I love this film! It is a fun, playful film that is great for a Saturday afternoon. George Burns plays a man celebrating his 81st birthday. He makes a wish to be 18 again and after a car crash with his 18 year old grandson (Schlatter), they swap bodies. Schlatter is fantastic in this film and gives a great energetic performance. His big cheesy grin throughout is definitely a reason to watch this film. Despite being mostly a fantasy film, this movie packed a lot of wit and humor to the racial stereotyping of the times (which may still be just as valid today). C Thomas Howell was able to perform the transmutation into a black man without a hitch (even if he only on rare occasions actually spoke like a black man). James Earl Jones is the "black" teacher we all dream of having, which few of us ever do.
Despite its flaws, this movie manages to get it's point across reasonably well and can be appreciated by both adults and kids. One of the biggest reasons for my liking this film is the fact that I like the way the romance subplot was handled. Rather than having the love-interest fall into the hero's lap right away (like they do in most movies, books, or stories), in this movie, the hero had to actually EARN the girl's love rather than just get it for free! In that way this movie is quite rare and I respect it for that reason. More movies should handle romance stories the way this one does since one of the biggest flaws society suffers from is the fact that very few people really have to earn anything anymore and thus do not really know the true value of something as a result.
Overall rating: 8 out of 10.
Despite its flaws, this movie manages to get it's point across reasonably well and can be appreciated by both adults and kids. One of the biggest reasons for my liking this film is the fact that I like the way the romance subplot was handled. Rather than having the love-interest fall into the hero's lap right away (like they do in most movies, books, or stories), in this movie, the hero had to actually EARN the girl's love rather than just get it for free! In that way this movie is quite rare and I respect it for that reason. More movies should handle romance stories the way this one does since one of the biggest flaws society suffers from is the fact that very few people really have to earn anything anymore and thus do not really know the true value of something as a result.
Overall rating: 8 out of 10.