Average Customer Review: ( 69 customer reviews )
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 17 found the following review helpful:
 Top flight entertainment for "tween" aged children Feb 08, 2001
By Alan R. Holyoak
"The Indian in the Cupboard" is an excellent movie for tween-aged children (i.e., children between their pre-school and teen years). In this movie a boy discovers that he can bring small action figures to life by using a small, old, wooden cupboard. The first figure he brings to life is a Native American. As the story progresses, the boy learns important lessons about life from his new friend, "Little Bear." The story is exciting without being frightening, educational without being stuffy, and fun without being extreme. "The Indian in the Cupboard" presents an excellent entertainment offering for pre-teens who often see too much programming centered on overstimulation of sight, sound, and action (e.g., Pokemon...). I also like the fact that the boy in the story doesn't look like he stepped right out of an advertising agency, or off of the cover of a magazine. He is a regular guy...his hair is a little messy, his teeth haven't gone through an orthodontic program, and he wears normal clothes. All in all, this is top-notch entertainment for the whole family. It's one of my children's favorites (girl, 10 yrs; boy 8 yrs; boy 6 yrs). A definite keeper for your family's collection! Happy viewing...and watch out for the rat! Alan Holyoak
14 of 16 found the following review helpful:
Toy Story Comes To Life.... Aug 03, 2000
By Quaker Annie
"reader"
This video made it to our family library long ago. Entertaining, enjoyable for adults and children, with relatively little violence (there are some battle scenes), it opens up avenues for dinner time conversation about reality, fantasy, Native Americans, friendship and bullies. In addition, watching this movie led us to the book series, which my then 6 year old listened to intently. What we liked - fantasy mixed with reality, much like Small Soldiers or E.T. (though not nearly as good as E.T.) With the help of a magical key and cabinet, our hero, Omri, brings a figurine, Little Bear, to life (in miniature form). He watches Little Bear build a home and finds a wife for him. Omri's best friend, Patrick, doesn't quite understand the difference between play and real lives, and brings Boone, a cowboy and his horse to life, setting off a small battle between the two people. Boone brings a touch of comic relief to the film, which deals with some serious issues. Death is lightly touched on, when Omri's first attempt to find a friend for Little Bear pushes an elderly figurine into cardiac arrest, with serious effects on Omri's comprehension of his 'toys.' War, too, is addressed slightly when he brings a tiny World War I medic back to care for a miniscule character's real life wounds. Parallel to this story is Omri's move into a new neighborhood, away from his best friend and into some slight confrontations with bullies (further developed in the sequel to this video). We started with the video, which led us to the book series (by Lynne Reid Banks). The video is almost as good as the book, with convincing special effects, good acting, entertainment and more meaningful after-movie talk than most children's. A good view, and if you get the version(s) with the figurines, they are very close to the movie miniatures! Thumbs up from all of our family members - hope you enjoy it (and read the books!!!)
28 of 35 found the following review helpful:
 My goodness, what an insult to the book!! Jan 12, 2008
By lisam5305@yahoo.com
We just got done reading this book in our homeschool so naturally I rented this movie hoping it would bring the words to life. This movie is a mere shadow of the book. Omri's family is nice and even the boy who plays him is okay. The Native American who played the "Indian" (Litefoot) did a wonderful job but the script was so pathetic. The boy who played Patrick was repugnant and not much of a real friend. One of the major things that just absolutely kills this movie for me is the excessive amount of cussing (at one point Omri even says a cuss word to his mom, and she responds with a proud, wide-mouthed grin). Not only that, but in one scene the boys even have the cowboy and Indian watching a raunchy music video, and plenty is shown to make it offensive. These were fatal mistakes in my opinion, I am sure I am not the only one who was turned off by these things. It would have been so awesome to see what a really good director could have done with this movie.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Good movie. Jul 04, 2002
When you first see Omri, a kid who's short, has messy hair and not the greatest teeth in the world, you don't think anything interesting can happen to him. But something does. His best friend, Patrick, gives him a toy Indian for his birthday. At his party, his brother gives him an old cupboard that he found in the crawlspace of their house. Omri's mother tells Omri that if he can find a key out of her collection, he can have it. He does. It was a key that his great-grandmother gave to his mother.
When Omri carelessly puts the toy Indian into the cupboard and locks it, the toy comes to life.
At first, the Indian (Little Bear) is scared, but eventually learns to trust Omri. Omri gives Little Bear whatever he desires, tools, food, and a hatchett from a knight! However, when he was getting a bow and arrow from an old Indian, the Indian is scared to death--literally! Omri realizes that these "Toys" have real lives and that they aren't something to fool around with. When Patrick discovers Omri's secret, he brings back a Cowboy named Boone. Little Bear and Boone eventually become friends. Omri takes Boone and Little Bear to school (Patrick wanted him to) and Omri displays that he has learned that the "toys" were people by saying "You can't! They're people! You can't use people!" When Patrick was going to show them to friends. Omri's brother takes Omri's cupbaord as a cruel joke and the key gets lost! What's worse, Boone is seriously wounded, and without medical attention, he will die! Omri realizes that Little Bear and Boone's safety and hapiness meant more to him than the novelty of having them. So Omri declares that when the key was found, they were sending Boone and Little Bear home.
The key is eventually found, and Omri is forced to let Little Bear and Boone go. Little Bear and Omri share one last moment, and then he sends them back.
This was a very good movie, at least fo me, and it's a good movie for kids to watch.
5 of 6 found the following review helpful:
"You Should Not Do Magic You Do Not Understand" Aug 12, 2005
By Brian E. Erland
"Rainbow Sphinx"
Omri receives a rather unusual gift from his older brother for his birthday, an old two-shelf cupboard he found in the trash. The cupboard has a lock, but no key. Fishing through a pile of keys belonging to his Mother, Omri finds one that fits the lock. It turns out to be a special key given to his Mother by her Mother just before she died. Omri iis allowed to keep it and so the adventure begins.
You see something special happens to any toy locked away in this strange little cupboard, they come to life once unlocked. Conversely, toys that have been brought to life can be returned to their inanimate state when returned to the cupboard.
At first it all seems great fun. Omri tests his magical box with various toys, a dinosaur and Darth Vader, but when he unlocks a small replica of an Iroquois Indian from the cabinet he discovers he's not just playing a game anymore. A living, breathing 19th century Indian warrior named Little Bear emerges. Little Bear is not just an animated toy, he is a real person with a real life that has been mysteriously plucked out of his 19th home and deposited in miniature form into Omri's twentieth century bedroom.
Little Bear teaches Omri the meaning of being a warrior and taking responsibility for your own actions, scolding him for tampering with the lives of others he tells the young boy, "You should not do magic you do not understand."
This is great family entertainment containing a message we should all take to heart. It's a message of tolerance and understanding towards cultures and people different from ourselves.
The entire cast is terrific! The British medic (Steve Coogan) and the cowboy Boo-Hoo Boone (David Keith) were perfect in their supporting roles, while the two main characters Omri (Hal Scardino) and Little Bear (Litefoot) were absolutely magical together. Their goodbye scene is sure to bring tears to your eyes.
See all 69 customer reviews on Amazon.com
|
based on 69 reviews
