FemaleFirst.co.uk: DVD: December Boys [DVD] [2007]

December Boys [DVD] [2007]
enlarge	Director: Rod Hardy Actors: Daniel Radcliffe, Lee Cormie, Christian Byers, James Fraser, Jack Thompson Studio: Warner Home Video Category: DVD List Price: ~~£13.99~~ Buy New: £3.06 as of 21/11/2009 01:32 GMT details You Save: £10.93 (78%) New (17) Used (5) Collectible (2) from £2.23 Seller: great_entertainment Rating: 8 reviews Sales Rank: 12262 Format: PAL Language: English (Unknown) Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over Region: 2 Number Of Discs: 1 Running Time: 103 Minutes Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2 Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6 EAN: 7321902189581 ASIN: B000Y87CMM Theatrical Release Date: 2007 Release Date: March 24, 2008 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days


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Customer Reviews: Showing reviews 1-5 of 8 1 2 Next » excellent!! December 23, 2007 Ms. N. Canham (orpington, uk) 7 out of 13 found this review helpful This is a really great movie, that leaves you feeling warm. The story of 4 boys sharing a birthday in december, hence the name december boys! br /The film shows the trials of their friendship, and mostly the relationship between of Maps (Daniel Radcliffe) and his crush Lucy. br /This film is well worth a watch, especially for Daniel Radcliffe fans. br / WONDERFUL MOVIE November 5, 2007 Amy Forbes (California) 5 out of 16 found this review helpful This movie was a great movie, and I will watch it again, and again. The characters in it are wonderful especially Daniel Radcliffe. I recommend it to anyone!!!!! Harry Potter strikes again. August 15, 2009 G. L. Edmonds Good film; Nice to see Daniel Radcliffe in a role other than Harry Potter. We really enjoyed watching this. What you should really think of a film like this May 17, 2008 Wilson Carter 7 out of 11 found this review helpful The mistake most people will make when they buy a film such as this is that they will judge it upon Daniel Radcliffe's performance. In doing so, the other features of the film will quite easily get glossed over. br / br /If you watch this film and focus entirely upon Mr. Radcliffe then you will miss some things of noteworthy interest. The setting is a beautiful spot, and some of the ideas do make you think, regardless of what I may say later on in this review. But regardless of what I may say to dissuade you, I dare say you would be interested to know just how Daniel Radcliffe did get on. br / br /For starters there's the accent. In my opinion the Australian accent is certainly not the most difficult in the world, and Daniel does quite alright in handling it; though when his character requires him to display further emotion through an increase in volume of speech, it tends to falter a little. Then there's his handling of the love scene. I heard the Harry Potter - Cho Chang sequence took up to forty takes (I'm sure Daniel didn't mind), but this one doesn't seem as well rehearsed. I'm not going to elaborate in any detail, but to say that it's a cringe at best is almost an understatement. Then there's his character analysis and portrayal. I wouldn't be spoiling the plot too much if I said "The December Boys" is about four orphans in Australia who are all born in December (hence the name) and are given a holiday to the coast, where they stay with a family and enjoy themselves more than at the orphanage. Radcliffe plays a guy called Maps who is the eldest of the December boys. Be under no illusion, regardless of what the front cover looks like, or what it says on the back, Daniel is not the main character, that honour lies with the bespectacled little spotty kid called Misty. Radcliffe's handling of his character is, at best, unoriginal. Though he is playing what you could call similar roles to those found in Harry Potter and Equus, one would still expect a certain variety and originality to shine through with a new project. But once again we are treated with a dose of the Daniel Radcliffe Deadpan Default, a style which he seems to apply to every character he plays. As a result, Daniel Radcliffe fans will lap it all up and call him a superb talent once more, but for those of us who see through its very tenuous defences, it takes very little prompting to call Daniel's performance majestically mediocre. br / br /I have very little doubt that he will continue to get decent film roles as many film-makers will be looking for his identity to launch their film, as has happened with "The December Boys". And as he continues to make films and become richer and richer people will still think, "Perhaps this time we'll see the real Daniel Radcliffe, the one that can act and has just been hiding away all his talent for the right role." How mistaken they are. The right roles will continue to come for him, but he will give them the same treatment he has given everything else, a fact that was very clear in "Equus". The words said by Salieri to Mozart in another of Peter Shaffer's plays, "Amadeus", come to mind: "He out of the ordinary created legends, but I, out of legends, created only the ordinary." br / br /Anyway, referring back to the film, regardless of Daniel Radcliffe's performance, the film lacks a certain fullness about it. These boys go to the coast, but not enough happens there for the audience to believe that this was a really special place for them. There is a certain sense of depth in the film, but it is accompanied with such a vast chasm of emptiness that it just seems hollow. br / br /Throughout the film Misty is expressing his desire to be adopted and have parents, and yet when the opportunity finally arrives he rejects it in favour of sticking with his December chums, but the sense of comradeship and friendship between the boys doesn't come across as strong as Misty's desire to be adopted. The film centres around this idea of strong friendship between the boys, but because the audience cannot believe it is as strong as the film obviously wants it to be, the film is imbued with a very weak thread running right through the core of the story. br / br /The only things keeping you watching the film are the speculation as to whether the boys are going to be adopted or not and whether Daniel Radcliffe is going to give us a real treat. Both turn out to be anticlimaxes, leaving the film with a certain flatness when it delivers its final speech which is obviously supposed to drive the weaker minded of us to tears. At the end of the film I did indeed leap up and run out of the room, but for quite a different reason. br / br /The whole film, especially the ending, has very much a literary feel about it, and it didn't surprise me that it originally came from a novel. The film gives the story a sense that it would be better being explored through reading rather than watching. br / br /So, by all means buy this film if you're interested in how Daniel Radcliffe fares outside the Harry Potter comfort zone. But prepare yourself to be disappointed if you try to look for stimulation in the film beyond his performance. I gave this film an average rating because it was an average film. It has some good bits, some less good bits, and above all it has Daniel Radcliffe, and let's be honest, that's always going to bring in the viewers, isn't it? br / Misty, water-colored memories... May 5, 2009 Kona (Emerald City) 1 out of 1 found this review helpful A man remembers a special time in his youth when he and three other orphans were given a holiday at the sea to celebrate their December birthdays. While there, the boys discover a neighbor couple that is considering adopting one of them. br / br /I wanted to like this movie, but it was a big let-down. The entire thing feels like a movie trailer, random scenes fading in and out with minimal dialogue, leading nowhere. The oldest of the four orphans is played by Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), but he has relatively little screen time, mutters only a handful of words, and has no chance to shine. He struggles through some young-boy-coming-of-age stuff that feels really awkward. The other boys don't fare any better; they're all blandly interchangeable and we never get a sense of the deep bond they're supposed to have. The photography is lovely, but the script just meanders through the holiday and then it's over. Nothing is resolved and even potentially touching scenes are ruined by poor dialogue and editing. Disappointing. Showing reviews 1-5 of 8 1 2 Next »

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