| TUCK EVERLASTING |
 2002 - USADirector:
Jay Russell - Reviewed by Vickie
So, imagine my surprise as the story unfolded before me, in all its supernatural, kind of mythical, slightly Twilight Zone-y kids' book glory. Who knew? Cool! Tuck Everlasting, for the remainder of the unintiated masses, follows Winnie Foster (Bledel), a rebellious young girl who'd rather play stickball than lace up her corset, much to the chagrin of her icy mother (Amy Irving) and clueless father (Victor Garber). One day, after fleeing her home in lieu of being sent away to boarding school, Winnie stumbles upon the Tuck family, who live deep, deeeep in the woods where no one can find them. Creepy. There's patriarch Angus (William Hurt), his loving wife Mae (Sissy Spacek), and sons Miles (Scott Bairstow)—he's the surly one, and Jesse (Jonathan Jackson)—he's the cute one. But the Tucks have a secret and one they don't want the rest of the world to find out, so Winnie is forced to stay lest she leave and expose them. See, and this is what I didn't know going in so if you don't want to know either stop reading right now, Jesse and his family have discovered a veritable fountain of youth. A spring that allows them to remain forever young—or, as it were, forever as they were when they first drank its water. Winnie, though, remains unaware, knowing only that the Tucks are, like, the neatest family ever, and she's quickly welcomed into their fold. She makes a home for herself, starts falling for Jesse and gleefully adopts a lifestyle that's decidedly less rigid than the one she left behind. But her idyllic new existence is soon threatened on numerous fronts, and things get really, really complicated. Let me just say this: it all involves a mysterious man (Ben Kingsley) dressed in a (garish!) yellow suit. Tuck Everlasting is a perfect Disney movie, in the classic sense. It's a 100%, Grade-A family film and it works on that level. It's a really nice (in the best way) story, with endearing characters and lovely settings and, most importantly, features William Hurt and Sissy Spacek in two of their most warm, fuzzy roles ever. Bledel makes the transition from television to film with ease, and I suspect Mr. Jackson will maintain his following of starry-eyed teenage girls after this sweetly heroic role. I can't tell you whether it's faithful to the novel or a disappointing adaptation because (as I said) I've never read it. But for me, it was more than enjoyable as a stand-alone movie with or without its pedigree. [Read more: Moviepie's Jerry interviews one of the stars of the film in A good bet for "Everlasting" fame: An interview with Alexis Bledel] |
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Maybe it's because I didn't grow up in the U.S. (where the novel is
part of the middle-school curriculum), or maybe it's because I'm just
horribly un-well-read, but I had never heard of Tuck Everlasting before
this movie. Didn't have a clue what it was about beyond the fact that
the film would be a period drama set in the early 1900s and would mark
the big-screen debut of Gilmore Girls star Alexis Bledel.
