This Disney fantasy is way too sugary sweet and predictable for my tastes. It stars Jennifer Garner, Joel Edgerton, and C J Adams, as Timothy.
Garner and Edgerton are a married couple living in the small town of Stanleyville. The town is idyllically beautiful and it has as its' main enterprise a local pencil factory. The factory has been owned for generations by the Crudstaff family.However, due to the economic times the factory is in danger of closing.
Edgerton works at the factory while Garner is employed at the Crudstaff House and Pencil Museum as a guide.
The film is told in flashbacks as the couple are being interviewed to be adoptive parents. They are relating their magical experiences with Timothy Green to the counselors.
Having been told by their fertility doctor that they cannot have children, they decide that night to write down all the wonderful qualities they would have liked their child to have. They put the papers in a metal box and bury it in the backyard. During the night, a huge rainstorm hits and suddenly a young boy--Timothy--magically appears in their home.
Guess what? He possesses all the characteristics that they had written down and will follow the path that they had envisioned for him. However, there's one big caveat. He has leaves attached to his legs and in time as the leaves are shed one by one you can guess what will be the end result.
I'm puzzled why the makers of the film decided to make many of the supporting cast such unlikeable characters. Garner's sister, portrayed by Rosemarie DeWitt is self-centered and fairly obnoxious while Edgerton's father, played by the wonderful actor Robert Morse, is basically a macho bully. Also, pretty much the entire Crudstaff family (Dianne Wiest and Ron Livingston in particular) are quite mean-spirited.
Not all the supporting characters are unlikeable. Odeya Rush plays a young girl who befriends Timothy when no one else will. She shows him what is apparently a large red birthmark on her shoulder, which has caused her to be kind of an outcast as well.
All in all, this film may appeal to youngsters, who will ignore the schmaltz, a lot more than it appealed to me. Also, possibly to adults who like these type of complete sweet fantasies.
Garner and Edgerton are a married couple living in the small town of Stanleyville. The town is idyllically beautiful and it has as its' main enterprise a local pencil factory. The factory has been owned for generations by the Crudstaff family.However, due to the economic times the factory is in danger of closing.
Edgerton works at the factory while Garner is employed at the Crudstaff House and Pencil Museum as a guide.
The film is told in flashbacks as the couple are being interviewed to be adoptive parents. They are relating their magical experiences with Timothy Green to the counselors.
Having been told by their fertility doctor that they cannot have children, they decide that night to write down all the wonderful qualities they would have liked their child to have. They put the papers in a metal box and bury it in the backyard. During the night, a huge rainstorm hits and suddenly a young boy--Timothy--magically appears in their home.
Guess what? He possesses all the characteristics that they had written down and will follow the path that they had envisioned for him. However, there's one big caveat. He has leaves attached to his legs and in time as the leaves are shed one by one you can guess what will be the end result.
I'm puzzled why the makers of the film decided to make many of the supporting cast such unlikeable characters. Garner's sister, portrayed by Rosemarie DeWitt is self-centered and fairly obnoxious while Edgerton's father, played by the wonderful actor Robert Morse, is basically a macho bully. Also, pretty much the entire Crudstaff family (Dianne Wiest and Ron Livingston in particular) are quite mean-spirited.
Not all the supporting characters are unlikeable. Odeya Rush plays a young girl who befriends Timothy when no one else will. She shows him what is apparently a large red birthmark on her shoulder, which has caused her to be kind of an outcast as well.
All in all, this film may appeal to youngsters, who will ignore the schmaltz, a lot more than it appealed to me. Also, possibly to adults who like these type of complete sweet fantasies.