The Odd Life of Timothy Green Movie Review

While checking for showtimes of The Amazing Spider-Man I noticed another movie was in theaters that I hadn’t heard of before, The Odd Life of Timothy Green (2012). I’m not sure how I missed hearing about it; Disney generally spares no expense on letting their products be shouted from the rooftops. The trailer seemed interesting, so I went to see it. It’s exactly what the trailer said it was, and I have to say I liked it.

A childless couple, Cindy (Jennifer Garner) and Jim Green (Joel Edgerton) are told that every medical option has been explored and that they cannot have children of their own. Grief stricken, they go home and spend one last night with their dreams and wishes of having a child. They write down qualities they would like their ideal child to have, place the notes in a box, and bury it in their garden to put an end to their hopes. After a thunderstorm a ten year-old boy named Timothy (CJ Adams) arrives at their home, claiming the Greens as his parents. Strangest of all is the boy has leaves growing out of his legs around his ankles. Cindy and Jim take in Timothy for the time being and strive very hard to be the best possible parents to this odd, but good boy. They quickly find parenting to be a much more complicated and bigger challenge than they expected.

This is kind of a strange movie. It seems to be targeted towards kids, but there are a lot of themes in it that I really don’t think kids could grasp. You can’t really express to small kids the confusion a parent has when they don’t know whether to help their child or let them make their own mistakes. The story is driven by how people react to Timothy, but he’s not really the main character, Cindy and Jim are. Nevertheless, the story is simple and amusing enough that both parents and their children will enjoy the movie.

The Odd Life of Timothy Green is kind of a modern fairy tale for grownups in the sense of wish fulfillment, a journey of discovery, and a touch of magical influence. I couldn’t help but think of classic fairy tales that feature a childless couple who daily yearn for a child and then by some miraculous means, have a child. Jim and Cindy learn what being a parent is really like and that there is a lot more to it than simply providing basic necessities and love. While the story has some fantasy qualities to it, hardly anything magical occurs after Timothy shows up.

Good child actors are hard to come by. They are usually pretty unexpressive actors (like Quvenzhané Wallis in Beasts of theSouthern Wild) because they just aren’t old enough to know how to act, or they are so cute that no one cares that they don’t know how to act (like Shirley Temple). CJ Adams actually did a remarkable job in his delivery as Timothy Green. He was expressive without being melodramatic and lacked self awareness that most child actors have which weakens their performance. CJ’s performance felt very natural. He’s a pretty cute kid, too.

The Odd Life of Timothy Green really captivates old-time values. Although the movie has a present setting, it’s still about kids going outdoors to play, having community sporting events, autumnal colors, farm houses out in the rolling hills, khakis and polo shirts, birthday parties and swimming with friends. The only modern technology visible is in one scene where Cindy is trying to talk about being a parent to someone absorbed by their cell phone. The cell phone isn’t at fault; it’s just used as a means of illustrating how detached and busy the woman is from  taking care of her kids that she doesn’t really get to even know her kids. At any rate, it’s got a timeless, homey vibe that would make people of any age feel nostalgic for their childhood.

Like many Disney movies, The Odd Life of Timothy Green is very sweet. I didn’t think it was so sweet and sappy that it would dissuade me from enjoying it, but I could see some viewers feeling exasperated by the Normal Rockwell-style sentiment and sugary happiness. The movie has some truly lovely moments and, to be fair, a few that are a bit too saccharine to take very seriously.

Overall, I’d say The Odd Life of Timothy Green is an average movie. But being average is what gives the movie its charm. If you see it and think it’s too sappy and sweet, I could certainly see where you’re coming from. If you enjoy it as a cute movie about new a family awkwardly trying to fit into their new roles, I could sympathize most earnestly. I don’t think this is so much a kid’s movie; I do think kids would enjoy it, but not as much as their parents would. If you are a parent who genuinely loves your children, are hoping to be a parent soon, or even thinking of adopting, you will love this movie. If not, it’s still a cute film that is worth seeing someday. It wouldn’t be bad to see in theaters, but you’d be fine with renting it on DVD when it’s available. I wouldn’t mind owning my own copy on Blu-Ray, though it’s not a top priority.

Can you think of another movie that was targeted for kids, but where the main story would go right over their heads? Comment below and tell me about it!

