Margaux1

This is one of the most fascinating movies I have ever seen! I saw it for the first time last week on cable and was really impressed. Just like the little boys in the movie, I was also 12 years old in 1983, and I wish I would have seen it then so I could look at it from a child's perspective.

Mr. Dark (who is the devil in disguise) comes to town w/his carnival. Even though the carnival looks ordinary, it is inherently horrible, the work of the devil but no one seems to notice. The only ones who pick up on the weirdness are the boys. Go figure the children are smarter than the adults!

Several of the town's residents have quirky obsessions/desires, and each one's wish is fulfilled, complete with Mr. Dark's own sick twist to keep them from being happy, even after they were given their heart's desire (an old woman went blind after she was restored to youth/beauty and couldn't see how beautiful she is; a lame woman wished for her leg to be mended so that she could run, and then she ran mad; a man missing an arm/leg wanted to be made whole so that he could play professional football again - his limbs were restored but he was turned into a child again). Really weird and freaky things! :)

The main part of the movie focuses in the father/son relationship of the main characters. The emotionally 'old' father lives w/fear and regret and his son wishes his dad was stronger and more adventurous.

The father's strength and courage are really tested when it is up to him to save his son and his best friend from Mr. Dark's wrath and 'emotional torture'.

Does he succeed? You'll have to watch to find out!

Jason Robards is Will's (the 12 year old main character's) father. I really liked him - I thought he was a wonderful father and was way too hard on himself. His love for his son and his bravery are really tested when Mr. Dark offers to make him young, healthy and courageous, all of the things he's always wanted to be but never was.

Vidal Peterson was very good as Will. By this time Vidal Peterson was a well accomplished child actor who comes across as mature way beyond his years. He is perfect in this role.

I thought the little boy who played Jim Nightshade, Will's best friend, was one of the most beautiful children I have ever seen with his dark hair, gorgeous blue eyes and adorable smile. He looked like a little angel and epitomized everything about little boys: loving adventure, mischievious, wanting to be grown-up, but still being innocent enough to stay within the boundaries of safety.

The other characters were secondary - the townsfolk who succombed to Mr. Dark's temptations, the boys' mothers, Mr. Dark's entourage, but all were extremely relevent in pulling together the storyline.

The bottom line is the movie is about human nature and how there is usually a string attached to something that's too good to be true, sometimes children have better intuition than adults, and the blessing of second chances and the love between parents and their children. It's also about being yourself and accepting the people you love for who they are rather than who you wish they would be.

Whoever did not 'like' this movie, doesn't want to face what very likely happened. Yes, it is excruciatingly violent and I cried a lot during this movie. Most movies about Jesus allott 10 minutes to the trial and crucifixtion scene to make it 'easier' on the viewer - if you can't stand 2 hours, you cannot stand what really happened. Do people really think that a few drops of blood ran down His face and that was it? BALONEY! It is not pleasant, just like it was not pleasant for Jesus or His beautiful mother who had to watch it happen. Jesus did not die like the two men who were crucified next to him - it was much more brutal I would think. He was treated WORSE than any criminal. Jesus died to bear the burden of EVERY SIN EVERY COMMITTED!! I am a Catholic and even though it was difficult to watch b/c I COULDN'T HANDLE IT it was very well done.

When I heard the word 'controversy' I thought it had something do with 'Jesus being with women' like 'The Last Temptation of Christ' which I had no desire to see and didn't see. This movie followed what we are familiar with Scriptures to the letter. Even with subtitles, anyone who knows the Scriptures could easily follow the movie.

Jim Caviezal was fantastic - it has been said that the only person who could portay Jesus better was Jesus himself.

This movie really makes you think about how I believe things really were - but I don't think I could handle watching it again - I am not strong enough - it makes people realize that their petty problems on this earth are nothing.

Last week, I watched the Ted Bundy story on the TRUE channel on Comcast. It portrayed the disgusting animal Ted Bundy in a pretty accurate way, I thought. It was a little grisly for my taste, but at least we got to see Bundy's arrest and watch him fry to a crispy critter in the end. That movie definitely scared me.

I remember thinking that a similar movie would be interesting about Jeffrey Dahmer. I was surprised to see 'Dahmer' advertised and I watched it. I have to admit I was pretty disappointed, especially with the ending. A person who did not have information about the real Dahmer would be confused by this movie, I think.

The acting was good by all involved. However, I knew I was getting distracted when I caught myself staring at Jeremy Renner and thinking to myself what a hottie he was and how good he looked without a shirt on. My husband came home from work, sat down and finished watching the movie with me even though it is not something he would normally watch. He saw my mouth hanging open over Jeremy and said 'Who's the actor?' But when the movie ended, we looked at each other and said 'This can't be the ending, can it?'

As far as I'm concerned, I noticed Dahmer's weirdness from the start. I definitely do NOT like to see blood and guts but thought they could have showed his horrible actions a little more intensely. Anyone who didn't know this story could have thought he only killed two people (when it was really dozens) and the dismemberment was almost nonexistent. It would have been nice to see the police catch this jerk in the movie.

I'm no movie critic, but this one was really lacking. It plain did not fit to what really happened.