OliverGbyrne I could simply start this review by saying "Do you like Rudy?" If you like Rudy's road to play one faithful football Match for Notre Dame , I have no doubt you will be equally touched by young Ralph's Journey. The film tells the story of teenager Ralph who is a bit of a waster.He his your typical 14 year old , struggling with puberty , awkward and having a hard time to fit in the Catholic environment of his school. Ralph has another issue , his mother is in hospital suffering from Cancer.Ralph his hiding the fact that he his living all on his own by having a friend forge his grandparents signatures for all school related letters. Things takes a turn to the worse when Ralph's mum falls into a coma and he his informed it will take a miracle to wake her up. Ralph who was forced into taking on running as a sport by his teachers (as a way of keeping his raging hormones in check) although he has no athletic ability believes this miracle can come in the shape of winning the Boston Marathon. There is also a couple of side stories I just don't want to spoil for you. This is a very heart warming film about a typical kid who find he his gifted through the love for his mother. Adam Butcher really shines as the titular hero , he feels like a real 14 year old and gives a very honest performance.He his a very likable lead and you will root for him from the get go. The best thing about this film is that it avoids being over- sentimental, it keeps it's feet firmly on the ground. The supporting actors are all wonderful and Jennifer Tilly gives a very different type of performance then what we are used to. The soundtrack for this film is FANTASTIC , really , I probably went and searched for every wonderful song included in this film. As the late Roger Ebert called it , this film is a real gem and the perfect film if you need something to boost your moral! I give it a 9 out of 10.

gimlet_eye An adolescent is a young adult struggling, at first fitfully, and at last urgently, to escape the chrysalis of childhood into adulthood. It is a process that is at best awkward, and at worst destructive and even self-destructive.Ralph is an adolescent of 14 who is prematurely confronted with issues that even a boy of 17 or 18 would find daunting. He is, in essence a secret orphan who undertakes to support himself (through deceit and petty crime) in the desperate hope that by retaining his autonomy that he will somehow be able to rescue his dying mother from her fate as long as he remains in control of his own. To Father Fitzpatrick, the strict and narrow-minded priestly headmaster of the Catholic parochial school Ralph attends, the boy appears to be nothing but an authority-defying rebel, who is to be tolerated and allowed to remain on the schools rolls only out of a formal, obligatory kind of charity that recognizes the anguish of losing one's last parent. The authorities, however, have no idea that Ralph is living on his own.Ralph, though young and naive, is an intelligent, intuitive boy, who not unreasonably sees his own life hanging by the thread of his mother's life, and in any case he loves her deeply. His mind and soul is thus, given his thoroughly Catholic upbringing (his adolescent chrysalis is a typical Catholic one), fertile ground for a belief in miracles.And this isn't just an inspirational movie: it is a story about the possibility and meaning of miracles, which lie at the heart of Christianity, especially in its traditional Catholic form.That might seem to limit the movie's appeal to those of us who don't believe in miracles (at least in this modern scientific age), and the generally very positive, but at the same time slightly puzzled and critical, reactions to this movie, I think reflect this dilemma. In particular, the criticisms revolve around the miraculous, and therefore categorically unrealistic, goal that Ralph adopts as his personal quest: not just running the Boston Marathon, but winning it.To put it still more starkly, it would seem that either this is a movie that speaks primarily to Catholics who yearn for a revival of the passionate beliefs that once infused their religion, or that if the movie is intended for a more general audience, that it is significantly flawed by its unrealism.However, just as it is possible for a modern educated person (not necessarily a Christian either) to salvage the fundamental meanings of the fantastic Bible stories by reading them metaphorically, so it is possible to experience this movie as an inspirational fable that speaks to all of those who seek personal transcendence. And understood in this way, "Saint Ralph" emerges as a drama about personal transcendence through love - real Christian caritas, not formal, Pharisaic charity.Ralph himself is the fountainhead of love in this story. Yet he is in every other way a typical 14 year old male adolescent, a bit more rebellious and independent than most, perhaps, but a boy just about any of us can identify with. But he discovers in the course of the burgeoning crisis in his young life that he has a vast, heretofore untapped, reservoir of overflowing love, and at the same time an unexpected capacity for faith in himself. And this love indeed works miracles of a kind that even a non-believer can believe in and appreciate.Ralph's love spreads out from himself, first to his one or two friends, then to his would be mentor and father figure, Father Hibbard, who has been in grave danger himself, under the influence of his despotic headmaster, Father Fitpatrick, of hardening into a desiccated life as a mere functionary within a system. Hibbard reluctantly, but duteously, accepts his headmaster's commandments to stifle and regulate his own intellectuality and passions, even, directed as they are to his chosen mission in life: to develop and foster the minds, characters, and spirituality of his young charges. And in accepting this discipline, no doubt formally required by his religious order, Hibbard has kept himself on track to become another Father Fitzpatrick - a petty tyrant hated and feared, presiding over a barren realm of decorum and order, whose own residue of love is dispensed in carefully measured teaspoons.However, as Ralph's overflowing love begins to transform him into a great runner, it becomes transformative also for Father Hibbard, who like Ralph begins defying his headmaster, at first in secret, and eventually openly. In the end Ralph's love, spreading out in widening ripples, conquers all.In short, Ralph can be seen to be the modern secular equivalent of a saint, although his inspirational story is told with the faintest tinge of irony.I think that this was the intention of the creators of this movie, and if their story requires somewhat of an imaginative transformation that may not be congenial to all viewers, and certainly poses some unnecessary difficulties that may reasonably be accounted flaws, I think that the movie is on the whole a considerable success. Long distance running is a classic metaphor for life, and the movie ably captures, largely through its cinematography, the triumph of faith and joy over pain that can be achieved in that sport, which I believe from my own personal experience, comes just about as close to miraculous self-transcendence as one can hope to achieve in this life.

