This film tells that story of a mysterious man (Anthony Hopkins) who enlists the aid of a brilliant young boy (Anton Yelchin). It seems that the man will save the life's boy, then they share a summer's adventures together. In this moment, they come to love one another before the inevitable happens in a short time.
Hicks's film is magical, but its magic comes not from the inexplicable phenomena we most commonly associate with King, but from the charms of childhood.
Looking Closer
December 06, 2004
If good cinematographers are 'panning for gold' with their camera lens, Sobocinski has put his pan in the river and come back with a fortune.
Common Sense Media
December 24, 2010
Above average coming of age story.
Village Voice
October 02, 2001
The unblinking sympathy for kids struggling with evil and with the strange frequencies of prepubescent passion can, if your defenses are down, lay you out.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
January 27, 2005
Hicks' film is a beautiful trifle, a neat trick of light and sound to coax empathy
San Francisco Chronicle
September 28, 2001
Unabashedly sentimental, it's meant to touch our hearts in profound and important ways, but misses the mark by drawing too deeply from a pool of schmaltz.
What happened to the prodigious vitality of Scott Hicks (Shine): His third feature sugffers from the same stifling artistic treatment that his second did, and this one is based on stories by Stephen King!
