Review of Son of Rambow (2007) by Malia D — 04 Jan 2009

This movie completely took me by surprise and happily so. I rented it the other night in preparation to watch with my nieces and nephew on NYE, thinking it was a going to be a pretty sterile kiddie flick with perhaps a few laughs for me. I also thought that perhaps it was trying to ride some wave of nostalgia from Stallone's having brought the Rambo character back to the multiplexes this year. Wrong. This was a wildly inventive and funny movie. It the story about finding friendship in adversity, childhood daydreams, and how powerful those daydreams can be to the dreamers. It's also very funny, charming, sly, and over the top. I loved it.

It takes place in England in about '82 or '83, and First Blood is still in first run. So, for those of you that are children of that period, you'll enjoy the impact that seeing that movie has on the two protagonists. I'm not going to spoil this, just rent it. It's still on the new releases shelf at Blockbuster. Go rent it this weekend.