Posted on 04/26/2015 1:24:46 AM PDT by walkinginthedesert
Alejandro Monteverde and Eduardo Verastegui have produced and directed another great Catholic and family centered movie. This movie should be watched and enjoyed by all families.
Little Boy is a movie about Pepper Flynt Busbee "Little Boy" (Jakob Salvati) who is often harassed and bullied by most of his peers, and which the whole town is soon harassing as well, based on his petite nature. It is only his father, James Busbee (Michael Rapaport) who is his only real companion and friend. James Busbee is however soon drafted to the military to fight in the Second World War, as London Busbee (David Henrie) his eldest son, ends up finding out that he is flat footed, and is for this reason declined admission to the army.
Pepper Flynt Busbee "Little Boy" simply wants his father back home and when he sees a magic show of Ben Eagle, he then believes 
that he can do many things, such as bringing his dad back home if he simply believes. It is only when Little Boy goes to Mass and hears a sermon by a priest, Father Crispin (Eduardo Verastegui) about how faith even the size of a mustard seed can move something as large as a mountain. In conjunction with this sermon, it is only when Little Boy meets Father Oliver (Tom Wilkinson) that he is given spiritual direction in regards of how to to best use his faith. Fr. Oliver insists that if he really wants his father back home then he must work out and complete an ancient list "the seven corporal works of mercy" as well as an additional eight work; making friends with the "enemy" Hashimoto (Cary Tagawa).
It is in being given this list that Little Boy must learn to make friends with his perceived "enemy" Hashimoto "A Jap". It is in this interaction between Little Boy and Hashimoto that a friendship begins and lasts throughout the whole movie. Hashimoto and Little Boy help each other out in a mutual way. In the first place Hashimoto helps Little Boy to complete his list of visiting the prisoners, clothing the naked, sheltering the homeless, and the rest of the corporal acts of mercy. Similarly Hashimoto also helps Little Boy to trust in himself and be more assertive, while this relationship that develops between Little Boy and Hashimoto also provides Hashimoto with a source of companionship.
The movie of Little By is truly a great movie for all families to watch. There is a lot of themes which make this appropriate for all families including its pro-Christian and pro-family themes. Some of these themes include the Christian theme of the three theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity. Other themes which make up Little Boy includes an emphasis on loyalty both in the cases of Little Boy wanting his father back home, and not stopping until he is back safe, as well as Little Boy's mother Emma Busbee's (Emily Watson) marital fidelity to her husband, when she tells Dr. Fox (Kevin James) that "she is always going to be a Busbee."
There are also some other themes which make this both a pro-Christian and pro-family movie such as its pro-life stance. The movie emphasizes the bad consequences of bullying, racism and prejudices, and even of wanting to end the war as soon as possible. All of these pro-life themes do a good job in emphasizing the human dignity of life as we are made in the image and likeness of God.
A last significant theme is that of redemption. This is shown in the redemption of several individuals such as both Pepper Flynt "Little Boy" and his brother London Busbee. This is clearly seen in their eventual redemption away from the stains of hatred and prejudice which they both faced throughout the movie.
If you want to see what a divide there is between film critics and the viewing public, go to Rotten Tomatoes. The critics are giving the movie 14% and the users are giving it 88%.
Is it as good as Fried Green Tomatoes?
Rottentomatoes.com is a movie review site, but I guess you knew that.
Based on the title, I thought “Little Boy” would be about the Hiroshima bomb.
That “divide” is very common.
We used to think that “Hollywood was just in it for the money” but family movies are nearly always box-office hits, even if they are critical failures. And often enough, the opposite is true as well. Vile nasty movies that totally plummet at the theaters are often critically acclaimed as “artistic”, “edgy”, “groundbreaking”, “courageous” etc.
Well, I suppose a big bomb is “groundbreaking”! LOL
But it appears that Hollywood has an agenda, otherwise they would be grinding out nothing but wholesome, fun, delightful, family-oriented, religious, and wonderfully lucrative movies.
Mark Levin had a couple of movie review/commercials about the movie last week. It’s on my list.
Sounds like someone decided to make a typical forties flick set in the forties.
From what I’ve seen of David Henrie who plays the older brother he seems like a good kid.
He’s playing a teenage Ronald Reagan in an upcoming movie. Says he grew up in a Reagan household and says they have made it very clear that they expect him to honor Reagan.
I think after the VERY expensive failures of Stealth and After Earth, the movie industry realizes they can't afford to make blockbuster movies with an Leftist point of view. That's why the really big blockbuster movies--especially those for worldwide consumption--try to minimize their political views nowadays. Instead, agenda-driven movies tend to be made at much lower cost, mostly because the studios know that success of the big blockbuster movies will cover the cost of the less expensive agenda-driven movies.
Good to know.
“agenda-driven”
Cheap or expensive, that is exactly what they are. And they sometimes have an advertising budget that is more than the cost of making the picture.
Actually I did not, your post suggested going to “Rotten Tomatoes” and I took it as meaning a movie by that title.
Finally go to see this today. What a spectacular movie. just loved it, although I wished I had some Kleenex. If you have chance to go I heartily recommend it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.