★ 8 / 10
> About a little boy who believed he
Reno
> About a little boy who believed he can change the world. I was two minded after seeing its trailer. Because I'm pretty much convinced it is a B movie. But…
> About a little boy who believed he can change the world.
I was two minded after seeing its trailer. Because I'm pretty much convinced it is a B movie. But that's not the issue, I usually put my faith on them and take my chances. So what bothered me was the film contents, because the trailed roughly reveals what kind of movie it is, from that I reckoned it should have been a big production house's product. Hence, I believed the visuals could be disastrous, but that was not the case. In fact, it was a remarkable standard, one of the reasons for the movie's success, despite there are no list-A actors in the full fledged roles.
The boy was much better in the movie than I judged his performance in the trailer. He might have appeared in a few television episodes, but this was his silver-screen debut. A wonderful display and I believe he would bag more projects for this. It was a family film, an emotional drama set during the United States entry into the World War II. Takes place in a small western coastal town called O'Hare about a 7 year old boy Pepper, nicknamed Little Boy who's willing to do anything to bring back his father alive from the war. On the effort he takes up a series of task which later stuns his town and the whole country.
> "Do you believe you can do this?"
The Fascinating thing was, the blend between the real occurrence with the fictitious attachment. People might believe it was based on the real, but it is not. Like I said the graphics were very crucial that matched to any big budget films, unfortunately it was a small portion, but definitely a big deal. It talks about lots of interesting stuff which is inspiring, partially funny and also a children friendly film. Especially it explains quite clearly the difference between religious beliefs and magics which is obviously little kids never understood. So it could help to learn something from other than the textbooks.
The plus points were the consequences of war (any war), how the people can get affected by the war, bullying, racism and misbelief. On the other hand the minus was too much ingredient in a little movie, fortunately clicked so well. As usual, it was knocked down by the critics who never recognised the art of sentimental works. If you are not one of them or their followers, you are going to enjoy it.
If it had some big names in the main cast, especially for the father and brother characters, then it would have been roared louder and helped the international markets. As being one of the finest storied movie that highlighted our past mistakes, sadly terribly failed at the box office, but very much could get a cult status because particularly families loved this one so far. Not highly, but simply I recommend it and one of the must see from year 2015.
8/10
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★ 7 / 10
An agnostic's review
vandeman-scott
Little Boy is a decent film that I didn't know was a faith-based endeavor until people started complaining about it. Having watched and reviewed Christian…
Little Boy is a decent film that I didn't know was a faith-based endeavor until people started complaining about it. Having watched and reviewed Christian films in the past (The Reliant, Left Behind, and The Shack come immediately to mind), films that objectively weren't very good, this movie didn't strike me as being a part of that melieu. It may or may not be, but it is certainly a cut above the others in terms of acting, writing, and production values. If its intent is overtly evangelical, the filmmakers did a good job of making it palateable and provide a good example of what faith films should aspire to if their real intent is outreach rather than preaching to the choir.
Nevertheless, Little Boy is at the very least perceived as a Christian film, and that means it's open season for derisive and cynical critique. For example, some smugly insist, without citing any specifics, that Little Boy is "historically inaccurate." Let's unpack that.
Pearl Harbor was bombed in a surprise attack on December 7, 1941 (coincidentally 81 years ago today) and, as a result, we fought a war against the Japanese in the Pacific. That's straight-up real.
Intrinsic to Little Boy's plot is the notion that innocent Japanese-Americans were mistreated, stolen from, and forced into internment camps before being released penniless and without apology near the end of the War. Yes, that happened.
When these innocent Japanese-Americans were finally freed, they were hated, discriminated against, and outright abused based on the fact that they had the "face of the enemy." Check.
(The book Infamy, by Robert Reeves, covers Japanese-American internment in significant detail. I recommend it.)
In early August of 1945, we used an atomic bomb -- two of them in fact -- in Japan, and one was nicknamed Little Boy. Two cities with which we all are familiar were obliterated. Incontrovertibly true.
Americans were held as prisoners of war in the Pacific theater. Some died and some came home. Most, if not all, were brutalized. Um, yeppers.
That's literally the full extent of the history that's even touched upon in this movie, and none of it is false. Should there have been more? Should the reasons why all these things happened have been addressed? Should events have been better contextualized? Maybe, but that would have made for a very, very long and very different film.
Instead, this movie maintains its focus on the story of an American boy of the era and, as such, doesn't dwell too much on the morality, or lack thereof, of the War in the Pacific and its belligerants. Rather, it spends its time contemplating matters at home and matters of personal integrity, exploring the concept that we should treat all people with kindness and judge all as human beings based on their individual merits. Cries that this is a racist film based on the depiction of things that really happened simply don't hold up. Cries that this must be a racist film because it's connected to Christianity are even dumber and reveal more about the complainant than about the film itself.
Where Little Boy fails, to the extent that it fails at all, is in its simplistic vision of a very complicated world in which faith usually doesn't move mountains but, instead, helps us to climb over them, and sometimes even then with great difficulty. Had the filmmakers resisted the urge to offer up a traditional happy ending with smiles and hugs and happy tears all around, it would have been better for the overall effort. A smidgen more imagination and, dare I say it, inspiration might have led to an uplifting ending that didn't undermine everything that preceded it.
Without doubt, Little Boy sports themes rooted in faith, but that's not all there is to it. As a work of cinema, it's so much more. Still, if all viewers can bring to the party is an abiding hostility toward God, religion, and the devout, they'll miss all good stuff and will instead stretch for criticisms that are poisoned by ideology and not informed by what's actually presented. And that's really a shame.
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Doug Heffernin as a doctor? No thanks!