? Katherine Paterson’s Newbery Medal-winning novel, published in 1977, is the basis for this story of pre-teen misfits (AnnaSophia Robb and Josh Hutcherson), who become the king and queen of a magical world of imagination. Paterson’s son David, an inspiration for one of the main characters, is one of the two credited screenwriters.
+ The preview for this movie makes it appear to be a pure fantasy movie in the manner of The Chronicles of Narnia. While the imaginary world is explicitly inspired by the C. S. Lewis classic, the story is less about escapism than the need to escape. It’s mostly set in the real world, where suburban middle-schoolers look down on a poor farm kid and a brainy tomboy type. These two main characters are beautifully realized, the sort of precocious kids that nonetheless manage not to seem merely like the miniature adults that you too often see in lesser films. As in last year’s Monster House, this is a story that looks at the middle period of childhood as a time when kids first grapple in a serious way with such issues as religion, loss, jealousy, and guilt. The casting is solid, and Robb (of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Because of Winn-Dixie) particularly stands out as the next-door neighbor who’s the free-spirited daughter of writers who don’t own a TV.
- The fantasy sequences are nice, but perhaps too few.
= ***1/2 A wonderful movie that’s great for parents to watch with children (but not ones much younger than the two main characters, given the subject), or even if they’re not around.
IMDB link
reviewed 2/23/07
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