Last week I posted a giveaway for this DVD based on the Wendy Mass novel of the same name (The giveaway is still open for another week, so enter now for a chance to win the DVD and the book).
It’s Spring Break this week, so I pulled the disc out yesterday, and Kyle and I watched.
The first line seemed to come right out of the book, and got a laugh from Kyle:
“It’s the first day of summer, I’m almost 13 years old, and I smell like peanut butter” (quoted loosely from memory)
When I checked it against the book, it wasn’t exactly how it started, but many of the pieces from that scene were word for word, and the important thing was that it “felt” like the book.
The movie has a little bit of a low-budget feel — think live-action TV show, versus big screen blockbuster — but that didn’t hamper mine or Kyle’s enjoyment. As a second grader, he’s probably a little under the target audience, certainly of the book, but he was pretty rapt. In fact, any time I talked to him, he paused the movie to insure he didn’t miss a word. That’s sort of unusual from him (who is usually the one doing the talking through TV shows that we watch as a family).
Knowing I was writing a review, he weighed in with, “It was a great movie.”
It’s been years since I read the book, but the characters felt right. Of course, there are several plotlines completely left out, and so in comparing it to the book, it does seem a little shallow, but the main storyline — of Jeremy trying to unlock a box that his father left for him to open when he turned 13 (and which would reveal the meaning of life) — is complete, quirky Wendy Mass characters included.
I can definitely see teachers using this movie in the classroom, or it’s the kind of movie that you could show a range of kids from 8 – 12 and you might be able to entertain all of them. It’s clean as a whistle with no sexual innuendo (other than Lizzy saying that if she needed to she could use her “feminine wiles” on the security guard). There’s no bad language. There is one scene of a seance/Ouija board, but it’s not taken seriously (there’s lots of sighing and eye-rolling from Jeremy in frustration).
Remember, you can win a copy of the DVD and the book by leaving a comment on that post.
Jennifer Donovan enjoys sharing books AND movies with her kids. She blogs at Snapshot.