Catch That Kid

I'm noting that Catch That Kid was based on a popular Danish film, Klatretosen that only came out a few years ago. There had to be another motivation for what these three enterprising juveniles did because Denmark unlike the USA has socialized medicine and the problem that the kids need the money for wouldn't exist there.

What that problem is that Kristen Stewart's dad John Carroll Lynch has aggravated an old spinal injury that has left him bedridden and paralyzed. The only hope of a treatment is an experimental procedure that our insurance won't pay and will cost $250,000.00 for the operation. So Kristen enlists her two friends, Max Thierot and Corbin Bleu to do a bank robbery.

Getting inside information is easy because Kristen's mom, Jennifer Beals runs a security company and on a take your daughter to work day she accompanies mom and pays very close attention to the procedures installed in the bank that Beal's is contracted to work for.

Although they don't say so, it's pretty obvious these kids were weaned on heist films like To Catch A Thief and The Asphalt Jungle. Cary Grant never pulled off a neater robbery than this trio.

Catch That Kid is a nice enough film that might send a wrong message out there to younger viewers. Truth be told these kids are almost caught, but get some help from an unexpected source. They never should have gotten as far as they did.

Maddy (Kristen Stewart) is a 12-year old girl who loves to climb. Her father has climbed Mount Everest, so it runs in the family. Several years earlier Maddy's father fell more than 100 feet during a climb, and because her parents are afraid she might hurt herself, they have ordered Maddy not to climb. Maddy's father had some internal injuries from that earlier fall, which he didn't know, and now the injury has paralyzed him from the neck down. There is an experimental operation, costing $250,000, which can save Maddy's father. Insurance won't pay for the operation, and the family doesn't have the money. Maddy and two friends break into a high-tech bank vault, designed by Maddy's mother, to get the money. The vault is suspended 100 feet above the ground, and Maddy must use her climbing skills to get to the safe. Her friends use their computer and mechanical skills to defeat the bank's high-tech security. This is a kid's version of Mission Impossible. Kids will like the movie, but adults will just have to endure it with their children. (20th Century Fox, Run Time 1:32, Rated PG) (4/10)

As long as you don't apply any real caper rules to this then it's fun.

The idea of kids robbing a bank and using their ingenuity to do it has to be immensely appealing to young teenagers, and the results on that basis are fine.

The back story - robbing the bank to pay for the father's surgery - is well handled, and overall it is a positive movie for girls - Kristen Stewart, who plays Maddy is definitely the leader and for this alone it makes it a better than normal teen movie.

Your kids can watch this without being corrupted; it's just a fun heist / caper movie that will keep the whole family entertained.

The above line, which is actually spoken in "Catch That Kid", should be enough for you to decide whether this is your type of film or (hopefully) not, but let me just add a few more details. They say that when a music score calls attention to itself it's either very good or very bad. The score of "Catch That Kid" falls into the latter category: it's an insultingly over empathetic piece of work that is constantly telling you what you're supposed to be feeling (awe, danger, joy, mysticism). Apart from that, the story is dull, since you always know that everything will turn out all right in the end, and the baby is way too cute - its "assistance" in the climax is a real groaner. All this film has going for it are some dangerous and well-performed physical stunts. Where to begin. This is a horrible family film, very unrealistic. The original was an excellent Danish family movie, it had values. "Oh, it's OK to steal if it's for the right reasons, mommy!". Believe me, there are much better family films out there. But they were made in the '90s, when film-makers actually spent good money on talent and excellent scripting with values. I agree, people who make kid's movie have now realized kids will watch anything, no matter how low quality and terrible it is and what untalented actors star in it. Once again the entertainment industry has totally botched an opportunity to make a wonderful and heart-warming film about a beloved and extremely popular Danish movie. I should have known better. It was wishful thinking on my part that just this once, they would get it right. I only hope that this movie does not deter viewers from watching the wonderful Danish movie, which actually had some morals. If you have seen this movie, I am very sorry. I sat through this terrible film one afternoon and wound up actually kicking myself for it. The acting is bad, but what do you expect from a young girl and 2 young boys. The script was just awful, and there was absolutely no excitement or value whatsoever to this film. The events are both predictable, and highly unlikely. The worst part about it is there aren't even any laughable aspects as in other terrible movies such as Troll 2 or Future War. If you haven't seen this movie, don't go out of your way to see it. Actually, do everything you can to avoid seeing it. What a waste of 5 hours...what's that? the movie was only an hour and a half?! Huh??? This movie drags and drags, and has well, about 0 good qualities. I was literally kicking myself for having wasted my time to view this atrocious mess of the cinema. The plot is lame and very forced, the acting is bad at best, and the story is quite predictable. I understand that this was no attempt to make another Citizen Kane or anything, but oh man, this is seriously painful to watch! If you are looking for good "family" entertainment there are tons of other options. However, if you are looking to torture yourself and/or others, then check this movie out...it's something that you'll never forget, though more than likely you'll wish you could. Kristen Stewart gives an awful, horrible, terrible performance. Her delivery of lines were terrible and she was extremely over the top. While I do appreciate her talents in other films like Speak and Panic Room, she's just awful here but I guess I can't blame her since it's the dumb ass director's fault, he gets her to totally overact in every scene. As I am sure everyone knows Ms. Tylor is like a big kid sometimes and really enjoys watching the wholesome family films like Alaska, Fly Away Home etc. So very needless to say I was looking forward to Kristen Stewart's new movie Catch That Kid. So on Friday afternoon, opening day I went to see Catch That Kid.

