Review by Grumphy

I suffered through the two hours of it, fuming. This is a kids movie without a saving grace. There's no moral to the story or anything to learn from it that usually goes with all the dreadfully annoying stuff aimed at children.

The kids just walk from one place to the other, sometimes the bad guys pop out and do their bad guy stuff, kids move on, baddies appear, kids move on, and so on until the end. There is no character development, no specific goals (besides survival) throughout most of the film. And even when one goal (reaching to one specific destination) presents itself, they decide not to pursue it but wait around because the baddies have to show up at the critical moment, and even though we have nothing better to do we should wait for them just in case.

We learn nothing from the film except how not to make a film. The kids might be satisfied just watching bunch of other kids walking around in the woods, but I'm not. That's not what makes a good film.

I'm not even going to discuss the logic behind casting a fat boy (besides comic relief) who's supposed to have been living in the woods, scavenging for food, without managing to lose weight. Or the blind kid's ability to walk like a normal person (in the woods and on the rough terrain), or his need to decorate his staff (which he does not know to use) or having a pair of nice clean glasses or how quickly the girl forgets witnessing the murder of his father and etc etc.

Though it was painful to watch, there was no gain. The film's not entirely braindead but I wouldn't recommend it if your brain still functions. However as the film might contain scenes that can be scarier for younger kids, I can't recommend it even for ten year olds.