Spencer Hensley

I never thought I would see the day in a movie season where Barbie would make a better movie than Indiana Jones but I guess 2023 was the right year because this is a surprisingly entertaining movie, well acted, smart and even a little insightful and very funny above all else. A surprisingly fun time at the movies and it deserves to do as well at the box office as it has been but I want to take a moment to caution parents. I saw many small children at the showing I went to and although the trailers may make this seem like a harmless family movie take the PG-13 rating seriously as there are some sex references, suggestive comments, and one bleeped out use of strong language. I would not recommend this to anyone under the age of 12 for content. But teenagers and adults should have a lot of fun. I was surprised how much I did. A movie that could have been stupid and childish but turned out to be intelligent, sweet and funny. A surprising delight.

Not as bad as I remembered it being when I saw it years ago. However I feel I would have enjoyed it more if it were not directed by the cinematic genius director Francis Ford Coppola. I feel his involvement is what makes me like the film a little less. Its just not a movie that really is a good fit for him, because he tends to shift too abruptly between comedy and drama, as well as between mature themes and more innocent childlike ones. Additionally Coppola I feel did not direct Robin Williams in the right direction here. At times Williams isnt believable as a ten year old in a grown up body. His dialogue and the way he acts just seems as though Williams is acting as if he was performing a stand up routine, when he should be acting more childlike. Essentially Williams played himself in a comedy act or as if he were being interviewed on a talk show. Not the norm for a ten year old. There are some very nice scenes as well as well written and acted scenes I especially liked a scene between Williams and Bill Cosby near the end that was very well done, and the speech Williams gives at the end is poignant and well written. But on the whole Tom Hanks was much more convincing as a kid in an adult body a decade earlier in Big which had a better balance between comedy and drama than this does. The script is really most to blame for the flaws of this film but I feel Coppola too often just let Williams do too much improvising and could have directed him to play a much more effective and believable 10 year old. And I feel he was too uncertain whether he wanted this to be a comedy or drama. Its similar to Mrs. Doubtfire in the sense that it has some funny moments, but its core story is really a very sad and serious one. However Mrs. Doubtfire had a much better balance and knew when it needed to be funny and knew when it needed to be serious. Here it seems like Coppola couldn't make up his mind. If you are a fan of this directors great work you will probably enjoy the film more knowing anyone really could have directed it and try to forget it was directed by the same brilliant man who gave us The Godfather and Apocalypse Now. I tried to do so and feel I appreciated it more on that level, but Coppola is just way too talented to be working with this material and that is what I feel prevented this movie from being excellent to sadly mediocre. This should have been directed by a TV sitcom director. Not one of the best filmmakers of all time. Still it has its moments and if you are a Coppola or Williams fan it warrants one watch. I just feel these two brilliant men could have made a much better movie together and who wouldn't want to see that with their talent combined together on a movie?