The movie is about an adventurous 12-year-old girl named Maddy Phillips (Kristen Stewart), who is an excellent mountain climber. Unfortunately, her father, Tom (Sam Robards), was severely injured on Mount Everest and requires costly surgery to repair his spine. With the help of her friends (Max Thieriot and Corbin Bleu) and her climbing skills, Maddy develops a plan to rob a bank in order to finance her father's medical bills. Also starring Jennifer Beals as Maddy's mother, Molly, who happens to be the security chief at the bank. . Well a confusing bad scripted film ensues but luckily Kristen Stewart, who's pretty bad uses her charm to manage to save the film from totally sucking.

The two main characters in the film were decent. The highlight character of course is Kristen Stewart's character Madeline. You can kinda enjoy the character. Also Max Thieriot's character Gus is also decent but then when you get into the supporting cast that is where is gets bad. I mean Corbin Bleu's performance, as Austin was so poor, it seemed as though he just fell out of acting class. John Carroll Lynch who played Mr. Hartman was nothing short of annoying in the film. So the casting was so/so.

Michael Grant who wrote the awful movie 2 Fast 2 Furious wrote this movie. Yes I said that right 2 Fast 2 Furious. Maybe that's why the script sucked so badly. I was expecting a totally different movie from what the trailer led me to believe. I thought I was watching a movie about a girl who loved climbing things and her dad gets an operation is how the film did start out but then got really involved with this stupid I have to go to get this money *evil gleam in eyes* which then basically became the entire film. The movie then ended with the climbing thing that seemed to be the point of the film when it first started. The problem here to me was they tried to take two ideas and mesh them together and it failed. I would have rather seen the movie about a girl who wanted to get an operation with actual values over a film about 1 girl and 2 boys who wanted to steal the money for their dad's expensive operation. It's just not interesting enough. But if you do hold through until the end it tries to make things better but by that time your already disappointed with the film.

The director, Bart Freundlich, didn't do much to help the film out. He directed four films before this, which I never heard of. I have to blame the director for this film because he read the script and he should have made changes. I enjoyed how the film started. I liked his view of the racing track and I liked how he imaged Maddy to be. I liked that but when it came to become a film about robbing a bank because that's where she should have said wait cut isn't this about a girl who is dreaming of becoming a climbing with real family values but no she let it go and that's why it turned out the way it did. Also the whole ending of the film felt rushed. They rushed in all four songs and a whole play at the end in less than 5 minutes.

I may be sounding kind of mean but the film wasn't all that bad in the end. It had that wholesome touch and was OK at some points. Sadly in the end this movie was disappointing to me. I wanted to give the film a 6/10 but I can't give it that anymore. I have to give it a 3/10 or maybe a 4/10 just because of the great soundtrack. I was overall disappointed though with the film. I really wanted to enjoy myself here but instead I was let down. I only hope that Kristen Stewart's new film Speak is better than this one. I think it will because it's at Sundance. So I eagerly await its release. Kristen proves though that she has enough talent to pull her way through even poorly written films. This movie truly makes me sick. With cheesy teenybopper lines coming out of the mouths NOT teenyboppers. "Oh, it's OK to steal for the right reasons!". What the hell kind of moral is THAT?? Kids should not watch this garbage.

Catch That Kid, an enjoyable movie for the whole family? I think so. The story is about a young girl named Maddy, a tomboy who loves climbing. Her parents, however, have forbidden her to climb due to an accident her father had had which seriously injured his back. Though he had apparently recovered, something goes wrong which leaves him paralyzed from the neck down. Maddy's mother Molly does everything she can to find the money needed - $250,000 - for an opperation to save him. But there is nothing she can do. Maddy, still determined to save her dad, sees robbing the bank at which her mother is setting up a security system as her only option. She quickly enlists the help of her two best friends - Gus, a go-cart mechanic and Austin, a computer geek - who both happen to be in puppy love with her. What ensues as they make their plan to rob the bank and begin to carry it out is funny, incredibly unrealistic, and touching.

Most of the humor comes from the two boys' crush on Maddy, the wannabe actor who works at the bank, and later the fact that Maddy is left in charge of her little brother at the last minute and decides to take him with her to the robbery. I would have liked to see more humor, and the slapstick comedy from the security officer was not very funny. Nevertheless, the movie overall was fun.

The movie is unrealistic, but I like it that way, because in reality life is complicated and hard, but in movies everything is possible. I also enjoyed the hi-tech security measures employed at the bank, very nifty.

The touching scenes come in where Maddy shows her deep love for her father and learns how very deep her mother's love is for her.

The movie did not, however, teach any real moral values. That is, of course, easily remedied by talking to your children about right and wrong and the real consequences of choosing actions you know are wrong.

I recommend this movie as a fun movie for the whole family to see together, if only because the kids will definitely love it, but I think the adults will enjoy it too. 8/10