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Secondhand Lions
Review by Jane Robertson (Jane's bio)
Written and directed by Tim McCanlies
Michael Caine . . . Garth
Robert Duvall . . . Hub
Haley Joel Osment . . . Walter
Kyra Sedgwick . . . Mae
MPAA: Rated PG for thematic material, language, and action violence.
If you're shopping for bargains, Secondhand Lions is one of the best buys around. You could hardly ask for more in either a cast or a story.
You get two of the premier actors of their generation (Michael Caine and Robert Duvall) and a third (Haley Joel Osment) from a newer generation, one who earned an Oscar nomination at age ten. And you get a tale of adventure within another tale that deserves several positive labels: heartwarming, old-fashioned, uplifting, sweet, humorous, mysterious, maybe even memorable.
Now that's a movie!
The man who sat in the director's chair wrote the script. His name is Tim McCanlies, and the only previous movie that he did both jobs for was one that not many ever heard of, Dancer, Texas Pop. 81. Perhaps we all should go back and give it a closer look. McCanlies wrote the screenplay for but did not direct The Iron Giant, which also hummed the melody of a good kid making the best of a strange situation.
In Lions we see Osment (The Sixth Sense, Artificial Intelligence: AI) playing the wimpy son of flighty, hapless Mae (Kyra Sedgwick, Something to Talk About). She dumps him on her two eccentric uncles while she goes off in pursuit of her latest unlikely scheme. Neither old geezer feels any joy at having pre-adolescent Walter around, and he feels none at being there.
Bored without TV, Walter persuades Uncle Garth (Caine, The Quiet American, The Cider House Rules) to tell him about the men's earlier lives, which give him plenty of excitement and questions to ponder. Meanwhile, Uncle Hup (Duvall, Open Range, Gods and Generals) goes off for his own reasons and buys an old lion the circus doesn't want any more. Once the lion appears, nothing will ever again be the same for Walter. Something will change for the uncles too. Remember, the “lions” of the title is a plural.
It's hard to find any fault with this movie. The three lead actors are all superb, of course. This is a Caine you don't expect to see—as a Texan, and a convincing one—and Duvall gives his usual flawless, layered performance. Osment, at the age when most child stars falter, seems merely to be honing his gift. There is a fine supporting cast too, including those members of it that roar, bark, and oink.
Secondhand Lions contains a few mildly frightening moments and a little crude dialogue that it would be best not to expose small children to. Otherwise, this is a movie for everybody to see and treasure. And when it's available, buy it so the little ones can see it someday!
Copyright 2003, Jane Robertson. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission.
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About Jane Robertson: A staff editor for the nature magazine Snowy Egret, Jane has written for various Midwestern periodicals and the Southern Baptist Convention's Ambassador Life. Her book about a Scottish immigrant, Hope Was Worth the Risk, was published in 1995. She contributed to the Dawkins Project's upcoming CeLEBRATIONS: Notes to My Grandfather.
E-mail Jane |
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