The Magic of Belle Isle

It is not often to find a movie that is simple, offers nice character growth with a nice and simple story. Often movies today don't seem to hold my attention no matter how many special effects are present.

This movie made me interested in each character in the story and I appreciate that very much. Tonight was my second time seeing the movie and I enjoyed even more this time.

The Magic of Bell Island is a fantastic feel good movie especially for seniors.

Four of us attended and left in a great mood. The scenery and the sets were very realistic. The acting was brilliant, especially the children.

The film had many themes: Reality vs Imagination, Alcholism, Death of a spouse, Divorce, Bringing up children, Dog sitting, Baseball players problems, living with handicaps,and more.

I recommend this film for seniors, married couples, and families with children.

I wonder if the author went on to write for children, another positive talent that he didn't realize he had.

Morgan Freeman and Virginia Madsen played well off each other. Wishing I would have seen it in 2012. The movie is a playful feel good film. It represents what we are sorely missing in society today, RESPECT.

Wheelchair bound curmudgeon and heavy drinker Monte Wildhorn (Morgan Freeman), a writer of western stories house-sits for a friend in Belle Isle and softens considerably when he befriends single mother Charlotte O'Neil (Virginia Madsen) and her three children.

I don't remember liking a movie as much as this one since THE ASTRONAUT FARMER. The cast were perfect. The dialogues were spot on and very entertaining. The banter between Monte and 9-year old Finnegan O'Neil (Emma Fuhrmann) was pure gold and proved to be the beginnings of Monte softening his outlook on life. I wished that banter never ended. Like I said Pure Gold. Kudos to the writers.

This is indeed a feel good movie with a low key pacing and you never wanted it to end.

For starters we see curmudgeon Monte be bam-boozled into reading an obituary for someone he "didn't know;" getting a side-kick in Carl (Ash Christian) a somewhat special needs person; giving aspirin to Ringo, the dog (that he renames Spot) with stiff hind quarters; and helping Finnegan learn to write stories. All this sets the stage for everything that follows. And, everything that follows shows growth of all characters.

Sometimes like a big juicy cheeseburger you just "gotta have" you also "gotta see" a pure gold movie like this. (10/10)

FYI: Virginia Madsen was also in the Astronaut Farmer.

Violence: No. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: No.

Rating: A

I started watching this film without to many expectations even for a family drama, but as the story stars to develop you can tell this is going somewhere special and is definitely worthy of your time. This is the story of a writer on his winter days that goes to an island to spent the summer and discover that not everything may be lost. Without getting into to many details I can tell you Morgan Freeman is amazing as always, he delivers a beautiful performance and the rest of the cast is good as well. The script is fantastic, you can imagine your self in those situations and feel for the characters. The photography and the music is perfect and everything together leaves you with a taste of "Life is beautiful" in your mouth.