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Wide AwakeRating:
Release Date: 08 April, 2003 Retail Price: $19.99 Sorry, this product is not currently available. Cast: Complete Cast (9 total) |
Wide Awake Reviews
One of Shyamalan's best movies
Wide Awake will be a very pleasant surprise for fans of Shyamalan's more recent movies; I rate this as one of his best. Even if you're not a Shyamalan fan, look this one up; other than a very strong story, it has no connection to Shyamalan's horror movies. This is a funny-serious, Christian-themed family movie. Many stereotypes about Catholic education are used, but these are done in a light-hearted manner, one might say lovingly; the positives of a Catholic education can be discerned right along with the stereotypically bad. Religious questions are presented in ways that should not offend.
Joseph Cross carries this movie in the lead as the 11 yr old Joshua, who is struggling with the passing away of his beloved grandfather. Joshua decides to go on a mission: being enrolled in a strict Catholic school, and having strong religious memories with his grandfather, Joshua decides he needs to talk directly with God about his grandfather's passing. The mission is to figure out how to get God to agree to this. Not surprisingly, Shyamalan's story is very strong. More surprising are the many funny scenes involving school hi-jinks, along the lines of many lesser kids' movies. Shyamalan smartly keeps these under control; they are not overdone or screechy, and not surprisingly, are a lot more fun and memorable than the usual fare. These are mixed in with many serious scenes that carry meaning for young and old alike.
Although Cross and the story carry the movie, they are buttressed by many other fine performances. Rosie O'Donnell as a nun, Dennis O'Leary and Dana Delany as Joshua's parents, and Robert Loggia as the grandfather are excellent in providing a solid and caring adult base for Joshua. There is a great cadre of child actors surrounding Cross, led by Timothy Reifsynder as Joshua's best friend.
The final resolution to the movie is a bit too supernatural for my tastes. Even so, everything leading up to that ending, especially Rosie's school-ending commentary and Joshua's "Wide Awake" speech, both recapping the movie, are excellent. Highly recommended.
Twist Ending!
I thought Sixth Sense was Mortimer Shyamalan's first film, but when I happened across this at a local flea market, I just had to snap it up.
Yes, I buy fleas. You got a problem with that? Anyway, true to the style of Mortimer's distinctive oeuvre, the movie is crafted around a clever genre conceit which is carefully hidden away behind the seemingly mundane plot line and then hinted at throughout with lots of arty little boluses of symbolism, foreshadowing, subtext, and big red neon signs that flash on and off in Morse code for no apparent reason.
I think this movie is pretty hard to find, so I'm revealing the ending below the line of hyphens that is below this paragraph...
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At the end, it turns out that the school is actually a *magnet school*, and Joshua is the only student enrolled there who is not actually made of IRON.
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