Phoebe in Wonderland

Starring: Felicity Huffman, Patricia Clarkson, Elle Fanning, Bill Pullman, Campbell Scott, Ian Colletti
Directed by: Daniel Barnz
Rating: PG
Genre: Drama
2008

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A troubled girl (Elle Fanning) struggles with her family and seeks comfort in a school play.

Review:

Tim: This might be somewhat surprising, but I really did not care for Phoebe in Wonderland. This is a small, independent film. It's the kind of movie bigger stars do to build up their indie cred. There were some interesting ideas here, but I felt like first-time director Daniel Barnz displayed his lack of experience at every turn. This is a movie that really disappointed.

I spent much of this movie stumbling through a fog of uncertainty. It felt like the movie purposely kept the audience in the dark, and it took a very long time for me to catch up. I felt thrown into this story about a troubled girl, but I had no idea why she was troubled. I had no idea what was going on, which made much of the movie unenjoyable to me. Eventually, we do discover the source of her malaise. I still can't figure out if that was supposed to be the central mystery that propelled the film forward, or some kind of surprising twist? The early scenes did a very poor job of establishing that. I spent the majority of the movie wondering what was happening, and slowly considering that something might be wrong with this little girl. The whole experience wasn't much fun at all. The film could have done a better job of setting the whole story up.

The cast is very good, which is almost a shame, because the movie around them isn't very good. I typically dislike Felicity Huffman, but I thought she did a good job here. She's not good enough to reverse my opinion of her, but I have to admit I at least considered it. Patricia Clarkson is an actress that seems really hit-or-miss for me, but she delivered a strong performance here. She was odd, certainly, but worked well in the film. Bill Pullman was also a welcome addition to the cast, although he didn't have the opportunity to do very much at all.

Elle Fanning is our titular Phoebe, and does a tremendous job in her first starring role. She has the potential to be an incredible actress. She is believable and enjoyable as Phoebe. She really displays the emotion, confusion, and pain that this character experiences throughout the course of the film. Now, any time you watch child actors give a good performance, there's always the lingering question about whether they are just being themselves and well coached, or do they really have lasting talent. I believe Elle's big sister Dakota has true talent, and from this film, I suspect Elle will be around a long, long time. She gives an impressive performance here.

This film tries to be edgy by touching on themes of mental illness, while combining it with an "Alice in Wonderland" fantasy element. This doesn't really work all that well. I saw the connections, but it didn't add much to the overall film. My biggest problem with Phoebe in Wonderland was simply that watching it wasn't an enjoyable experience. Even at a relatively short 96 minutes, it felt like torture to sit through. I wanted to turn the film off numerous times. I've seen almost 2,500 movies in my life, and that is rare for me to want to give up on a film. It's a symptom of a movie that doesn't give the audience a compelling reason to watch. This is a film that receives too much credit, because it was a weak, forgettable film. I disliked this movie quite a bit.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 4



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