Scott Ross I was interested in this movie because I grew up watching the Boston Marathon go through my hometown. This movie is inspiring. Ralph wants to win for a miracle to bring his mom out of a coma. Seems a little far fetched that a kid who just started running could win the Boston marathon. Hit home for me on a lot of fronts - I had a very sick mother in my youth and I grew up Catholic although I just missed out on going to Catholic school. Very enjoyable. Good family movie although there a few sexual references. I would compare this movie to Rudy which is one of my favorite movies of all time but not as good. I liked how Ralph leaned on certain people for guidance. That was very cool. The acting was spot on - very good production value

jotix100 Ralph Walker, the young man at the center of this story, gets more than his share of bad situations at a tender age. Ralph, who has lost his father, sees his own mother struck by a serious illness and watches her go into a coma. Ralph's spirit is never broken and never questions his bad luck the way some other teen would. Ralph is never given to despair, or emotional outbursts when he can't do much to help the situations he is thrown into. Ultimately, Ralph is a real winner, not only because he decides to do something about his life, but because he is an optimist at heart who will never be defeated.Michael McGowan, the Canadian creator of this enormously appealing film has gathered the right elements to make us go with him in this fantastic voyage that shows us the positive side of life. Mr. McGowan was lucky in getting Adam Kutcher to portray Ralph Walker. This young actor shows us he is a natural who under the guidance of the director, gives a tremendous performance and steals our hearts in the process."Saint Ralph" is one of the best things that have come out of Canada in recent years. Campbell Scott gives a good performance as Father Hibbert, the man who guides Ralph in the right direction. The excellent Gordon Pinsent, makes the perfect head master Father Fitzpatrick, a man who is never in touch with the young people he is supposed to lead and help shape their minds into being good citizens. Jennifer Tilly, Tamara Hope, Shauna MacDonald, and Michael Kaney, are also seen in key minor roles.The film is highly recommended because it gives the viewer a positive take on life. Michael McGowan must be congratulated in giving us a movie that will be hard to forget because it feels real from beginning to end.