dougzed
We have both an autistic granddaughter and a chihuahua living with us, so this movie was a perfect evening's entertainment. Wonderful acting by so many of the characters. The story does a beautiful job of conveying how people on the autistic spectrum are often mistaken as fully functioning and capable individuals on first impression....and how many of them have intense focus and resourcefulness when it comes to dealing with the things that matter to them. And the script had so many brilliant little plot twists......My favorite perhaps was the policeman who happens to be fluent in Klingon. You'll just have to watch the movie if you want to know the rest. :-)It's a beautiful little movie with a feel good ending.
pkpera
SPOILER: This could be really great movie with better script. There were many barely realistic parts. I don't know how well autism was portrayed, nor how realistic was way of her treatment by Scottie (Tony Collette), Things about dog and that delivery at the end were it, for instance.Dakota Fanning, biggest child star of previous decade is now fine, beautiful young lady, and still very active in filming. And I adore her selection of movies. Basically, all what I saw was with some heart, social theme, not mainstream, big budget superpower, violent and like crap. She really did great job here. Other actresses, actors were good too. The problems are mostly with script, plenty of cliche in storytelling. Dog was cute, and scenes with him were believable considering acting, dog's behavior, but big part of it was unrealistic. Then, that Star Trek obsession - I see here big influence of The Big Bang Theory, culminating in cop scene. All it was cute, just little 'out of this World, somewhere, where no man goes every day' . But probably worst was predictability. After some 30-40 minutes, I was pretty much sure how exactly finale will look - and was right, and I'm sure, many others too.
Yep, it was about fight to prove yourself, for your goals, ideals.
All it was, considering serious subject a little too sweet. Even robbed, without money on journey, without experience in it and with people, all it went too smooth.
chasmitpayme
I was pleasantly surprised by this fantastic, rather Independent movie. The movie as I said in my headline I believe is better than some major titles. I didn't see the Academy Award Winner , that Water one but I venture to guess that I would prefer this to that also. The movie is poignant, happy, sad, well paced, fantastically directed and of course lifted by the presence of the brilliant Dakota Fanning. I found myself rooting for her character, hoping she'd get the entry in time for the Star Trek contest she is trying to enter. Alice Eve and Toni Colette also deliver commanding performances as Wendy's ( Dakota's) sister and care taker respectively. While the story leaves out a few details like where is Wendy's father , the film is none the less not diminished one bit. The movie takes us to a fantastic and fitting conclusion that teaches us about love and acceptance and finding where you belong in life. I loved the film in every way. Two thumbs enthusiastically way up for this way above average movie!
