benjaminweber
Terrible CGI and special effects: Check
Meandering plot: Check
Blatant filler scenes: Check
Bad acting: Check
BONUS POINT, Actor trying to impersonate a more famous actor: Check
Ridiculous set-up: CheckOn their own, each of the above is excusable. They can even occur in good films, and some of them can even aid their film if done correctly. However, when stacked up on each other like they are in this film, they result in a bad film. Watch it if you enjoy laughably bad films.Postscript: A lot of people will defend bad children's films on the basis that children enjoy them. This is not an acceptable excuse, it either implies that children should be left alone to watch films, or that parents should be made to watch bad films. This negligent attitude to children's cinema is why studios produce films like The Emoji Movie, and why we now have a generation of cinema-goers that pays to watch Transformers films.
byson5186
To start off, this is a movie I hadn't heard of. One time while I was at the gym on the treadmill, one of the T.V.s had this movie on. It was on mute with closed captioning. It looked like a kid movie, yet it was more entertaining than the other things on T.V. like sports and the news. I was entertained with how much of it I saw while running the treadmill, and decided to rent it.I saw this movie, and even as an adult I loved it. Too bad it doesn't have the best reviews. I'll be a person that gives this movie a positive review. But, first I want to compare this to a story involving magic that we're all familiar with, Harry Potter. I've read the Harry Potter books and enjoyed them. I think they're clever, and I think the story of how J.K. Rowling didn't have the book originally published, but didn't give up and is now the second richest woman in England is very inspirational. At the same time, I think Harry Potter is extremely overrated and has its flaws in the book. One of the flaws, is I feel like the book focuses too much on the wizarding world, and not enough on the real world, and doesn't leave us with enough good messages, which I felt that this movie was inspirational, relatable, and left us with good messages.Now saying how Harry Potter is about a boy that's a wizard, this movie is about a boy named Bobby. The movie starts when he's 5, but we mostly see him as a 12-year old. He isn't considered a wizard, but a boy that is interested in magic, wanting to be a magician. Also, a shy boy who has a dog named Ozzy. He got that dog early in the movie, when it was stray not knowing the dog is very old and part of the wizarding community. Bobby walks everywhere with Ozzy, even places that you think normally wouldn't allow dogs. While Bobby looks for a book on magic, he really becomes a magician, and Ozzie immediately becomes more real. However, the main wizard villain is after the book too, and Bobby quickly learns that he is the chosen one.This movie has wizarding action. The kind of action we like to see in movies that involve wizards and action. This action to me, felt more realistic than the action we see in Harry Potter. The magic tricks felt like real magic tricks that we could imagine seeing in a magic show. I'll say that in the Harry Potter Universe, the magic in it doesn't feel much like magic, but just part of the wizarding world. What the wizards have and are capable of. This movie gave more of a feel of what we think of as magic.Another thing to say which I feel like this scene alone beats Harry Potter. I'd say the scariest scene in the movie, was a scene involving a suit of armor. I don't want to spoil it and say what happens, but that scene felt too real while watching it. It was very well done!! It could make you imagine being in the same situation.I feel like this movie could be even scarier than Harry Potter, because a lot of the things felt more real. I'm not saying this movie was too scary, definitely not. But, it did have scary scenes, especially the scene I mentioned above. You also really feel for the characters, and you hope Bobby can succeed at magic, along with getting money to help his mom who is having trouble paying for the house.I don't see why people don't like this movie? It's family friendly and at the same time has scary scenes. But, it really offers a perspective and good message. Sometimes, we have to believe in ourselves, along with getting ourselves out, not just being so shy. To me those messages came to me more than the messages from the Harry Potter books. I'd consider this a completely different story than Harry Potter, and a little better. I'd recommend this to you. But if you're like most of these other people reviewing the movie, you might not like it. If you're like me, and if what I posted above makes this movie sound interesting, you'll like it.
ice ruby red
... but this one was hard to sit through!The special effects were very cheesy and the magic was unimaginative, except for the moon part, which was pretty cool.The acting was abysmal overall. The actress who played the mom was superb, but the actor who played the starring role was just awful! I can see him in a smaller part, but to cast him in the starring role...? Who thought that was a good idea?! No disrespect towards the lad; he's still young, and with experience might be a fine actor someday, but his performance in this movie was as wooden as a fence post. Better casting in the lead role might have made a significant difference. The evil magician was no better, but at least he wasn't the main character and thus was tolerable.Spoiler warning ....There is an obvious hole in the plot at the end when Bobby puts his dog's service vest away because he no longer has the need for a crutch. That goes completely against the whole time-change arc! If the accident never happened, then Bobby would never have developed agoraphobia and the need for a service dog.I don't have any small children, and I imagine that a young child might actually enjoy this movie, but if you are over the age of 10 you will probably be disappointed. It's truly one of the blandest films I've seen in some time!
