SYNOPSIS:
Charlie St. Cloud is a young man lost in the past. Haunted by a family tragedy that ties him to his small-town home, he has abandoned his dreams. But when his old classmate Tess returns unexpectedly, Charlie finds himself awakening to the possiblities of new love. Torn between keeping a promise to his brother and following his heart, will Charlie find the courage to let go of the past and pursue Tess before it's too late? Based on the acclaimed bestseller comes this story of hope and love also starring Academy Award winner Kim Basinger.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Other than Mr. High School Musical Zac Efron looking annoyingly good looking with his crystal blue eyes on the DVD cover of this predictably heartwarming movie, there’s a tagline which says “Live. Love. Let Go.”. However, we understand that there is a version of the movie poster which has the tagline “Life is for Living.” No offense to those who are upbeat and positive about life, but this has to be one of the most “duh” taglines we’ve seen.
This may sound harsh, but “duh” is really about the only adjective we can use to describe this Burr Steers movie.
Based on Ben Sherwood’s best selling novel “The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud”, this movie adaptation sees Efron taking on the role of the titular character, and sees the poor (but good looking, may we add) dude being torn between keeping a promise he made to his dead brother, or chasing the girl of his dreams. You see, ever since Charlie’s younger brother died in a car accident, the depressed (but good looking, definitely) dude has been “meeting” him in the evening to practise baseball with him. Disheartened (but good looking, without a doubt), Charlie slowly loses a grip of reality. Will he come to his sense soon?
What? A “Sixth Sense” plot? Yes, you’ve got that right. The almost laughable story has the protagonist being wishy washy about his life. Maybe we don’t understand the magnitude of grief he is going through – but given the treatment of this movie, we can’t help but feel that it’s a shallow star vehicle for the good looking Efron. Oh, fan girls alert – the good looking teen star gets to show off his well toned bod in several topless scenes too.
Other than the guy who used to sing to groovy dance moves in that Disney production called High School Musical, there is really nothing outstanding about this 99 minute feature movie. If you are looking for something inspirational about courage to let go of the past and living life for the present, we suggest you look elsewhere instead. Sure, there are some nice and dreamy cinematography, but with a humdrum story pacing like this, there is a sense of dread and dreariness as the movie plods along,
Supporting cast in the form of Amanda Crew as the obligatory love interest (she gets to take off Efron’s top and is hugged by a shirtless Efron in the movie’s climatic sequence!), Ray Liotta as the paramedic who saves Efron in a car accident and Kim Basinger as his mother do not help to uplift the movie much. In fact, Liotta’s involvement seems unnecessary and Basinger disappeared after appearing in earlier scenes. We don’t know about the novel, but this movie is only a must watch if you are Efron’s die hard fan.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
This Code 3 DVD contains Trailers for other Universal Pictures productions like The Adjustment Bureau and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. There are 11 minutes of seven Deleted Scenes (with optional commentary from director), some of which showcasing Efron’s well toned bod by having him clad in a wet singlet. The 12 minute On Location with Zac Efron should please fan girls because they can hear him talk about his involvement in the movie. What? One more featurette about the good looking guy? Of course, this is really the only selling point for this movie. That is why you get the seven minute Zac Efron, Leading Man. The 10 minute The In-Between World attempts to mystify the story’s supernatural plot by having experts like a parapsychologist and a medium to talk about life after death and psychic experiences. There is also a Feature Commentary where the director talks, rather sparsely, about the production.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
There is nothing to complain about the movie's visual transfer. You can watch it in English or Thai Dolby Digital 5.1.
MOVIE RATING :
DVD
RATING :
Review
by John Li
Posted
on 27 February 2011 |
