Jack

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.

I was extremely surprised to find out that Francis Ford Coppola directed this film, not because it's below the standards I expect from him, but because it is really well directed. It's rare that a movie can be so well directed and so bad at the same time. It's hard to pinpoint the exact problem here, until you realize it's all in the writing: moreover, the story. Robin Williams does everything he can for this character, and the story does not reciprocate. The entire cast is a success, in fact. I generally loathe child actors, but these ones are almost believable; Jennifer Lopez nailed a lot of nuanced beats and really surprised me; Bill Cosby was incredibly endearing, despite all of his horrible crimes. The shots and storytelling behind the camera, save for a couple janky inserts, is effective. Yeah, the more I think about it, the clearer this case of bad writing becomes. Not a bad premise, but the execution is hit or miss at best and the ending is woefully dissatisfying. All I needed to know is what he wrote for that essay, but we didn't get it. What a shame.

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.

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 *****

Pregnant Diane Lane goes into labor after only two months, delivering a healthy-seeming baby boy (when she pleads "it's too soon!" to her husband in the delivery room, it's rather an understatement). Doctors have never seen another child like this, yet quickly determine the boy has an internal clock which is ahead of itself by four times the average rate (meaning that when Jack is 10-years old, he'll look like a man of 40). Talk about your movie gimmicks! All that aside, what we really have here is Robin Williams back in grade school, and that provides for some good, if derivative, humor. The performances are all fine and, while the set-up may sound inexcusable, "Jack" isn't a silly movie (at least, not at its core). Williams manages to hold back a bit from his usual barrage of vocal effects and facial expressions, and a few of his scenes are peddled quite softly (as they were in "Awakenings"). There are some scenes that go over-the-top: Jack's gross-talking school-friends are a nuisance, and some viewers may get defensive when Coppola starts tugging at the heartstrings. Otherwise, this is a warm family comedy, one with a bigger heart than it knows what to do with. **1/2 from ****