Review of The Odd Life of Timothy Green (2012) by Stuart K — 05 Aug 2013

Written and directed by Peter Hedges (Pieces of April (2003) and Dan in Real Life (2007)) from a story by Ahmet Zappa (son of Frank). This is a sweet fantasy film which might be sentimental, but it's the kind of film that is seldom made anymore, and it's a good children's story with a lot of heart and some gentle humour along the way.

This is the kind of film that Disney should be making, something small and personal rather than epic and overblown. Cindy (Jennifer Garner) and Jim Green (Joel Edgerton), are unable to have children, so after an evening of drinking wine, they write down all the things they want in a child and put it in a box and bury it in their garden.

That night, a rainstorm appears directly over their house, a 10 year old boy called Timothy (CJ Adams) appears at their house claiming to be their son. They can't believe it at first, but they soon discover he has all the characteristics Cindy and Jim wanted in a child.

However, Timothy has one very strange feature about him, he has leaves growing out of his legs. At school, Timothy becomes friends with Joni Jerome (Odeya Rush), who discovers his unusual feature, but accepts him for who he is, when everyone else in town can't seem to do.

It's a sweet, innocent film showing a warm, autumnal side to small-town America, and it has some lovely moments in it. Don't listen to what most of the critics said, they seem to have missed the point, this is the kind of film that Frank Capra would make had he still been alive today.

It's about acceptance and how life can throw strange and peculiar things at us.