North

Starring: Elijah Wood, Bruce Willis, Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Drefus, Jon Lovitz, Matthew McCurley, Alan Arkin, Dan Aykroyd, Reba McEntire, Graham Greene, Kathy Bates, Abe Vigoda, Ben Stein, Kelly McGillis, Faith Ford, John Ritter, Scarlett Johansson
Directed by: Rob Reiner
Rating: PG
Genre: Comedy, Drama
1994

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: North (Elijah Wood) realizes his parents don't appreciate him at all. He decides to sue for his independence to find new parents. He wins the court decision, and has 3 months to find new parents who will appreciate what a great kid he is.

Review:

Tim: A lot of people really hate this movie (Siskel and Ebert weren't exactly fans). I think a lot of that is misplaced. I actually enjoyed this movie quite a bit. However, there are two major flaws that really do sink this film. For the most part, though, I was entertained as I watched this silly movie. For long stretches, I actually liked the film quite a bit. At the end, however, the flaws mount too strong of an attack, and I couldn't in good conscience claim North was a good movie.

I want to start by addressing the first concern. The biggest problem I had with this film is the racist or stereotypical views we have of a large section of people around the world. This movie makes gross generalizations of Texans, Eskimos, Hawaiians, Amish, Chinese, French, and others. I absolutely can't understand how anyone thought this was a good idea. We have some that are mostly harmless (Texans love everything bigger!) to some that are pretty shockingly bad (Eskimos send their elders out to die alone on icebergs when they no longer serve a purpose in the tribe). The whole stereotype aspect of the film really bothered me, and it represents one of the biggest flaws. Now, I will say this (and minor spoiler ahead, although I'll try not to come right out and say it). The stereotype explanation could be explained to a certain extent because the main character is a young kid who probably doesn't know much about these faraway people other than the stereotypes he's heard. I can see how this would make sense, but the film never tries to repudiate these awful generalizations, and therefore, seems to be promoting them. That is not cool.

The cast is excellent. Elijah Wood is one of the greatest child actors of all time. He just has that quality that makes you identify with him and care about him on screen. I thought he did a very good job and I enjoyed his performance. I also really liked Bruce Willis. It was nice to see Willis get away from action movies for a change, and he actually did a really good job. He played a whole host of different characters, but he did each one of them well. It was always a fun moment when Willis popped back on screen. He was likely my favorite aspect of the film. I really enjoyed the interactions between Willis and Wood. I thought these two actors worked very well together.

The supporting cast is impressive. It was fun to see Dan Aykroyd and Reba McEntire as bigger-than-life Texans. Their song and dance number was pretty funny. It was a little jarring to see Graham Greene and Kathy Bates as Eskimos. Green is Native American, but that's not "close enough". I didn't think they were very believable (or good) in those roles. It was cool to see Scarlett Johansson in a blink-and-you'll-miss her role (which was her film debut). I liked Jon Lovitz as the lawyer, and I have to give credit to young Matthew McCurley for a pretty incredible performance.

The second major flaw has to do with the ending, and I'll try not to be too spoilerish. At the beginning of the film, it certainly telegraphs a potential conclusion, and I said, "I really hope that this isn't......" Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened, which made the whole movie felt a bit pointless. I hated that cheap ending, and it certainly hurt the movie.

North is definitely a flawed movie, but I didn't hate it as much as many people do. I hated the ending and I hated the blatant stereotypes, but I enjoyed the basic story of a boy looking for new parents, only to discover that sometimes the grass isn't greener. This is a decent movie, and I did like certain aspects of it. Unfortunately, the flaws are pretty strong.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



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