La llave mágica

Underrated and highly involving movie for kids. A young boy finds out that his cupboard has magical powers and can turn plastic into reality. He first turns a plastic Indian into a real human being. The movie teaches about responsibility but in an understandable way. It isn't patronizing nor childish, which means older audiences should relate to it also. It also mediates on life and death at certain points, and was the first film in a long time to be genuinely emotionally shocking. The relationship between the Indian and the cowboy was very well developed as they started to bond over their tragedies. The film does have a number of loose edges. Rishi Bhat was particularly annoying at times, but in a way he was necessary to play off Scardino. Even Scardino wasn't always a lovable protagonist. In one scene he kicks his brother's pet rat down the stairs, in an event where the rat clearly would have died. As the film hadn't relied on cartoon logic up until that point it was a bit out of place. Great effects, and seeing Darth Vader vs. a T-Rex kind of made up for those moments. A more innocent time when children's movies didn't have to be loud and crass.

Forget reviews saying this is not as good as the book. No films are are a good as the book! Watch this movie with an 8 year old child and you will see how good the film is.

Thank you Frank Oz for a wonderful film. The acting from the young children is above average and the tearful ending just right for a young audience. Interesting to note Steve Coogan plays a miniature model come to life - something he repeats later in his career in A Night At The Museum. Typecasting?

The effects are also very good. Remember this is 1995 when CGI was in it's infancy - but the miniaturisation of the cast is flawless.

This film was special. It's not to say it ranks high amongst the worlds films technically (which is not to say it fails in this regard – it simply does not depend upon special effects), but the underlying theme is gentle and beautifully presented. The child actors' performances are solid. Especially the lead 'Omri', and his friend (whom I really liked and really disliked respectively - (hence his acting ability)). It's an innocent story with great imagination, and doesn't take itself too seriously. The relationship and growth that the main character develops with Little Bear (the Indian in the cupboard) is special. It eventually takes on a father/son dynamic after a role reversal or sorts from the Creator/created dynamic the boy has with Little Bear at first. I was touched by this relationship and by Omri's innocence. Frank Oz imagination is conveyed well through this work. I can easily imagine being in Omri's shoes and enjoy this film each time I watch it. Whether you watch this with kids or not, odds are you'll enjoy it.

I must first say I was shocked to see that the average rating given this film was below 6 (when I checked it in Jan of '05). While I gave it a 10, I fully expected at least a mid 7 from the IMDb audience. It is a wonderful film that I love to show to my children. What's not to like? It has a unique plot - that of an Indian coming to life in a young boy's cupboard, and wonderful acting and music. Through the boy's experiences with the Indian (wonderfully played by Litefoot) he comes to a new level of maturity. Hal Scardino's acting is natural and totally believable. If you are tired of the cut-out child actors that Hollywood gives us too often, then you'll love Hal. What a fabulously underplayed performance. The ending always makes me and my wife cry. There are so few really good films for children. I hate to suffer through other films I bought for the kids (like "Inspector Gadget" - a truly awful film) and I wish that there were more films like this one. This is a wonderful film and I heartily recommend it.

I might be coming from a bit of a biased angle here but I remember seeing this film countless times growing up. It was recorded from TV on a blank VHS tape by my grandmother and I will never forget those days watching it over at her house. The point is, if I seem a bit too positive about this film, it's because I will always associate it with those childhood memories.

With that said, The Indian in the Cupboard is a perfectly fine film. As someone who likes films that are on a smaller scale, I do enjoy this, more or less, slice-of-life style and it is actually quite refreshing with its slower pace and more relaxed cinematography when compared to many of the big blockbuster films that come out today.

One thing I really have to commend this film for are its visual effects. Bringing to life the idea of tiny people and big people interacting and existing in the same frame, as well as the environments the little people are in have aged surprisingly well. I will admit, when revisiting this film, I was a little apprehensive about whether or not the special effects would hold up, as even some of the big blockbusters from years later that rely heavily on special effects don't hold up over time. 25 years later, however, this film still looks as good as it did to me back when I was a kid. I was pleasantly surprised as, by no means did I ever think that anything in this film looked too artificial or bad in any way.

The soundtrack, I remember, was one of my favorite aspects of this film back when I was a kid, and it too, stands the test of time. Not only does it help sell the sentimental direction of the film, but it also helps to serve as something of a time capsule of what the 90s were kind of like.

I can't help but feel like this film is a genuine product of the 1990s, but not the obnoxious side of it that is constantly celebrated across the internet. I think it captures the 90s in more of a down-to-earth sense. It's difficult to explain but the side of the 90s it captures is that good-feeling and a sense of innocence that I believe many people are nostalgic for. For me personally, while watching this it seemed only natural that after it was over, I would go and play a Super Nintendo game or something. This film really does a good job at taking one back to the simpler times, I think.

For the most part, the acting in this film is fine. The only real note about it I have is that sometimes Omri's reaction shots look less like reactions and more like blank stares, and since they hold those particular shots for long periods of time, they kind of alternate between funny and unsettling. But it isn't fair to criticize child actors too much, and other than that, the kids in this film do an excellent job at portraying kids. Sometimes films that use child actors have the tendency to have child actors act like the adult director's approximation of how a kid would act and as a result, it comes off as very silly- this film does not have that problem and I'm happy that that's the case.

I think the thing that keeps this film from crossing into a higher score, for me, is that, while I greatly enjoyed it, I'm not sure if it would be considered something necessarily special by someone who does not have a history with it like I do. With that said, I do highly recommend it as I think it is a film worth seeing for a number of reasons. I was sure this was more of a Hallmark-type of film, but it got a theatrical release and, perhaps, it's of higher quality as a result? I highly recommend it and I can't do so enough.