December Boys (2007)

Orphaned Maps (Daniel Radcliffe), Sparks (Christian Byers), Spit (James Fraser), and Misty (Lee Cormie) are the December boys {birth dates, people}. Maps is the eldest of this tight group of fellows who get sent to live with an elderly couple for a summer holiday. Sparks is good with mechanical things; Spit lives up to his nickname and Misty is a 'water-works' according to his brothers. When Misty overhears a couple discussing adoption, the boys soon become rivals. Their friendship will be tested and each boy's life will change forever.

December Boys is a sentimental journey of friendship that plays out like old photographs. Remember those old sepia photographs of your grandparents? The ones with just a touch of color? That's this movie. Visually, it's quite beautiful.

A beautiful location won't save a story that doesn't know what it wants to be. Much like the fish, story lines are mucking about; supporting characters are shallow and underdeveloped. It's a mess!

The young cast of boys are quite good. Radcliffe steps away from his wizardry long enough to show true acting chops. {Thanks for taking a mature role.} His compatriots are adorable. The boys stories allow us to care; but the viewer never really gets a glimpse of what makes each one. The young actors do well considering the material.

For all the boys' adventures, walk on the beach, fishing and even adolescent love, December Boys should have amounted to something and it didn't. Director Rod Hardy isn't sure if he's remaking Big Fish or Stand By Me. The hodge-podge of edits creates a time-frame that seems out of order.

Finally, the film jumps the shark with it's outlandish closure that takes us completely out of the film we were just watching. It's discombobulating.

December Boys is a hopelessly lost coming-of-age story, but thanks to the four young leads it's not all lost.