December Boys (2007)

"December Boys" marks star Daniel Radcliffe's first lead foray outside the world of Hogwarts, and the magic is conspicuously lost. Not that Rod Hardy's well-meaning drama is terribly bad, but it's listless and overly sentimental that ultimately, it's a forgettable experience.

Set in 1930s Australia, Radcliffe plays the role of Maps, an orphan boy raised in a Catholic orphanage. Together with three other orphans born in December (hence their eponymous moniker), they were sent on a holiday at a beach for Christmas where a newlywed couple plans to adopt one of them.

While the film's location and cinematography are breathtaking, there's not much else. Marc Rosenberg's script adapted from Michael Noonan's novel can't achieve enough momentum to keep it out of a monotonous setup. The characters are such bland figures lacking any sense of depth, which unfortunately fails to give Radcliffe a role that's more challenging than being, eh, an orphan.

In the end, there's not much to make for the overtly familiar convention. Save for the visuals, there's nothing here that you haven't already seen in other coming-of-age films, which might have been done better.

Fmovies: I like the movie and was especially emotional because I've been to Kangaroo Island for one week last year and I have lived near Snellings Beach. The Remarkable Rocks were so beautiful as little Sahara and Stokes Bay was (what was also in the movie) and the other nice places... (e.g. seal bay). the story is beautiful and the actors are good. The only thing I didn't like was the scene in the end with virgin Maria/the holy mother (whoever it was) underwater... but the rest is just amazing, emotional and tragical and in the same place fantastic and beautiful! When I saw the sceneries I was so amazed and wanted to get back to Kangaroo Island. It is really funny if you've once got a personal relationship to that island because there are only about 3000-4000 people living there and I've been to the biggest party: The Sheep Shearers Ball and got to know a few locals and lived with locals. Nice people, beautiful Island... Go There!

What a shame. I so wanted to enjoy this movie. But it failed in every conceivable way.

It had the basis of a good yarn - 4 young male orphans sent on their first holiday by the sea. Their hosts were stalwarts of the church and lived in a small cove with 3 other families right on the sea. The youngest, Misty, overhears the young couple discussing adopting one of the boys and from there on in it is a competition to win the affection of the couple. Sounds good - throw in a beautiful location (South Australia) and an adolescent love interest and it all should have added up to more than it did.

There were, to me, many shortfalls. The adult characters were incomplete, un-rounded, almost cardboard cut out (with the exception of Skipper, the female church stalwart who is the kids' host). The soundtrack (other than the 60s pop music) was risible - sweet and sickly and wholly inappropriate - result being it was too intrusive and mawkish. Mix the sweet and sickly soundtrack with long shots of the stunning scenery and even that became dull and boring. The plot clunked along from one scene to the other, badly edited and without any smoothness or apparent connection. Decisions were made in isolation with little development. It all came across as unreal and unbelievable. And as for the apparitions and the last scene involving the boys as adults was laugh out loud absurd - half the audience certainly thought so when I saw it - howls of sniggering and laughter.

Shame really - as I said, wanted to enjoy it for a number of reasons - its Australian, its a good a story, I wanted Daniel Radcliffe to set himself up post Harry Potter (and he actually didn't do a bad job - the most convincing scene in the film involved adolescent embarrassment between him and Teresa Palmer) etc.. But no matter what, I have to be truthful and place this film alongside 'Inside Paris' as the worst films of the year.

December Boys fmovies. A great movie indeed with all that a good movie needs: love, drama, realistic characters, joy, sadness and all the other things that a human being might feel nostalgic about at a certain moment.

The orphans change the cove and cove changes them forever and, if you let it, their story might change you as well.

The emotional charge simply grows bigger and bigger from the beginning of the movie towards the end thus providing with a finale of biblical proportions (emotionally speaking).

Although in the beginning it might not seem like much this is, in my opinion, a movie that will not leave you unchanged and give you a new perspective as to what your dreams are and/or ought to be.

December Boys is an overly sentimental and cliché ridden tale, but it has a special something that makes it work. That something is the engaging performances of the two major boys - Daniel Radcliffe and Lee Cormie.

The action takes place during a Christmas holiday of the late 60's or early 70's in Australia. The December boys are four boys from an outback orphanage whose birthdays fall in December. They are given a treat of a vacation at the shore provided by an older couple.

The four are three pre-adolescents - Sparks, Spit, and Misty (Cormie) - and one older boy who acts as the big brother of the younger three. He is Maps, played by Radcliffe. The story is told by Misty as an adult and contains many, probably mis-remembered, events of that eventful vacation.

The boys are hosted by an older couple with the man being played by Jack Thompson as Bandy. This is a bare-bones part, and Thompson's considerable talents are wasted. Bandy's wife is ill with cancer, and there are some interesting scenes of interactions with the boys but the couple plays a very small role in the whole thing.

The vacation cabin is in a small cove accompanied by several others, and the inhabitants of these neighboring cabins provide a number of interesting characters. The most interesting to the boys is a young, childless couple. They are seen as potential parents by the boys, and the three younger ones compete in a battle for their attention - led by Misty.

Maps is far more interested in a local teenage girl with whom he develops an intimate relationship. Because Radcliffe became famous as Harry Potter, Russell Edwards of Variety sarcastically states, "Destined to be forever known as Harry Potter Gets LaidÂ…," but I saw much more in Radcliffe's portrayal of a teenager's first love. His performance is richly affecting.

December Boys is an entertaining combination of the vacation adventures and fantasies of four boys coupled with that longing purity of first love. It's not a great movie, but it gives the viewer a good feeling and gives this viewer some memories and emotions of times long passed.

To Jlin from the Emerald Isle .. methinks you had a little too much of the Hard Stuff ;-)

Whats it like to be an Orphan in the days of narrow mindedness and strange moral beliefs that were taught then ... this film portrays this well.

Excellent Cinema Photography and composition with some excellent stills and excellent script too with some pot shots at the ridiculous order that Nuns were and are today :( with their strange methods at handling Orphans not to mention their narrow minded beliefs.

The acting by the 4 orphan boys was very convincing as was the portrayal of how young boys behave like smoking after lights out in bed, or how the awareness of the opposite sex awakened their senses.

The orphans were the stars without a doubt the other adults competent enough Jack Thomson was somewhat wooden in his role.

To sum up an enjoyable film devoid of any nasties ... not a masterpiece by any means though.