Atreyu_II
While this may not be a children's movie, it IS a movie about children and childhood. Talk about real childhood here, what the real childhood is and should be. This is from a time when childhood really was the age of innocence. Sadly the kids of our generation are totally different. Kids today seem to want to stop being kids way too soon, it's as if they wanna grow up too soon, acting and talking like teens or even adults, which just seems so wrong and inappropriate. This is a movie that can put a smile on the face of those who are able to enjoy it for what it is (without minding much about its unreal ending). At the same time, it is an important movie because it deals with abuse of children. This is a story of two really adorable and cute brothers (Bobby and Mikey) who have a tender relationship. They live a wonderful life for children, but Bobby is also cursed with the aggression he often suffers at the hands of his drunk stepfather "The King". And both often suffer at the hands of a group of bullies. That is so hard to see! Elijah Wood and Joseph Mazzello illuminate the big screen with the perfect naturalness so characteristic of children from the past, back when kids acted with the biggest naturalness of the world thanks to that innocence quality which no longer exists on today's kids. This results in wonderful performances.Tom Hanks has a minor role as adult Mikey. It's true that it is very odd the idea of Elijah Wood growing up to be Tom Hanks, but in most cases the actors chosen to portray the adult version of kids don't look similar to the kid actors who portray those kids.Overall, it's a wonderful movie, wonderfully filmed with a magical quality to it and gorgeous cinematography. A forgotten, misunderstood and underrated classic.This should definitely be on Top 250.
abbotand
Even people who dislike the film, usually because they find the ending confused, should appreciate the strong acting of Elijah Wood & Joseph Mazello who played the two young leads in this movie.Spoiler WARNING: At a literal level, the ending makes no sense. People who think the ending makes some sense at other levels are divided between those who 1) think the younger brother was killed by the step-father either the one time Mike (the older boy) was away dealing with the neighborhood gang, or flew off the wishing spot in his wagon to escape the situation through death & those 2) who think the younger brother is imaginary & his flying off in the wagon transformed into a flying machine signals his overcoming the abusive situation.I favor 2). It makes a lot of sense in terms of the way many children deal with abusive situations. It is not uncommon for an abused child to split his or her psyche & project the abused self into something else; a stuffed animal, even an imaginary friend. This way, it makes a lot more sense that it is always the younger boy who is abused & never Mike. In reality, it is unlikely for one of two brothers to get all the abuse, although that does happen. Also, it is Bobby, the younger brother who is also the encouraging one, the one who insists that they can overcome the situation. Also, the death of a real-life sibling through abuse would have been too shattering for an adult with this in his history to transform into as upbeat a fantasy ending as this.
Andrew
This movie was horrible. If it had never been made the world would be a better place. Come on, a flying wagon? What were they thinking? This was a sub-par movie with a horrible hook, and I would like a written apology from the studio that produced this, along with some cookies to help repay me for the time I wasted on this crap fest that I can never get back. If you payed to see this movie, I am truly sorry because I watched it on TV on a Sunday afternoon when I had nothing better to do and it pretty much ruined my whole week. A flying freaking WAGON?!?! And that's supposed to make up for having a horrible mother who cares more about her own screwed up needs than her children? No wonder they don't have enough sense to tell someone he is beating them, their mother teaches them nothing but that what she wants comes before everything else. Absolutely horrible.
zootsuit98
In reply to "State of Confusion" The dogs injuries do seem to disappear rather abruptly, but that may have only been an error in continuity. But, as for the kids trying to build a plane out of junk, it's just a simple matter of imagination. These are two very young kids who have extremely active imaginations and they must rely on those imaginations to keep themselves from being exposed to the reality of the level of abuse that goes on in their home from their stepfather. As for the stepfather, it's very interesting that the director chose to no show his face. That makes him seem more monstrous. If you show his face, then that character becomes a person and not just this "monster" who is terrorizing the childhood of these two innocent children. By showing only the concequences of his abuse and not focusing scenes on the abuse itself, the children then become the main focus of the movie. This film has no loose ends, but runs just as a father's tale to his children would. It has embelleshments. This is a fine American classic.
AD
