The Tillamook Treasure

Flicks like this are what give the term "family feature" a bad name, and I find all the positive reviews to be HIGHLY suspect. This film was aimed at tweens who cannot discern a quality story or cinematic production. That, or the bar is just too low for shows targeting families. It's just sad. Many of the actors in this movie seem to have experience limited to high school drama; the plot had potential as family fare, but the execution is difficult to watch. I gave it more than one star because kids up to about age 13 would probably watch this and enjoy it without laughing at it. However, for me, this was painful to watch: I was embarrassed for the actors in a lot of the scenes. Go ahead and see it if you want something to ridicule mercilessly, as it provides ample opportunity to do just that.

What a treat to go to a movie and enjoy every minute of it. The girl who plays Julie, the lead character, Suzanne Marie Doyon, was charming and such a wonderful actor. I am looking forward to more from this young lady. There is a scene with her older sister (Janine Doyon -- they must be sisters in real life as well as the movie - very cool) where they were sitting on the beach talking about the family's problems, was beautiful in all ways, very touching. It was among my favorites in the movie.

I like it that the movie shows a girl growing up and maturing without having to resort to the old story line of sex and drugs. Growing up certainly involves those things for many but this film touches on what is really important -- learning who you are in the world and discovering that you have the power to do important things. This is a real good moral for young girls everywhere.

I also loved the old Indian man, Standing Elk. He was so wonderful, funny and so respectful of Julie that he teaches her things by guiding her to the answers instead of preaching at her. He is so cute, too.

I would have voted 10 but I never have seem the perfect movie.

The story overall is of interest. The execution of production is a lesson on how things can be done better. A previous review gave it high praise. I must not have watched the same movie. Anti-climatic, poor dialogue, ... I will stop there and not discourage someone to watch it. The writer/director expects the audience to read the mind of the protagonist, because the actions and words either did not match up or came out of the blue. Not to mention, the narrator speaks of things that technically should be shown. After all, it is a movie, not an audio-book.

I'll give this movie one star for having moderately competent performances by some of the veteran supporting actors, and one star for having no glaring technical errors. Otherwise I cannot recommend any aspect of it. I watched it on cable because I grew up in Oregon and have fond memories of visiting Tillamook. What I got was a poorly written and edited clinker that resembles the unholy love child of Nancy Drew and Carlos Castaneda.

The first problem is that the producer cast his own daughter in the lead role, and while not particularly unpleasant on screen, she cannot act a lick. She is certainly not alone among the cast in this regard, but it's a huge liability in the main character.

Her line delivery is wooden and her emotional range is flat, but she does doggedly carry out her assignment with a modicum of dignity and consistency. The script and editing are another matter. This is one of those movies where you find yourself telling the story in your head because the movie apparently can't be bothered with fulfilling that chore. Each scene appears content to sketch out the bare outlines of its main idea without actually building a narrative. Then it ends abruptly and the movie wanders on to the next loosely connected event. Scenes often feel like they end a few actions or lines of dialog before they are finished, and the movie as a whole ends up playing like a Cliff's Notes version of itself.

Told in this manner, the story would probably only occupy about 30 minutes, but the movie falls into the amateur trap of trying to make up for a lack of substance with sheer quantity. The scenes may be short and light on dramatic content, but there are a lot of them. Some needlessly rehash previously covered material, some fulfill stock checklist purposes like Comic Relief Scene or Local Scenery Chewing Scene, but most of them do little to advance the story.

Many of the other reviews posted here praise the film for being family-friendly. If you are seeking wholesome, uplifting stories with a minimum of offensive content, there are many excellent choices that have strong narratives and talented performances. This is not one of them. Watch a Pixar film or the growing Narnia series instead. For those who claim that the girl in the leading role has great prospects ahead of her, I doubt she'll ever land a role in another project unless her father has a hand in making it. I wonder how many of these glowing reviews were written by people who were involved in making the film, or who come from the Tillamook area and are blinded by their enthusiasm for a homegrown product.

The people who made this movie meant well and tried hard. They did not succeed. Avoid it unless you can see it for free, and even then only watch it if you are looking for an instructive example of how not to make a movie, or if you enjoy giving bad movies the MST3K treatment I alluded to in my Summary line.

My wife and I have a couple of children in grade school and middle school. We have difficulty finding movies that we can go to as a family which we would all enjoy. We heard about this film at the Newport Beach Festival of Films and thought we'd give it a shot. We were so pleased. It appealed to our whole family and on the way home was the catalyst for a discussion about what it means to find inner strength.

The production was great. I know it was a low budget so I didn't expect the production values of a big studio movie but I was pleasantly surprised. It was exceptionally well done and you would never know it was a low budget independent. The acting was great. We loved the young girl (Suzanne Marie Doyon). She's going places. And the native American influence brought real depth to the film.

Kudos to the filmmakers.

Len

(oh, yeah, the puppets were beautifully done. My youngest really got into them and even my near-high schooler thought they were great. They went far beyond a kids puppet show.