and Sean Gregory Sullivan as a zany ventriloquist. The patrol’s boss is the apoplectic, diminutive Leslie Jordan.

As it happens, Walston’s license is up for renewal, which means that nasty developer Martin Mull sees a chance to move in and replace Snowy Peaks with glittery Vegas-type skyscrapers and casinos. Mull is backed up by a trio of sneering Ivy League types out to make trouble for Rose and his friends. Substantial contributors to the film’s effectiveness are stunt coordinators Lane Parrish and Tony Jefferson and their large team and nimble cinematographer John Stephens.

Energetic and good-natured, “Ski Patrol” (MPAA-rated PG but virtually as innocuous as a G) is definitely not for adults of sophisticated tastes--i.e., it quickly bores--but it’s a real treat for grade-school youngsters.