Starring:

Rated:

The movie begins with the image of a jet flying through the air doing loop-the loops, a symbol of freedom and play, in short the opposite of Russ.

It is through magically meeting Rusty, his self as a child, that Russ is presented with the opportunity for a new beginning.

In Rusty's eyes, Russ is a failure. Rusty is not happy with the man that he will some day become. Rusty sees with clear eyes the charade of Russ's life. Russ doesn't have a family, isn't a pilot or something fun, and worst of all, doesn't even own a dog.

Russ, on the other hand, looks at Rusty as a loser-- fat, unkempt, everything that Russ loathes, an imperfect image.

Russ assumes that Rusty has been sent to him to so that he can teach Rusty something.

But as it turns out it is Rusty who has to teach Russ.

As a result of Russ's relationship with Rusty, Russ goes back and replays a scene from his childhood in order to recover the childlike awe and wonder that he once had.

He becomes a person who can marvel at the moon and wonder about questions such as: why does the moon sometimes look orange? (answered at the end of the movie)

He becomes a person who can let go of his image and allow himself to relax and give more. He redefines his definition of "loser."

But for a movie whose message is: play a bit more, be awed, the movie, except in the central conceit of an adult meeting his child self, doesn't maintain a playful, original or delightful feeling.

In addition, the key scene in the movie is very heavy handed: replaying one psychologically wrenching scene in Russ's past allows him to immediately become a better person.

The secret for Russ's hard edged personalilty is revealed, voila, and he immediately changes.

Change becomes a matter of changing the past.

But for most of us, change is hard earned, incremental, and less than dramatic.

This movie essentially tells us: Embrace your inner child, even that pudgy, teary eyed one who falls going down the aisle as the ring bearer in a wedding.

Embrace your inner child, and everything will be okay.

Nice message. But for a feel good movie, the movie is not really fun. It's heavy, plodding, and ties everything up too neatly in a small package.

Nor is the movie much fun for kids. My 13 year old found the movie long, and my 5 year old was totally perplexed.

The kids were unsatisified. It was hard for them to follow the plot. And they didn't relate to the action of the movie. I don't think the movie spoke to "their inner child."