Richard Burin The Dust Factory (Eric Small, 2004) is an interesting fantasy film with a genuinely peculiar, unsettling middle section. Ryan Kelley is engaging, playing a young boy who gives up talking after a series of family tragedies. Falling from a bridge into the river, he awakens in The Dust Factory, a place between Heaven and Earth inhabited by free-spirited dawdler Melanie (Hayden Panettiere) and his grandfather (Armin Mueller-Stahl), robbed of speech in the real world due to Alzheimer's. The only way out of the world is via a leap of faith from a circus trapeze, above a pit of quicksand-like dust.Panetterie is more conventional and less ethereal than Annasophia Robb's similar character in Bridge to Terabithia, while the film itself is somewhat less coherent and affecting. The characters' method of escape also doesn't seem that tricky (surely they should return to Earth if they're caught, not if they fall?), while the lure of the Dust Factory itself is somewhat dubious. But the acting is good and the friendship at the heart of the movie works really nicely. Kudos too to director Eric Small for making the material in the big top so formidably odd.

Llinbubble I love this film.. For one, it's a family/drama film. Well I first saw this "awesome" movie when it first cam out in 04, and I think it was a great adventure kind of movie. Ryan Kelley,(one of my favorite actors)(also so cute) did an great performance as Ryan the boy who is mute.Ryan playing a mute teen (at first in the film), was so impressive. He made me think for a sec, that he was mute. So I think he did a great acting job for this film. Hayden was also a great actor in this film. She gave a performance as a "Peter Pan" girl.She was very spunky and adventures, her betrayal, made me want to be like her charter. Overall this film takes you where you never been before and it's a different kind of magical film. This film is great for the hole familylove it

night_hunter1200 I thought this movie was very good. It is kind of like a movie about choices and also about faith. It kept saying that we need faith in order to make the choices that could change the lives of a lot of other people. Also the way Hayden's character didn't know what to do while she was in the Dust Factory. I must say that this movie was very inspirational and it helped me figure out a lot of things in my life. The people who say this movie is lame or boring or stupid for any reason don't know what good movies are. Just because it doesn't have exploding cars or big romantic love scenes doesn't mean it is a stupid movie. For being a family film it was sure sweet and had a very deep meaning. I really enjoy movies that I have to watch more than once to understand the meaning. I just have to conclude by saying that although not my favorite movie it is sure up there on the top ten list.

sewrightiam I just picked up this movie off the shelf because the title was interesting. I had never heard of it before. So I didn't know what to expect. It was really a surprise to find that it was good. We enjoyed it very much. The two main characters were very likable. I wish that they had gone into a little more detail of the circumstances of why they were at the factory but overall a good story about learning to deal with your fears and moving on with your life.In this world of the big movies with lots of action, drama, sex, it was very sweet. Great family movie with lots to discuss after it is over. Give it a try.