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Four orphans, all born in December (hence, December Boys) are given a seaside holiday treat for their birthdays. What starts out as the best time they’ve ever had turns ugly when they discover that the couple next door is planning to adopt one of them. A fierce competition to win over the couple’s attention ensues, threatening to break the strong ties that hold them together.

It’s the first time we get to see Daniel Radcliffe out of Harry Potter mode. He’s already garnered rave reviews from doing Equus on the West End, with people claiming that he has successfully shrugged off the magical cloak of Potter—literally and figuratively, but we didn’t get to catch that (yeah, see, we were late for our plane for London so we didn’t get to go—not! *Sigh*). So in essence, this is the first time we’ll be seeing Dan take on a different role and judge for ourselves if the boy has a career after the Potter franchise wraps up (well, unless you caught that plane to London).

No worries, Daniel fans, he can do more than Alohamora and Wingardium Leviosa. Apart from one small blink-and-you-miss-it scene where he tried to make a point by gesturing with his hands, I didn’t feel or see Harry Potter. I saw his character, Maps. (Good on you, Dan!)

*SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!*

I love his awkward but sweet “love” scenes with co-star Theresa Palmer and that huge tantrum he throws after she walks out on him without saying goodbye. (Sniff.)

Although it is good that he chose a small movie, and that he decided that the movie wasn’t going to be mainly about his character: He’s only the secondary lead. The lead is played by Lee Cormie who plays Misty, from whose (four) eyes we see the story unfold, I wish he chose a stronger project though. It’s not a bad movie, guys. It just feels that it could’ve been tons better. It made me laugh, it made my friend cry, but I wanted it to be more poignant than it was, I suppose. There’s a certain element missing in the way the movie fell together.

It’s a small, intimate Australian indie film and it feels that way, too. The story is a simple heartwarming tale about friendship and brotherhood between four young orphans. Sadly, apart from Misty and Maps, you hardly ever get a good feel for who the other two orphans are. And then there were scenes with a wild horse and a big fish which, although I am sure are ripe with symbolisms that I’m probably just too dense to grasp, seem so out of place that they’re just off-putting more than anything else!

But, me, I watched it mainly to see how Radcliffe would do without the wand, the specs, and the dragons. And I felt he did well enough and that the movie served him well in the end. I just hope the next one will be more rewarding for the audience as well.

Here’s a little trivia for ya: I read somewhere that another famous child actor—Freddie Highmore—was attached to play Misty at one point and that it was Freddie’s mom who suggested Radcliffe for the role of Maps to the producers! Highmore had to back out though when his grandmother got sick and he couldn’t fly off to Oz for filming.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 28th, 2007 at 6:00 am and is filed under Media (Books, CDs, DVDs, Movies). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.