Z/Web

Not bad at all. A bit convoluted and odd, and the mystery lasts a bit longer than it should, and though the resolution makes sense, it’s a bit mundane. It’s hard to reveal much without spoiling things, but the story’s about a brother and sister who find some “toys” on a beach and these toys basically give them superpowers. The boy’s suddenly smarter, the girl can float, etc. There’s a lot of odd things happening and the viewer has no idea what’s going on, but apparently the toys are there for a reason: the children need to use them to save the earth. Of course all the adults have no idea what’s going on and don’t believe the kids anyway, so it’s all up to the children. While the film does a great job setting atmosphere with mere odd sounds and strange lights and such, it leaves things a bit murky for the audience: it’s sometimes difficult to tell exactly what’s happening. For instance, at times I wasn’t sure if the sounds were sounds the characters were hearing or merely a spooky soundtrack for the film. But overall the film’s really good. Kids would definitely enjoy it (there were a lot at the theatre were I went and they seemed entertained) but adults will find it enjoyable as well (fortunately, the adult characters in the film are not idiots, but realistically draw parents and teachers).

Author: Wilson Rawls (novel)

Terrific film! My favorite book of all time is Rawls’ Where the Red Fern Grows and the movie version was horribly butchered — it changed the ending which is the book’s title and entire premise — so I was nervous about this one. Fortunately, it’s remarkably faithful to the source material, acted with charm and dignity, and is just a beautiful movie about a boy becoming a man one summer. Wonderful, suitable for the whole family. I actually liked it better than the book!