I am on record for bemoaning the black hole into which good children’s films have disappeared. When I was growing up in the 80s, movies like The Goonies and The Explorers fired my imagination and created worlds of excitement and adventure in which children had it within themselves to conquer pirates and outer space all in the span of two hours. Say what you will about contemporary moving-making, there is nothing like those films being crafted today. So when I saw the trailer for Son of Rambow, about a pair of 1980s Tom Sawyer and Huck Finns who go on a series of adventures in rural England, I felt more than a little twinge of nostalgia. However, I walked out of the screening deeply conflicted. Admittedly, the film delighted me. So why was I also so disappointed by it?

Young Will Proudfoot’s (Bill Milner) family belongs to an extremely conservative religious sect that doesn’t allow the viewing of TV and movies. Will expresses his supercharged imagination through fanciful drawings and illustrations with which he adorns the pages of the Bible his mother wishes he would study with more reverence and regularity. When Lee Carter (Will Poulter), the school terror, exposes Will to a pirated copy of Rambo: First Blood, he opens the sheltered boy’s mind to the mesmerizing world of movies and the larger-than-life heroes that every young boy yearns to emulate. Will has tasted the forbidden fruit and it is good.

Carter enlists Will to be a stuntman on a bizarre home movie he’s making, putting Will at odds with both his family and his religion. Secretly stealing away into the woods, the two boys set about making “The Son of Rambow,” for which they garner the admiration and attention of their entire school, especially French exchange student, Didier Revol (Jules Sitruk). Didier, who is shadowed by a constant throng of adoring groupies, prances around like he’s a character in a French New Wave film, but what he really wants to be is a distinguished actor…like Patrick Swayze. As Didier and others insinuate themselves into the pair’s movie, Will and Carter’s peculiar relationship, as well as their beloved project, is pushed to the breaking point.

These days it is commonplace for children to make their own movies with the family video camera. But in the 80s, the technology had just appeared in the form of bulky, shoulder-mounted VHS camcorders. Son of Rambow pays homage to those heady days of creativity and experimentation with an inventive film that owes more than a little to the effervescent mind and filmmaking of Michel Gondry (Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Be Kind Rewind). As seen through the incandescent imagination and creative resourcefulness of children, Son of Rambow is a euphoric celebration of the collaborative achievements and pitfalls of filmmaking.

This Sundance hit is as clever and charming as you hope it will be, though, regrettably, not consistently so. The film simply goes on for too long. Son of Rambow works best when centered on the quirky friendship of Will and Carter, but suffers when it allows itself to be distracted by the phalanx of other students intent on being in their movie. The witty moments outweigh the misfires to be sure, and thankfully, when the cleverness flags, the superlative child actors’ performances just about make up for it.

So why was I disappointed?

Son of Rambow cannot be called a kid’s movie. There is simply too much profanity and occasional adult content to make it acceptable for the majority of parents. Which is a shame, given how utterly delightful it is. The film’s subject matter and message is just the sort of thing kids would love. It has all the hallmarks of a truly great kid’s movie and I mean no disrespect whatsoever in wishing I had the freedom to label it as such. Successfully tackling children’s entertainment with wit, energy and intelligence is nothing to be ashamed of. However, instead of appealing to children, Son of Rambow will have to settle for appealing to the child in those adults who continue to pine for the day when Hollywood knew how to entertain kids without dumbing down its material.

© Copyright 2008 Brandon Fibbs. All rights reserved.