Review:
"The Odd Life of Timothy Green"
Release Date: Aug. 15, 2012
Rating: PG Running Time: 104 minutes Blessed with an infectious smile and an admirable can-do attitude, the brave young hero of the Disney live-action fableThe Odd Life of Timothy Green is Mother Earth’s answer to Pinocchio. Like Geppetto’s wooden puppet, 10-year-old Timothy Green (CJ Adams) is wished to life by a couple that cannot conceive a child of their own. He sprouts from the same spot in the backyard where Cindy and Jim Green (Jennifer Garner and Joel Edgerton) buried a box containing a list of all the personality traits they hoped for in a son. Timothy appears to be no different than your average preteen—except for the leaves that grow around his ankles. By taking in Timothy, and treating him like their own, the Greens come to experience the highs and lows of parenting. Charming and sentimental without being sickly sweet, The Odd Life of Timothy Green employs fantasy as a means to explore the reality of parenting. Every new parent wants to be the perfect mother or father, but anyone who has a child knows it’s impossible to be truly perfect. Every parent makes mistakes—some small, some big—and the Peter Hedges-directed Odd Life of Timothy Green takes the position that the best parent is the one who learns from his or her mistakes so that they can grow as the provider, protector and teacher of their children. Everything is trial and error at first for the Greens, and if they fail more times than they succeed, if it’s not for the wont of trying. Garner and Edgerton shake with nervous energy whenever their anxious Greens are near Timothy, despite the calm presence that the instantly likable Adams brings to The Odd Life of Timothy Green. The Greens place undue pressure on themselves, and the expectations they have for themselves and Timothy are sky high and impossible to reach. If you have children, you have walked in the Greens’ shoes, so it’s easy to empathize with them as they strive to provide Timothy with comfort and support. Of course, Timothy is there to teach them what it really means to be a parent. The magic to be found in The Odd Life of Timothy Green has less to do with what occurs around the boy but the way in which the Greens embrace their new role with very little preparation. Then again, nothing can truly prepare you for parenthood until you hold your own bundle of joy for the first time. Robert Sims Aired: Aug. 16, 2012 Web site: http://movies.disney.com/the-odd-life-of-timothy-green |
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