Beasts of the Southern Wild Movie Review

An item on my bucket list is to attend a film festival sometime. I’d get to see up and coming film artists showcase their work for the first time in a public domain. I imagine film festivals are really exciting. When a movie is a huge success at a film festival, movie critics will rant and rave about it. Such ranting and raving is how I heard about Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012). After seeing it, I have to wonder if these critics saw the same movie I did.

The Bathtub is a small, defiant, bayou island community off the coast of New Orleans, cut off from the rest of the world by a sprawling levee. In The Bathtub is a brave six-year-old girl named Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis) who is on the brink of becoming an orphan.  Hushpuppy makes it through the day with her child-like optimism and imagination. She believes that the world is in balance with the universe. Then a fierce storm changes the way she views things. The tough love exhibited by Hushpuppy’s father, Wink (Dwight Henry), prepares her for a time when he’s no longer able to protect her. When Wink contracts a mysterious illness, nature, as Hushpuppy sees it, flies out of whack; temperatures rise, and the ice caps melt releasing an army of prehistoric creatures called aurochs. With the waters rising, the aurochs coming, and Wink’s health fading, Hushpuppy sets out find her mother and repair the universe.

The best thing about Beasts of the Southern Wild is the art direction. There are lots of really neat shots that really are pretty to see. One of my favorites is captured on the movie poster where the residents of The Bathtub are shooting off fireworks and Hushpuppy is running around free spirited, waving sparklers in each hand. That was just gorgeous.  We primarily see life on the little island which the community lives and once in a while we see drilling rigs and oil refiners on the other side of the levees. They seem so alien and distant from the main setting that they may as well be mysterious ancient ruins. The visual contrast between the oil rigs and the green bayou is really interesting to see.

Cute as Hushpuppy was, I didn’t find her very believable. She’s six years old and has an uncharacteristically expansive comprehension of the universe and her own theory of how it all works. Most six year olds are just beginning to understanding that a world exists beyond their own needs let alone a whole universe. The accomplishments of a six year old involve something like tying their shoe on their own, not repairing the balance of the universe. Sure, there’s nothing wrong with having a childlike paradigm of the world and how it works when you’re a kid. But an understanding of the universe, simplistic and inaccurate as Hushpuppy’s is, suggests a much larger perception of the world than a six-year-old can comprehend. It just didn’t feel very believable to me.

Critics are almost unanimously impressed with the performance of Quvenzhané Wallis. She was five years old when the movie began production, and seven by the time filming was complete. She’s cute, but I didn’t really think she was all that impressive as an actress. Most of her lines are voice over narrations about ecumenical concepts. Other times she simply sits around while adults do the acting. Once in a while she actually does something and gives an acceptable performance, but overall she’s about as expressive as Kristen Stewart until she has to yell or scream at something.

Beasts of the Southern Wild has a lot of interesting ideas that were thematically tossed around, but never seemed to be pulled together into a solid, cohesive whole. I kept wondering what direction the movie would take with the new, interesting concepts. But nothing really came of it. It was rather disappointing.

Beasts of the Southern Wild wasn’t really awful, but it has a lot of amateur independent film clichés. There was lots of shaky camera work; I had to go sit in the back of the theater to avoid motion sickness. Actors stand very still, talking very deliberately, in nicely framed shots; almost like the director is trying to use visual style to cover up the fact that the actors aren’t all that good. Shots of puddles that are held for too long are used as segue between scenes. The drawn-out theme makes me feel like it should be profound, but very clearly is not. For an independent film, this isn’t really an awful movie; I’m just saying it’s not as good as a lot of critics are saying.

With lots of neat visuals and a creative narration from a six-year-old girl’s perspective, Beasts of the Southern Wild is still a rather convoluted independent film with a sub-par child actor. I imagine most hoity-toity movie critics will call it a “tour de force,” which in layman’s terms means it’s too artsy-fartsy for the average movie viewer to enjoy. If you get a chance to see Beasts of the Southern Wild I’d recommend seeing it if you really do not have anything better to do with your time; like I’ve said, it’s not awful. But if you never do get around to seeing it, you won’t be missing out on a significant piece of cinema art.

What’s one of the worst “tour de force” independent films you’ve ever seen? Comment below and tell me why.