A very sweet, well intended, good-natured film about a 7 year old boy who is convinced he's supposed to be a girl, and wants to dress and act accordingly.
His parents' confusion, and inability to deal with the situation are shown without making them monsters, even as it all starts to tear at the fabric of the family, costing the father his job, etc.
What didn't work as well for me was the weaving in of the Tim Burton-esque magical realism/fantasy element of the young boy's dream world. Somehow, in the end, the film felt too light and sunny to really rip at your guts, and yet too dark to just enjoy as a wish fulfillment fantasy of the way the world should be.
So while well worth seeing, it ends up as a little less than it has signs of becoming.
His parents' confusion, and inability to deal with the situation are shown without making them monsters, even as it all starts to tear at the fabric of the family, costing the father his job, etc.
What didn't work as well for me was the weaving in of the Tim Burton-esque magical realism/fantasy element of the young boy's dream world. Somehow, in the end, the film felt too light and sunny to really rip at your guts, and yet too dark to just enjoy as a wish fulfillment fantasy of the way the world should be.
So while well worth seeing, it ends up as a little less than it has signs of becoming.