Mickey Matson et l'ordre secret

The title of this movie is a complete misnomer. It completely misleads one into thinking that there are a range of exciting scenes, however the movie just plods along due to a poor script with limited direction.

I don't blame the main actors who are children, more the scriptwriters/producer/director whom, I presume are adults. I watched the movie with my kids who actually asked if they could do their homework..something that never happens with what we class as even a moderately 'good' movie.

Whatever you do, don't get this movie due to the exciting sounding title or picture on the cover.

This film was so much fun to watch with our kids. Everyone enjoyed it from the grandmas and grandpas to the littlest kids. There was adventure, action, suspense, and camaraderie. There was no foul language, just good clean fun.

The bad guys were really bad without being nightmarish and the good guys, well, they were just as cute as could be.

There was great camera action and the special effects were masterful. The story was plausible as if it could actually have been true and bringing in the historical aspect was a good way to get kids interested in the Civil War.

To top it all off, it ended well. What more could you ask for.

Who finances this drivel and calls it a movie? I wonder how many scripts actually fall through just because they were worse than this utter mess. It's a bad wannabe of all the great kids movies that have come before it. The acting on the part of the lead boy and girl was so stunted it felt unnatural. The dialog was high-school level literature and the script was awful with nothing to save the movie.

Great for a good laugh if you want to burn away an hour and half of your life. Yes this movie has good morals. most family movies do, so this isn't winning anything for that trait. No swearing or gore, it is for general audience, after all. But this movie was beyond cheesy and so corny it was painful to watch.

Save your time and your money and don't pay heed to the "rave" reviews.

The only thing I liked about this movie was the setting. As a Michigan native I've been camping in a lot of the woods where the Mickey Matson movies were filmed. I also have family from that same area. Other than that I cannot recommend either movie. I suppose if you have nothing better to do or if you are six years old these flicks might be OK. Barely.

No doubt that producers saw a series of these Mickey Matson films and another was made and another may be planned if there's public demand for same. But the McGuffin of this film, an alchemy machine is really a bit much. Only the littlest kids are going to swallow this one.

Young Derek Brandon is an appealing young title character who lives in a really rural part of Michigan and as it opens we discover he's at the funeral of his grandfather Christopher Lloyd. Lloyd left him a rock which turns out to be the key to treasure. An unlimited treasure as it turns out because there was something to those medieval and ancient tales of alchemy where base matter can be turned into precious metal.

There's also a secret society of people named after northern sympathizers to the Confederate cause, the Copperheads. They want that alchemy thing. Just think of the havoc it would reek on the economy of those damn Yankees.

Brandon as I said is appealing as is his female sidekick Francesca DeRosa who is visiting her grandmother Patrika Darbo. But the story was just way too outrageous. For the little kids only.