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Directed by: Robert Shaye Starring: Chris O'Neil, Rhiannon Leigh Wryn, Rainn Wilson This is a pretty fun little movie aimed at kids. To be completely honest, I only saw it because Dwight Schrute from the Office (Rainn Wilson) is in it. The movie sort of sloppily spins some elements of Eastern Mysticism, physics, and a vague sense of Eco-awareness into a tale about a present-day brother and sister who are chosen by the Scientists of a far-off, dark future to save civilization via an technologically advanced rabbit doll. Sound ridiculous? It is. But apart from the fact that the main character (Chris O'Neil) exhibits some of the worst child acting I've ever seen, the futuristic facets of the plotline are actually somewhat believable, particularly when compared to the modern day portions. Michael Clarke Duncan's role, as a regional Homeland Security Director, is particularly poor in concept and execution, and completely unbelievable. Bearing in mind, however, that the film is aimed at children, things like this are easily overlooked. 2.5 out of 5.5 RATING: 2.5 PROS: Whimsical, Fun, Nice effects CONS: Poorly acted, Unrealistic during parts that should be realistic ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://imdb.com/title/tt0768212/
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Apr 13, 2007 15:47
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This is a great movie to watch if you want something that is cute, well-made, but just silly enough that you can crack jokes the entire time. I give it 3.5/5
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Apr 14, 2007 05:36
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This is actually based on an award-winning science fiction short story from the 1940s, although significant plot elements were changed from the short story. In both the movie and short story, some children find a little package from the future containing some very strange "toys" - toys which basically rewire your brain as you play with them. The younger you are (and the more plastic your brain), the greater the effect the toys will have on you. The short story is far more sinister and strange, with the children becoming very alien during the course of their development. In the movie, they become more intelligent but still fairly naive. There is also a strange Twelve Monkeys-like "save the future" theme in the movie, which is patently ridiculous when you consider that, even before this movie was made, several humans had already been almost fully sequenced by the Human Genome Project, and it is highly unlikely that we would lose that information in the future (in fact, an intel logo on a piece of future technology shows that our technology sector is still around, and has mated the cybernetic and biological in ways that are beyond our current comprehension). But then again, this movie's plot is no more ridiculous than many other Hollywood sci-fi movies, and it's aimed more at kids than adults, so I guess allowances must be made. The previous reviewers are correct, in that the little child actors are almost unbearably annoying. They alone almost ruined the movie for me. The school teacher and his hippie girlfriend with their new-age crap also annoyed me as the movie progressed, and the idiotic resolution with the military man (Michael Clarke Duncan, the big black guy from The Green Mile) arriving in a helicopter to arrest the kids, giving up when they send the toys back into the future, and then saying "Is there anything I can do for you guys?" and then walking off into the night, was just laughably bad. Michael Clarke Duncan was horribly miscast in this movie. Something about his strange, folksy speech patterns just did not work for a military man (or whatever he was). This movie might be enjoyable for kids ages about 8-14, but anyone past that age will be spending too much time trying to suspend disbelief and ignore the terrible acting to really enjoy it too much. 2/5
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Aug 25, 2008 23:40
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