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jackonlee
Reviews
Tuck Everlasting (2002)
Not factually accurate
Whilst the actors can be fully commended for their acting, I was very disappointed with the ending and in my opinion it ruined the whole film for me.
The fact that the family that drank from that magic spring could live forever is still not something which is unbelievable to readers/viewers, but the claimed fact (by the novelist) that the family could now be completely 'invincible' and 'immune' to being killed by pistol fire/hanging/lynching or any other form of harm is illusory at best.
Yes, if they were wounded by pistol bullets, then it is possible to have the wounds healed by the water from magic spring (along with having the bullet removed) but if the bullet pierced essential body parts such as the head or the heart then it is no longer possible for the person to remain alive for long. Just as in the Lord of the Rings where the Elves are immortal as long as they are not killed by orcs/trolls during battle.
Even if such a magic fountain existed in America, does one not think that it would have been discovered and extracted by the 20th or 21st century? Surely the Tucker family would have had hundreds of not thousands of descendants who in turn would continue to live at very long ages and therefore raise awareness in the wider American public of their secret? (Take for example, the story of Li Ching-Yuen who purportedly lived for 256 years of age, married 23 times, had 200 descendants, his centenary and bi-centenary were both celebrated by the local authorities whilst he was still alive and then he died in 1933).
Lastly, the female main character's choice at the end of the film to not choose to drink from the magic spring thinking that life would be 'boring' and 'meaningless' if they remained alive forever and she'd rather die after living a 'full life', than be immortal and forever stuck watching life pass her by. It gravely encourages Epicurean philosophical thinking which encourages people to "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die".
Such a way of thinking is greatly flawed and assumes that one is better off being dead after living a 'meaningful life' than remaining alive forever. For those who are christians would recall from the Bible that Adam and Eve were not given a finite life by God by default and in fact were entitled to eat from the Tree of Life which would enable them to remain alive forever. It was the rejection of God's commands that lead them to become mortal in the flesh and their subsequent unhappiness, pains, hardships & suffering on earth.
There is no evidence to suggest that humans are not capable of enjoying a very happy and content life if granted the opportunity to become immortal (it would in fact be the very opposite unless that person happened to be a criminal in which case it would be better off for that person to live a shorter life). Christians believe that those who are eventually eligible to go to heaven would be immortal there because they would have the opportunity to eat from the Tree of Life in Heaven.
Hence the conceptual premises of this film are hugely flawed and would only be suitable for children or young teenagers (many of whom would be heart-broken and/or disappointed by the ending of this purely fictional story)