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Ben Kingsley, Amy Irving, Alexis Bledel
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Disney's film, "Tuck Everlasting", is the latest adaptation from Natalie
Babbitt's children's book about a girl who inadvertently stumbles upon
a family of immortals, and learns important lessons on life and death,
and making the most of the world she lives in.
The plot line is simple and traditional Disney fairy-tale lore - a young
girl on the cusp of maturity, longs for a life outside the control of
her domineering mother. When lost in the woods near her home, she happens
upon Jesse Tuck, whose family has become immortal from a source of secret
Alexis Bledel
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magical waters. In order to preserve their life and home, they Tucks have
remained hidden for over a hundred years. But, we soon learn that there
are other, more philosophical reasons for their stealth - the notion
that immortality can be a very painful prison sentence, and the rest of
the world should be protected from discovering the spring of eternal life.
The theme of the film is superb, and it is presented thoughtfully. There
is no over-bearing lectures or spoon-feeding of morality, and the
audience can extrapolate the objectives of the characters on their
own. The cinematography is ethereal and heavenly, evoking a sense of
wonderment and calm that we all fantasize living in, if one were to
choose an enchanted forest as a home.
Jonathan Jackson
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However, the film fails to directly address its true target
audience. Either that, or it didn't really decide which one it wanted
to serve. The character portrayals, dialog and behaviors are too
sophisticated for a younger audience, who require a more animated and
dramatic caricatures. I interviewed several children randomly after the
film, and although all of them liked it, most had fallen asleep (it's a
"quiet" film), and the others had completely missed the intended moral
of the story. They thought it was about "making friends". Trying to
communicate sophisticated ideas like "immortality" is difficult for
children, since most people don't really understand or appreciate their
own mortality until after adolescence.
Alexis Bledel, Jonathan Jackson
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Ironically, the adults I talked to liked the movie for the same reasons
I did: it seemed like a nice, sweet film that touched upon a difficult
subject lightly and gracefully, all while presenting beautifully aesthetic
scenery. They also liked it because their kids did. However, from an
adult perspective, the target audience was so young, that the characters
were just a little too simple, the villain was a tad two-dimensional,
and the lesson learned didn't evoke a sense of profundity, leaving me
feeling it missed a better opportunity to be a more sophisticated drama.
Alexis Bledel, Jonathan Jackson
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In the end, the movie satisfied, but I came away with a sense that
"Tuck Everlasting" tried to serve two masters, leaving it a tad on the
bland side. This isn't the type of movie that should be so lukewarm,
especially given a strong cast of four academy-award winning stars and
a backer like Disney at the helm.
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