Review of Little Boy (2015) by Alasdair B — 02 Sep 2015

Faith based films have never been that compeling. Over the last few years, we've gotten a variety of Christian films supporting Christian values. The heavy handed sport dramas have grown old. They've tried over and over, pumping out film after film. I thought I'd had enough after the colossal failure, Gods Not Dead. Then I witnessed Left Behind starring Nocholas Cage. By far, it's the worst faith based film in existence. Heaven is For Real was vastly better than the rest, despite my doubts as to whether or not the story is true. "Little Boy" is directed by Alejandro Monteverde. The cast includes Kevin James, Jakob Salvati, Emily Watson, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, and Tom Wilkinson.

In a small American town lives a little boy named Pepper Flynt Busbee (Salvati). Pepper lives a normal life. He and his father share a close bond. That bond it threatened when suddenly, the men are drafted to go to war. Pepper's older brother attempts to join, but he doesn't make it in. Therefore, his father must go in his place. Pepper struggles without his dad by his side. When a Japanese man comes to town, Pepper and the townsfolk don't take kindly to his presence.

The little fella playing our main character definitely surprised me. While the film wasn't superb, I felt that Jakob Salvati did an excellent job. With kid actors it's either win or lose, and more often than not its lose. Thankfully, this kid pulled through. While his performance was not perfect, he still does a good job. Unfortunately, the rest of the cast falls short, that is, except for Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa. He was undoubtedly the most interesting character in the film, and he certainly gave the best performance. Aside from that, Emily Wastsok and Tom Wilkonson both have minor roles, and they shine in them as well. Kevin James-unfortunately-makes an appearance. I truly despise him as an actor, he's just horrible.

The film itself is honestly well meaning. One of the bigger themes centers around tolerance and bigotry. This takes place during the Veitnam war, so there's allot of tension with the Japenese and the Americans. Here's where the film gets wobbly. In the film, the little boy calls the Japanese man a "Jap". This was common during that era, and the filmmakers were obviously not trying to be offensive. Unfortunately, it does come off a bit as offensive. Obviously, this was not the intent, but it just came out that way. That's not to say I couldn't get past it. It was honestly heartwarming to watch Pepper trying to become friends with this man, even if he was doing it for the wrong reasons. The worst of the film isn't it's slightly racially offensive parts, it's the intellectually offensive parts. The films message-being faith based-is if you have enough faith, you can do anything. I won't spoil it, but it was really stupid to say the least.

The heart of the film is ultimately what counts. They really try to convey some really important moral lessons, and this was the saving grace. It was also the worst part about the film. Pepper has a list of things he needs to do to strengthen his faith. One of those things includes becoming friends with the "Jap". Ultimately, the film doesn't teach us why we should be good to others. It's either to please a higher power, or strengthen our own personal faith. This is very wrong in the end, and demonstrates the problem with religious based mortality. We don't treat others well because of a list or for selfish reasons. We treat oir neighbors well because we are all human beings and it's the right thing to do.

"Little Boy" is beautifully shot and has lots of heart. I was surprised at this little film. It wasn't as bad as I anticipated. However, the film does unintentionally come off as offensive at times, and it's moral lessons, however important, don't feel very well grounded. Some of the performances are wonderful, some of them are very dull. In the end, the film has lots of heart and is well meaning. Families will enjoy this film, even if it does treat it's intended audience as stupid.