Tuck Everlasting

This is the best adaptation of a classic children's book I've seen in a very long time. Nearly everything in this film is just right. Of all the live-action films that Walt Disney produced in his lifetime, one he was very proud of was the 1960 POLLYANNA, and TUCK EVERLASTING reminded me of POLLYANNA in several key aspects. Like POLLYANNA, TUCK has a meticulous attention to period details (it takes place in 1914). Also like POLLYANNA, it has some high-powered acting talent in peripheral roles, with the main focus of the story on younger, less well-known actors. The cinematography is beautiful, with a rich interplay of light and shadow, and to best appreciate this aspect, you should try to see it in a theater with the brightest picture available. Like another classic children's book (CHARLOTTE'S WEB) TUCK EVERLASTING explores philosophical concepts of life and death and eternity that most adult films, much less children's films, ever touch on. I hope that TUCK doesn't end up comparable to POLLYANNA in one key area: lack of box-office success. Walt was extremely disappointed when, despite the loving attention he garnished on the film, audiences for the most part stayed away. TUCK EVERLASTING deserves to be a huge success. Hollywood has come under frequent criticism for not making enough family-friendly films, but it seems that when a rich, intelligent film does come out, it's ignored. I hope and pray that this one won't be.

Like many other people on this website, I myself had to read the novel upon which this film is based when I was in the sixth grade. I really can't remember it that much, but seeing the movie brought some of it back to me.

The movie strays from Babitt's novel in some ways, as the "love" between two central characters is romanticized slightly. Otherwise, the story is not changed all that much, but there are still a few minor changes to the story that I could remember.

Most of the cast was perfect. Ben Kingsley fits the role of The Man in the Yellow Suit pretty well. Out of place kinda are Sissy Spacek and William Hurt who have the minority roles in this film. They were still quite good, though.

The story flows nicely, but there were still a few scenes that were different as I had envisioned. I pictured the Treegap Constable having a bigger role, and I also envisioned there to be more 19th century costume and prop designs. Just some things to be kept in mind when the next remake of this novel comes out in another thirty years or so.

TUCK EVERLASTING: 4/5.

'Tuck Everlasting' is one of those sweet movies with a lot of flaws you don't care about. You could ask question after question but I did not find a reason to do so. The story about an immortal family and a young teenager that comes into their lives is probably a well known story for some audiences, but I didn't know it. The immortal family exists out of father Angus Tuck (William Hurt), mother Mae (Sissy Spacek) and two sons named Miles (Scott Bairstow) and Jesse (Jonathan Jackson). The young teenager who is taken by the family so she can not reveal their secret is Winnie Foster (Alexis Bledel).

Although at first the family thinks Winnie needs to be killed, things change when Jesse Tuck and Winnie start to have feeling for one another. Winnie becomes a new member of the family. In the mean while we have Winnie's parents (played by Amy Irving and Victor Garber) looking for her. A man in a yellow suit (Ben Kingsley) is actually looking for the Tuck family but thinks he will find the girl with them as well. He knows how the Tucks have found their immortality and has plans for himself.

You can probably understand how many flaws a movie like this must have. There a couple of reasons we don't really want to ask too many questions. First of all it is a good thing the movie keeps the attention in the middle of everything. It does not really focus on the reason of immortality, it does not really focus on the relationship between Jesse and Winnie and it does not really focus on the outsiders like Winnie's parents and the Kingsley-character. Although that is not a good thing in most movies it works perfectly here.

Another reason you don't want to ask questions is Alexis Bledel together with Jonathan Jackson. They are sweet together, have some nice scenes. Although you sometimes see the Rory Gilmore of 'The Gilmore Girls' Bledel does a nice job with her Winnie Foster. Jonathan Jackson, who I only know from a small part in 'Insomnia', is a good choice for Jesse. This and three other respectable actors like Hurt, Spacek and Kingsley make sure the movie does not fail on that level.

All this together with a very nice score and some beautiful images make this a very good movie. It is perfect for the whole family. If you can forget the flaws, forget the question you might have, you must be able to fully enjoy this.

One of the things that I liked about Tuck Everlasting is that it conceded that in the coming age secrets like what the Tuck family has would be harder to keep. And the Tucks have a secret well worth keeping. They were at that time before World War I acknowledging the faster methods of communication and transportation would make it impossible. In 2002 when the film was released we are now passed the industrial age and into the age of communication. You know someone would find out and post it on the web.

The secret of the Tucks is that they've found the secret of immortality in a spring located deep in the woods where they've settled. The family is parents William Hurt and Sissy Spacek and sons the brooding Scott Bairstow and the eternally youthful Jonathan Jackson.

The property however is owned by Victor Garber and Amy Irving and they've got a daughter Alexis Bledel whom they keep most sheltered. One day she wonders into the Tuck woods and meets the family. She nearly drinks from the spring and can't understand why the Tucks warn her away. But she experiences a first love with Jackson and they are a pair of the most romantic lovers you will ever meet.

It's a regular Garden of Eden the Tucks have, but there's a serpent there and it's in the form of Ben Kingsley. Kingsley has heard rumors of this fountain of youth and immortality and he's here to find it and exploit it as he feels that only certain people should enjoy immortality. As the film builds Kingsley grows more evil and more serpentine, he will really creep you out.

This film bears comparison to the Highlander movies and TV series and a bit of comparison to Sean Connery's science fiction classic Zardoz. All deal with immortality and what a trap it can be if you think about it. The Tucks have it better than Duncan McLeod, he can go if he's decapitated. A highland broadsword wouldn't even penetrate the skin of a Tuck.

Tuck Everlasting is really about Bledel and Jackson and a love that can never be. Scott Bairstow has an effective scene about the family he raised who have all gone and left him alone for an eternity.

Fitting that Tuck Everlasting should be a product of the Disney studios because the film has an aura of magic and it's fitting it come from the Magic Kingdom. It's a charming fantasy, you can't do much better with films of fantasy than this one.

I'll keep it brief - I appreciate this movie a whole lot. When I got it I really was expecting something different, so for the majority of the movie I was disappointed, considered the plot and characters mediocre. But the last two minutes of the movie made me rethink the entire thing, man... I can not promise you an amazing ending or anything like that, because most people probably saw it coming, all I can say for certain is that it sure did affect me. I thought it would just be all typical and uninteresting and everything but having a meaningfully strung conclusion like that set my head straight and made me see what it was all about. Now I can't wait to watch it again. I consider this movie a well done story with good acting and a nice enough plot. It has strong aesthetic value through it's good looking images/scenery, too. Of course it made me completely depressed. The stories that are supposed to be life-affirming are always the ones that make me the most depressed, "A Year of Impossible Goodbyes" was supposed to be a life-affirming adventure but it's the saddest book I've ever read!