Jack

An all-star cast are recruited together to tell the tale of a 10-year old boy whose body grows 4 times that of a normal kid his age.

Robin Williams ('Hook') is great as the title role, while Fran Drescher ('The Nanny') and Jennifer Lopez ('Money Train') are also fantastic. Bill Cosby is also here, as good as ever.

The storyline and scripting is good (nothing great) and the acting is first-class... even the kids have some talent!

A feel-good family film that has some very funny moments and some very sad moments, but all-in-all a really good film. 7/10.

Okay it's not exactly the biggest stretch of casting to have Robin Williams playing a ten year old in the body of an adult. However, Jack is a pretty decent and funny movie. Jack Powell is born and he ages at four times the normal rate. For the first ten years of his life he is tutored at home and sheltered by his parents. Bill Cosby plays his tutor Mr. Woodruff. Diane Lane and Brian Kerwin play his parents who are reluctant to send Jack to public school because they fear the other children's reactions to him. When he does go to school, his teacher, played by Jennifer Lopez, welcomes him with open arms while, predictably the kids are both awed and afraid, and teasing soon follows. Jack gains acceptance when the boys realize that he is a natural for basketball, and he soon is running with a whole group of new friends.

The rest of the movie is basically about Jack and how his body is just naturally slowing down, leading to his withdrawal from school, his eventual return, and the epilogue at his high school graduation.

Jack was a pretty charming film and I liked the way that Robin Williams acted in his scenes with Diane Lane as the 10 year old with a strong bond with his mother, and her feelings of longing when he shows that he is pulling away when he gains friends his own physical age.

The idea of a child in an adult body has been explored many times before: "Big," "Vice Versa," "Like Father Like Son," "Freaky Friday," and others. In all of those cases it was a hot swap due to some freak accident. In "Jack," Jack Powell (Robin Williams) has accelerated growth due to a fictitious disease that makes him age four times the rate of a normal human being. So when Jack was ten-years-old he had the body of a 40-year-old man and the mind of a ten-year-old boy. You can imagine the myriad complications that can cause.

If anyone could've pulled off the role of Jack it was Robin Williams. Whatever the list of actors for the character it had to have been a very short list. Robin Williams has that natural effervescence and childlike personality which made him perfect.

I liked the movie. It was funny, innocent, and heartwarming. Jack just wanted to be a normal kid like everybody else, but he was far from normal. His entry into elementary school was a rocky one. Inevitably, he was teased (as kids are wont to do), but he was eventually able to meld right into the boys club by just being himself--a ten-year-old.

It's no spoiler to say that he would eventually have to face the fact he was aging rapidly and just how would he handle that. It would be a tough matter for anyone and everyone who loves him. Robin Williams crushed this role and really made the movie good.

The Good: This movie is an excellent comedy/drama. Robin Williams does a heart warming performance as Jack, a boy who grows 4 times as fast as a regular boy. There were many funny parts, and many sad parts with a good mix of both. The acting is very good; Robin Williams did a great job of playing a 10 year-old boy.

The Bad: There were a few missing ends to this movie. Some things didn't fit together right. One thing was when he went to jail for getting in a fight at the bar. If he's only 10 years old, aren't the police going to figure it out?!

Overall: Overall, this is a touching movie that I encourage everyone to see. It may not be an Oscar nominee, but all in all it is a good show.

*** 1/2 out of *****

It seems like when "Jack" came out, many critics found it absurd if not insulting. I admit that the idea of someone aging at four times the normal rate is a little outlandish, but I still wish to assert that the movie is worth seeing. True, Robin Williams is more subdued than usual, but some of his antics are pretty funny, as he tries to find his place in a world younger than he looks. I really liked the part about "Zack problem".

Seeing Jennifer Lopez here, it's weird to think that she once starred in watchable movies. Also starring are Diane Lane, Brian Kerwin, Bill Cosby and Fran Drescher. Francis Ford Coppola pulled off another interesting one here.