Post by Vits on Jan 1, 2021 11:31:40 GMT
THE INDIAN IN THE CUPBOARD is nowhere near on the same level as E.T., even though their scripts were written by the same person (Melissa Mathison). The difference is that, instead of a boy who befriends an alien, it's about a boy (named Omri) who befriends a Native American (named Little Bear). Sure, he's a toy that's magically brought to life and thinks it's 1761, but he still has the personality of an adult man. Their connection isn't as touching because they're on different levels. By the end of the movie, I didn't feel like their lives were changed. At least not on a deep level. The premise doesn't leave the door open (no pun intended) for many possible situations, especially not adventures, so the plot feels uneventful. That would be OK if there were characters written well enough to make me want to follow them, but Omri has little-to-no personality. Litefoot's performance is good, but Hal Scardino's is weak, and it doesn't help that a big portion of the movie are close-ups of him. Randy Edelman's music score is good in terms of composition, but there are moments where it doesn't fit the situation or where it comes off as a compensation for the lack of emotion in the scene. There's a point where a pet rat is running inside a plastic ball and Omri kicks it just because he needs to create a distraction. It's cruel, but neither the writing or directing do anything to indicate that. In fact, based on the music and the lenght of the sequence (the ball rolls down the stairs and, when it's on the 1st floor, it keeps spinning), it seems like we're supposed to laugh at this.
5/10
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I was willing to forgive a lot of these flaws after a great sequence where Little Bear watches a movie where cowboys and Native Americans fight. It leads to him accidentally shooting an arrow at Boone (a cowboy toy), but it doesn't take the story in the necessary direction. He should've died, so Little Bear would've had to deal with guilt as well as anger and confusion as to why the media portrays his people as stereotypes, even though Omri said things have changed since the 18th century. Omri wouldn't have been able to give a good answer (since he's just a kid), but the movie would've found a way to have a happy ending. Instead, Little Bear mainly focuses on saving Boone's life and very little time is devoted to addressing this issue, so the happy ending doesn't really feel earned.
5/10
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