Review of A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019) by Theredsky — 29 Nov 2019

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is a wonderful tribute to Fred Rogers while also telling a good story about forgiveness and kindness. Obviously, Tom Hanks does a fantastic job. It’s one of those few perfect casting decisions.

I can see no one else playing Fred Rogers. The rest of the actors do a pretty good job but my issue is with some of the characters. Some of the characters are not memorable but Matthew Rhys’ character was extremely unlikeable.

The film tries to portray his character as unlikeable for the first part of the film but they did this a little too much to the point where I started dreading seeing him on screen. It does get better as his characters arc progresses but you don’t want to make your character too unlikeable or the audience won’t be able to sympathize with him.

The story of the film is pretty good. I somewhat like seeing this overly pessimistic character being shown forgiveness and kindness from one of the nicest men on the planet. The film knows how to tug on your heartstrings and give a heartfelt story.

Every word out of Tom Hanks’ mouth is so impactful and powerful. There is a beautiful scene in the later half of the film where Tom Hanks talks about death. It was incredibly beautiful and powerful to me having had a relative pass away earlier this year.

I also really enjoyed the opening 10 minutes. It’s shot and looks like a Mister Rogers’ episode that introduces the main characters and the main themes of the film which I thought was great. There a handful of technical aspects that I really appreciated or liked.

When the film transitions to different locations, instead of showing shots of the city, it shows a model of the city created in a way that looks similar to the models on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.

I thought the music was pretty good although not very memorable, same with the cinematography. If you love Mr. Rogers’, then I think you might like this movie. Overall, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood showcases a fantastic performance from Tom Hanks with a beautiful and heartwarming story and themes even if Matthew Rhys’ character is extremely unlikeable for the most part.