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Secondhand Lions Our rating: Your rating: 1 2 3 4 Your Comments: see all MPAA rating: PG (for thematic material, language and action violence) Theater release: September 08, 2003 by New Line Cinema Directed by: Tim McCanlies Runtime: 1 hour 49 minutes Cast: Michael Caine (Garth), Robert Duvall (Hub), Haley Joel Osment (Walter), Kyra Sedgwick (Mae) Related: Talk About It/Family Corner

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In the family-friendly Secondhand Lions, writer/director Tim McCanlies gives us a quirky look at an unconventional family. Throw together two wacky old uncles, a squeaky-voiced preteen, a flighty mom, several barnyard and exotic animals, and a 1960s backdrop, and you've got the unlikely ingredients for the wild and fun romp that is Lions. Does it work? For the most part.

Academy Award winners Michael Caine and Robert Duvall play Uncles Garth and Hub, respectively. These aren't your ordinary uncles. They've reappeared after 40 years of absence. They shoot at traveling salesmen from their front porch for sport. And the locals think they're both retired bank robbers with millions of dollars stashed away on their Texas farm.

Their nephew, Walter (Haley Joel Osment in a role that should have gone to a younger actor), gets dumped at the uncles' house as his mom, Mae (Kyra Sedgwick), heads off for school—or so she tells Walter. Now the fun begins as Walter, a shy kid, learns how to relate to his outlandish uncles—and how he fits in with this crazy farm family, all while being followed by one pig and five dogs, his constant companions.

McCanlies successfully conveys the quirkiness of his characters and script, but he over-reaches at times. Perhaps McCanlies fears that his audience will miss important metaphors, but I want to scream, "I get it!" when he lingers on the "used" (do you get it?) African lion (do you get it now?) the uncles bought to hunt for sport, but which Walter saves and subsequently cares for (do you get it yet?). While I grew impatient with these delays in moving the story along, perhaps they're necessary for younger viewers to get the point. Because of these delays, I found the movie incredibly slow-moving. Even the flashback action sequences seemed to lumber.

Still, those flashback sequences of a younger Garth and Hub contained some whimsical (African deserts and sheiks) and adventurous (horseback-riding and sword fighting) moments. These scenes—reminiscent of Indiana Jones and The Princess Bride—leave us rooting for the good guys (Garth and Hub) and booing the bad guys (the sheik and assassins). We learn more about Garth and Hub as people, and Walter becomes our gateway to the uncles as he begs Garth to tell him more and more of the story.

Are the bigger-than-life stories true? Should we really believe in such nonsense? Both Walter and the audience must decide what is true and in whom we should pledge our trust. Hub even challenges Walter on this very point, saying, "If you want to believe in something, then believe in it! Just because something isn't true, that's no reason you can't believe in it!" Well, nobody said the film was theologically correct. But it does leave you thinking about what you believe … and why. That's a mark of a good film. And in a way, it's scriptural: "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have" (1 Peter 3:15). This film at least gets us thinking along those lines: What do I believe? And why?

Despite some of my difficulties with the film, families will appreciate a movie-night option that doesn't include nudity, vulgarity, or excessive violence. Lions will appeal to a more mature audience because of the solid acting duo of Caine and Duvall. It will also appeal to children because of its almost mythological feel (think The Princess Bride meets Aladdin). And who can resist Osment? Though a bit old for the role, his combination of naïve charm and persistent inquisitiveness indeed carry much of the movie.

> The DVD version of Lions contains standard features such as filmmaker commentary with the director, deleted or alternate scenes, and the original theatrical trailer. Three featurettes, though, go above and beyond the standard features: a journey of McCanlies' screenplay in Hollywood, an on-the-set vignette (a feature I'd like to see on all DVDs), and a profile piece of Osment's coming-of-age in the movie world and in his acting trade.

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The Kid Grows Up	Printer view
Haley Joel Osment, who saw dead people in The Sixth Sense, literally grew up on the set of Secondhand Lions.