Pontiac Moon

I loved the accuracy of the movie - the cars, the clothes...but at the end, when the men land on the Moon, it was July 20th, 1969 - but they show the moon as full - I remember looking at the moon that night, and have check the lunar phases calender - it was waxing crescent, and did not phase to full until July 29th. I really liked the acting, and think Ted really had fun playing this part. Lots of odd surprises and interesting characters. The photography was really well done too, beautiful shots of the amazing scenery. If you want to sit down with a bag of pop corn with the entire family, there is something there for everyone. Educational quotations, write from wrong, bad guys get whooped, and a small history lesson - it has it all.

Pontiac Moon is such a perfect movie that it's easily one of my top 5 favourites. It's intelligent, fun and perfectly crafted and acted. Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen and Ryan Todd perform as if the roles were written for them and they carry the film with gusto and subtlety. It is such a joy to watch (and I've watched it several times) that I can't help but wonder why others can't "get it" but must pick at points that are simply irrelevant. Do you question whether Superman can actually fly or where is the exact location of the Shire? Pontiac Moon is a movie for heaven's sake and it's hugely enjoyable, moving and entertaining. It encourages you to step out of your box and go out into the world because life is meant to be an adventure of the mind and body. This is not for people who wish to live average and mediocre lives of quiet desperation. I'll watch it again and again.

Thank you, Ted Danson.

I really liked that movie for the originality of the plot. From the beginning, on the one hand, you have Apollo XI taking off to the Moon in the boldest and riskiest adventure in all the history of humanity, and on the other hand, you have Katherine Bellamy, who can't even step out of her house because she is too afraid of the world out there. And between those two extremes, you have Washington Bellamy, his husband, who has a drive to explore and discover but hasn't made a single trip with his 11-year old son because Katherine doesn't even want her son to step into a car.

Now Washington is too inspired by the Apollo odyssey and decides it is time for his son to discover something more than what you can find in books. They will drive from their home in California to a natural crater in Idaho, in exactly the same time as Apollo XI gets from Earth to Moon.

The parallelism between the father-and-son trip and the space journey is maintained from the beginning to the end. Of course, the father and the son will strengthen their ties during the trip, the son will learn why his mother is so timorous and... maybe there's a happy ending over there!

Ted Danson snoozes his way through the film with real-life wife Mary Steenburgen. Very bad script, very bad direction, very boring - tries to be a grand epic with hidden meanings but it is just not. Bad acting, especially on the child's part. A Haley Joel Osment he is not. One to skip.

2/5 stars -

John Ulmer

This is a good film for anyone who was a kid at the time of the Apollo Moon Landings and can remember how it felt to be alive at a momentous time in World History.

The film oozes period nostalgia and the scenery on the roadtrip to The Peaks of the Moon in Idaho is quite breathtaking, and the relationship between the Ted Danson character and his young son is quite touching.

You cant expect anyone who wasn't alive at the time this movie was set to appreciate the feelings that the story creates, this is one for those who still retain those feelings of innocense and the feelings of hope that you had; being young in 1969.

It's more than just a movie, it unlocks feelings and emotions you thought you had long forgotten. Not a movie for the cynical, or for the Nintendo generation whom have no historical perspective and no idea what it was like to alive when the World was a place of hope.