Secret of the Andes

That's typical of the sloppiness of the film. They thought no one would notice all those saguaro cactus? Or all the Mexican extras being passed off as Quechuas.

Probably the strangest is an Indian (as in from India) playing the main Quechua character. You remember the villain from INdiana Jones and the Temple of Doom? The white English guy who played an Egyptian in three Indiana Jones film is here too.

And Nancy Allen, as wooden as ever. Lazy casting. Plenty of dull parts of the film. You just want it to end. Bad direction , super slow pacing. There is a good story in here somewhere, but it's not in the film.

It would be difficult to formulate a coherent film composed of the disparate elements that the director and others obviously felt obliged to include within this scenario, but a worthy attempt is made, only falling apart after the first half. A Pre-Columbian ceremonial disc, golden and bejewelled, has been split asunder, and while one half is displayed in a New York City museum's permanent collection, the other segment has become the subject of a search expedition to an Andean region, under the aegis of American archaeologist Brooks Willings (David Keith), who is obsessed with bringing about its recovery. His wife and daughter have remained in New York but when young Diana (Camilla Belle) has become a disciplinary problem in her school, the two join Brooks in the Andean village where his expedition is based, his wife hoping to correct Diana's behavioural distress, only to be burdened by additional plights originating from their new situation. Continuity falters at this point as Diana becomes enmeshed in village mystic rites, Brooks and his wife (played ably by Nancy Allen) fall into serious marital discord, a Catholic priest, portrayed with humour by John Rhys-Davies is tormented by local cultists, the expedition has developed personnel and funding shortages, et alia, - too many threads to be woven into an accomplished storyline. To solve its many self-imposed conundra, the work lapses into inane fantasy, including silly special effects, as a facile resolution. Keith is wooden, manifestly uninspired by his role, but Belle is effective and the timing of Rhys-Davies is deserving of study, while acting laurels go to the superb East Indian Roshan Seth, who easily dominates each of his scenes in the part of a shaman with extraordinary wisdom and magical powers. Shot in northern Argentina's scenic province of Salta, the picture benefits from both the cinematography of Maximo Munzi and the faithfully ethnic scoring of Luis Bacalov; if only a way had been seen to strengthen the stuttering scenario.

Do you enjoy gazing into the dusty Andes Mountains? You do?-the perfect movie for you...a named Diana Willings (Camilla Belle) is supposedly having social troubles (but is really a daughter of the Indigo or an Indigo Child.->a person who has abilities connected to God) and able to see visions to help the folk of Jucaitambo. She travels to Jucaitambo with her Father to find the golden disc of Huascar (an Inca ruler who was believed to have ancient and spiritual powers.) While there, Diana is sitting on her bed playing gameboy, when this handsome stranger with long, dark hair, tanned skin and angelic face turns up in her window and watches her. She quickly notices him and says, "Hi," silently. She walks over to the window and realizes that he is a boy of seventeen who begins to like her. His name is Lucho (Leandro Lopez from Hola Papi in 1995.) He takes her to the good sorcerer and spiritual man of the vilage, Don Benito (Roshan Seth) or the Hombre Grande (in Spanish meaning the man with great powers) he helps her find the disc for her Father and on the adventure to find it, Diana, Lucho, Don Benito (who secretly disappears into the morning sun as a condor) and Lucho's friend, Sancho, (Rodrigo Barrena) all see a new side of life. They all silently come to realize that there is more beyond the sky than "azul". There is God...he watches over us and protects us, like the graceful mountain condor in the dusty mountain atmosphere.

There are only 2 other reviews, mostly retelling the plot so I won't do that. This is quite a fun film and cutesy Camilla Belle works well as the 9-year-old at the centre of the action. So long as we stick with her, the equally cutesy baby llama, the various good and bad sorcerers and the main adventure, it's fine and kids should enjoy it.

However they will be bored silly, as I was, by the irritating priest and the flat performances of David Keith and Nancy Allen as the parents. Who cares if the self-centred dad gets his research grant or the whiney mom gets her divorce or whatever she happens to be whining about? These two get in the way of the action and spoil the enjoyment and there's way too much of them. The idea that they sent their bright, lively (and much smarter than them) daughter to an analyst (and a comedy-turn idiot of an analyst at that) makes no sense at all.

Just one criticism of Belle's performance. Any time things are going well for her 'team', she produces the same cheeky smile, which works just fine most of the time. But when truly horrendous things are happening to the bad guys, it doesn't convince.