Review of The Dust Factory (2004) by Kevin R — 03 Jul 2014

Just believe before you look.

Ryan was involved in a horrible accident one day that left him scarred and a bit of a recluse. He doesn't like to hang out with other kids and he doesn't talk much, only to his friend Rocky. One day is grandmother dies and he starts thinking if that is the easy way out of his troubles. His grandfather tells him a tale of The Dust Factory where he mentally escapes and ultimately may help him deal with his problems. Once in the Dust Factory he meets a girl, Melanie, who teaches him he'll need to leap to live life and not just let it pass him by.

"If there wasn't a God...that would be harsh.".

Eric Small, director of the 10,000 Days television series and the upcoming 10,000 Days movie, delivers The Dust Factory in his directorial debut. The storyline for this picture is a bit eccentric but definitely fun to watch unfold. I did enjoy the characters but the dialogue was a bit plain. The settings were cool and unique and the acting was pretty good. The cast includes Peter Horton, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Hayden Panettiere, Ryan Kelley, Kim Meyers, and Michael Angarano.

"Grandpa doesn't even know that grandma is gone.".

I grabbed The Dust Factory off Netflix as a movie my daughter and I could watch together. Unfortunately, she's only 5 and this was about to fall off Netflix online so we watched it last weekend (she wasn't overly interested and probably felt this was a "daddy movie"). I will say the ultimate evolution of the main character was worth following but the overall film was very average and kind of blah. I do recommend watching this once, but this isn't on the level of My Girl or Stand by Me.

"I'm definitely not big on jumping.".

Grade: C+.