I'm a big fan of magical films that touch you deeply like...E.T., The Never Ending Story, Free Willy, Matilda, The Wizard of Oz, etc...and while this film was somewhat magical, I can't categorize it with the former list. It just missed something...extra special. It did have the potential for what I am describing, as probably anyone who saw the advance trailer last year might have anticipated...a couple who yearns for a child...suddenly one magically appears, from all places...the garden, where they've planted a sort-of wish list...the premise had endless possibilities! Where it doesn't fully meet the expectation, however, is...Timothy Green didn't, in my opinion, seem to have a real purpose for being there. Perhaps it was to mend the relationship between the husband and his father? That did happen, but I don't understand why Timothy was needed for that to take place. Somehow the grandfather had a change of heart near the end of the film, but it is not clear what made him have that change of heart. To turn the heart of the grumpy old Museum curator? That happened, too, but, again, I don't see why Timothy's presence made that possible. In fact, I don't remember a part in the film where she and Timothy had an exchange that would have somehow changed her.
It was clear from the beginning that the husband and wife would make good parents for a child, a little weird and neurotic though they were, and Timothy's presence in their life didn't seem to make that any more clear, so that couldn't have been the purpose.
Perhaps it was to save the rapidly-sinking pencil factory with the invention of the new kind of pencil...which was made by the husband and wife with the encouragement of Timothy, but that side story seemed out of place and didn't ring true at all to me. A magical kid wasn't necessary for that to take place.
Oh, and the presence of the character of the mean factory foreman also didn't seem to have a purpose in the film. He didn't drive the plot in any sort of way that I could detect. The only thing that stood out for me about him is he's the same actor who played the lead in the subculture classic, "Office Space".
I enjoyed the film because Timothy was a delightful kid with a cute face and a wide-eyed innocence and because he befriended the odd-girl-out who also had a beautiful face, but a homely red birthmark on her right shoulder that was an obvious source of shame for her. There was no apparent reason for this friendship between the two, but they did construct a wonderful little "world" out of fallen leaves in the woods that was enchanting and made the mom start to like the girl, for some reason.
This film will appeal to children and it does have enough charm to not fall completely flat. I won't give away the ending, but it was sad and will make some people cry, but it also has a happy element...and was something that was obviously going to happen from the beginning.
It was clear from the beginning that the husband and wife would make good parents for a child, a little weird and neurotic though they were, and Timothy's presence in their life didn't seem to make that any more clear, so that couldn't have been the purpose.
Perhaps it was to save the rapidly-sinking pencil factory with the invention of the new kind of pencil...which was made by the husband and wife with the encouragement of Timothy, but that side story seemed out of place and didn't ring true at all to me. A magical kid wasn't necessary for that to take place.
Oh, and the presence of the character of the mean factory foreman also didn't seem to have a purpose in the film. He didn't drive the plot in any sort of way that I could detect. The only thing that stood out for me about him is he's the same actor who played the lead in the subculture classic, "Office Space".
I enjoyed the film because Timothy was a delightful kid with a cute face and a wide-eyed innocence and because he befriended the odd-girl-out who also had a beautiful face, but a homely red birthmark on her right shoulder that was an obvious source of shame for her. There was no apparent reason for this friendship between the two, but they did construct a wonderful little "world" out of fallen leaves in the woods that was enchanting and made the mom start to like the girl, for some reason.
This film will appeal to children and it does have enough charm to not fall completely flat. I won't give away the ending, but it was sad and will make some people cry, but it also has a happy element...and was something that was obviously going to happen from the beginning.