Now I'm no really into kids movies, I liked E.T, The Goonies and The bad news bears of course, and Finding Nemo is the best animated film I have scene, bit most kids films to me just plain suck, but this one I liked, I liked it a lot actually.

The plot is kind of simple, two misfits, a Boy and a girl discover their on magical land that they create in their imagination, that is at least what the trailers have you believe, in fact, only about 15 min of the movie takes place int that world, the majority of the movie is about the friendship of these two out casts.

What happens though in quite shocking, you think the movie goes in one direction, but it takes a total U-turn, this is like a family version of million dollar baby, in fact the last 30 min would probably upset a lot of young children.  Something happens and it is about how one deals with such a tragic situation.  Things like this happen to a lot of kids everyday so I like how the movie didn't sugar coat it, it just deals with it, sometimes shit happens in life and there ain't nothing you can do about it, which is probably good to learn in adolescence, or you just end up turning into a goth "I hate the world" type of kid.

Robert Patrick, who usually plays bad guys or low life's, is really good here as one of the misfit's father, he can play a good father just as well as an evil liquid robot, there is a scene at the end that he pulls off perfectly.

The special effects in the film are good, but nothing special, but that was ok because they served their purpose.

All in all this is a really good family film that deals with some pretty sad issues, I liked how it didn't play it down, and I liked how it dealt with the main event in the film, sometime life sucks, but that don't mean you have to give up.

I just saw this, and I really, really liked it. Great family film with great casts and a powerful emotional punch without being hokey.

I recommend it to everyone.

UPDATE:

I thought I'd say a few more words about this film since I really can't stop thinking about it. For me, the film's theme is so poignant and so close to the stuff I write about, myself, (the loss of innocence, magic VS reality and so on) that it probably enhanced my experience, but the reason I thought this movie worked so well was the two main characters and the friendship the find in each other. I t really made me ache to be 13 again and experience such a bond for myself. The two protagonists are respectively played by Josh Hutcherson (Zathura, American Splendor) and Anna-Sophia Robb (Charlie and The Chocolate Factory) who really do a marvellous job. Especially Anna Sophia impressed me. I saw some press footage for the film on youtube, and in real life she seems nothing like the character she plays, so that was impressive. In the film she reminded me of a blonde Natalie Portman in Léon, at times.

Anyway, still a recommend from here, althrough you probably don't wanna bring too young kids to the film.

SPOILER

And I'm sitting here crying my eyes out. This is Turner and Hooch all over again.

****SPOILERS MAY LIE AHEAD***

I saw this movie in theaters when it first came out. I wasn't really impressed with the trailers, honestly. They made it look like a rip-off of Narnia in almost every way. But once  the film started I really didn't know what to expect, because it certainly didn't feel like it could lead into an epic fantasy. And thankfully, it never does.

In fact, only like 20% of the film takes place in the actual fantasy world. The rest of it takes place in the real world. The story itself is very interesting and the characters are very believable. I agree that the guy who plays the dad in this film is BRILLIANT. He's a beast at playing one of the most realistic father roles I've yet to see.

The death of a certain character comes at a very unexpected time and because of the great character development, we really feel sorry for her and we actually feel like we loose a friend. I was very impressed with how they handled the death of the little girl and I'm glad they decided to keep it and not downplay it at all. I had never read the book, but I read a spoilerific review about it before hand and was wondering how they would handle killing a little girl.

Overall, this was a very good movie and I think that anyone who likes movies that are touching, funny, heartwarming, and has very well developed characters and a believable story should see this movie.

*****/*****

-Chris