Paramount Pictures, Scott Rudin Productions, Warner Bros. Pictures,
Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Thomas Horn, James Gandolfini, Viola Davis, John Goodman, Jeffrey Wright, Max von Sydow, Zoe Caldwell, Stephen McKinley Henderson
Oskar Schell(Thomas Horn) is a very talented little boy. He’s an amateur inventor and is very smart, and very close to his father Thomas (Tom Hanks) who tells him stories of interesting adventures. One of his stories is about a mysterious 6th borough of New York that disappeared. Oskar’s Dad was killed in the 9-11 disaster and Oskar begins a downward spiral as he struggles to deal with the loss. But when he finds a mysterious key, he is certain there is a message that his Dad left for him, and he sets out on a quest to solve the mystery and find the secret message his Dad left for him. In the process he meets a lot of interesting people and is not only touched by them, but leaves his mark on them as well in this tale of loss and sorrow following one of our nation’s most horrible and tragic events.
This is a fairly unusual film. I felt it could have been a lot better, but I do have to give credit to the filmmakers for trying to do a film about this historical event, as there have not been much written about the aftermath of the tragedy. I was definitely anxious to see this DVD, but I was quite a bit disappointed. I am not sure what the biggest problem was. It should have been really emotional and touching, but it wasn’t. The characters were flat and one dimensional. There wasn’t a lot of heart, and I don’t feel like it really touched me. The ending didn’t make any sense at all to me, and I don’t want to say anything that will give it away, but when the mystery is “solved” I had no idea what they were talking about. I’m just not sure what the message or meaning of this film was supposed to be. I liked the story of Oskar trying to deal with the loss of his father, but then it spun off on this tangent that seemed to keep Oskar busy but didn’t seem to take the audience anywhere. I didn’t hate this, but I just didn’t feel much at all about it. When it was over, I just sort of shrugged my shoulders and said, “Oh well”. It’s not a story that stayed with me, nor did I think much more about it. Disappointing effort.
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
