The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet (2014)
A 10-year-old child prodigy cartographer secretly leaves his family's ranch in Montana where he lives with his cowboy father and scientist mother and travels across the country on board a freight train to receive an award at the Smithsonian Institute.
Watch Trailer
Cast
Similar titles
Reviews
Simply A Masterpiece
One of my all time favorites.
Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.
This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
10 year old T.S. Spivet lives on a remote Montana ranch. His father (Callum Keith Rennie) is an old fashion cowboy. His mother Dr. Clair (Helena Bonham Carter) has a rambling set of interests. His sister Gracie is eager to leave home where the only traffic comes from the passing trains. Ms. Jibsen (Judy Davis) from the Smithsonian calls to tell him that he won the prestigious Baird prize for a perpetual motion machine expecting an older scientist. He pretends to be speaking for his father and runs away to Washington D.C. riding the rails.Jean-Pierre Jeunet directed one of my favorite movies, Amélie. In that movie, he is able to use Paris' romanticism for his surreal touches. In this movie, he's a bit lost. He's out of his elements. The kid is fine but nothing more. The surreal touches remain. Sometimes it's fun like the fake RV family. Other times, it's out of place and really out of time. That ranch exists only in old movies. The brother is another issue that needs clarity earlier. It's not a thing to have a revelation. Jeunet's style of movie making needs a level of unreality which clashes with this story. At times, it makes this movie look cheap. I had higher hopes.
I won't bother you with another plot summary nor with the wonderful acting. I just want to point out the unbelievable visuals of landscapes and scenery, rural impressions, camera angles, exposures, pip and.. I will stop now before spoiler alert. See for yourself and enjoy!
More attention should be paid to the words spoken by children. Now, they may be understandable to other children, and possibly their parents, but what about the rest of us? I'm English, my wife American and neither could make out what the young star was saying for the most part, same thing for his sister too. The story was good. It's just a shame that this important aspect of the film was ignored, or worse, not even considered a problem.
Movies told through the eyes of a child - movies that capture the joy and wonderment of childhood - simply warm me to the bone. I love 'em. Three of the best ever are Millions from 2005 and The Cure from 1995 and E.T. from 1982. With that said, T.S. Spivet tried hard, but just didn't do it for me. It was good, held my attention and moved along nicely, but there was just something missing. The story was rather silly and filled with plot holes, but I tried to excuse that because a kid was telling us the story. Judy Davis was very good, but Helena Bonham Carter was too old for her role. Kyle Catlett, our little brainiac T.S., was engaging, but came across as a bit irritating at times. The cinematography, sets and score were excellent, by the way. I would recommend this movie for kids - not their parents who may be trying to recapture the magic of growing up. (6.5 stars out of 10)