Secondhand Lions **** (2003, Haley Joel Osment, Michael Caine, Robert Duvall, Kyra Sedgwick) – Classic Movie Review 1166

Writer-director Tim McCanlies’s 2003 Walt Disney movie stars The Sixth Sense’s Haley Joel Osment, who is superb as introverted young Walter, a kid sent off by his mom to live with his eccentric, story-telling great uncles, Garth and Hub (Michael Caine and Robert Duvall), on a farm in Texas.

The acting is exquisite, with the shamelessly scene-stealing veterans knowing exactly what to do when faced with the daunting challenge of performing with children and animals. This adorable coming-of-age story will warm hearts everywhere and should bring tears to many eyes.

Kyra Sedgwick has an ungrateful part as Osment’s greedy, uncaring mom Mae, who first abandons him to the uncles, then is quickly back on the scene when she hears that they have hidden a fortune in their farm house.

The British PG cinema rating is a cut version but the DVD/ video version 12 is complete.

Originally the film had a different ending that was not well received by the test audience so a new ending was shot. Patrick Doyle’s score features music by the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra and Ola Onabule.

Osment was paid only $150,000 for The Sixth Sense, but that helped him to earn $1 million for Pay It Forward (2000) and $2 million for Artificial Intelligence: AI. He graduated from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in 2011 and continues filming.

http://derekwinnert.com/the-sixth-sense-classic-film-review-131/

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© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1166

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more film reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/