***May contain lite spoilers***
If you are looking for a lighthearted family film that will teach your kids a thing or two about not judging others, then this movie will probably do it for you.
If you intend to be in the room watching this film with your children, this will probably be the longest hour of your day.
Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Christian movies, some of them I even like. But this one was just sort of.. unreal.
The story takes place in a perfect, happy little town. The town is so perfect that the kids apparently do anything and everything they want without any sort of parental involvement. I actually found myself questioning which country they were in, because this sort of thing just doesn't happen anymore in the ultra paranoid U.S.of.A. They also have a perfect school where the kids are always excited and happy to be doing their work.
And some of the children even spend a little of their recreational time wondering how they might go about bettering themselves...(cue Bible lecture).
But what really got me was that the kids in this film apparently find lessons from the Bible to be insightful and totally novel, like it wasn't something they've heard in church ten million times before. Somewhat uncharacteristic of modern kids, who can smell a moral lecture miles before it gets to them.
In addition to that quality of perfection that pervades the film, there is the usual cast of cookie-cutter characters: The big kid, the smart kid, the girl who has a crush on the main kid, the popular kid, the annoying little sister, the doofus cop, the wise father figure, and a few more.
The story itself is predictable and unoriginal, and the actions of the characters don't seem to be.. in character. These kids are obviously very clever, how then can they be so (forgive the harsh judgement) stupid? I felt that because of this, the film felt a little bit forced. It wasn't character driven, but was instead scene driven.
All in all, I give it a 7, it did have some nice moments and wasn't a bad film by any means, just sort of droll.
If you are looking for a lighthearted family film that will teach your kids a thing or two about not judging others, then this movie will probably do it for you.
If you intend to be in the room watching this film with your children, this will probably be the longest hour of your day.
Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Christian movies, some of them I even like. But this one was just sort of.. unreal.
The story takes place in a perfect, happy little town. The town is so perfect that the kids apparently do anything and everything they want without any sort of parental involvement. I actually found myself questioning which country they were in, because this sort of thing just doesn't happen anymore in the ultra paranoid U.S.of.A. They also have a perfect school where the kids are always excited and happy to be doing their work.
And some of the children even spend a little of their recreational time wondering how they might go about bettering themselves...(cue Bible lecture).
But what really got me was that the kids in this film apparently find lessons from the Bible to be insightful and totally novel, like it wasn't something they've heard in church ten million times before. Somewhat uncharacteristic of modern kids, who can smell a moral lecture miles before it gets to them.
In addition to that quality of perfection that pervades the film, there is the usual cast of cookie-cutter characters: The big kid, the smart kid, the girl who has a crush on the main kid, the popular kid, the annoying little sister, the doofus cop, the wise father figure, and a few more.
The story itself is predictable and unoriginal, and the actions of the characters don't seem to be.. in character. These kids are obviously very clever, how then can they be so (forgive the harsh judgement) stupid? I felt that because of this, the film felt a little bit forced. It wasn't character driven, but was instead scene driven.
All in all, I give it a 7, it did have some nice moments and wasn't a bad film by any means, just sort of droll.