Son of Rambow

2007 dramatic comedy

Rating: 11/20

Plot: Will lives a sheltered existence under a protective God-fearing mother's thumb. He's forced to sit in the hall whenever teachers at school show videos, and he reads Bible verses in front of movie theaters as some form of protest against violence in cinema. It's during one of his classroom movie times that he meets little hellcat Lee Carter who exposes him to a pirated copy of the first Rambo movie and opens the already imaginative Will Proudfoot's eyes to a new exciting world. They form a special bond and work together to make their own Rambo-esque movie.

Sopping wet with sentimentality and with characters I unfortunately just didn't care about that much, this really could have been a lot better. There are some nifty touches--some quirky characters, some animated fantasy bits--but this just sort of plods along, never rising above anything more than a quirky novelty until it abruptly changes into a feel-good story about friendship and family. Too bad. I really wanted to like this one.