The Odd Life Of Timothy Green Review

• 28th Mar 2013

The film opens with a couple applying for child adoption; and to aid their application they have a story to tell about a boy named Timothy. Right there and then you pretty much can predict the outcome of the film, as a large part of the drama has already been answered for you. And so the story unfolds: Cindy (Jennifer Garner) and Jim (Joel Edgerton) have just discovered that they cannot have children. Depressed, they have one last flight of fantasy – wondering what their child would have been like and then literally bury the ideas out back in the garden that evening. One magic thunderstorm later and suddenly they are confronted with Timothy green. A young boy born of their ideas (and from the garden); a son they can call their own and love and raise.

Of course along the way they have to encounter their own parenting problems as Timothy encounters the various family, friends and enemies along the way. Also how to deal with the interesting fact that timothy has leaves growing out of his lower legs.

Joel Edgerton surprisingly (after some more adult centred dramas) looks far too at home with the family centred Disney here. Garner on the other hand is becoming an old hat at family related drama. There are also notable appearances from the likes of M Emmett Walsh, Dianne Wiest and (what films have you been hiding in lately) David Morse. As Timothy, CJ Adams, is an inspired find and briskly walks through the film with a smile on his face and with the strengths of naivety on his side.

The film earns points for curving away from predictability on many occasions. There are often moments in the film where you expect the film to deliver a certain outcome from Timothy’s character interactions, but more often than not the script does a 180 and delivers you almost the opposite outcome; the football game being a hilarious highlight.

Still it’s one thing to look at it from the sweet natured side of the story; There is also the cynical side which might look something like this: A couple, distraught that they cannot bear children, decide to bury the idea out back in the hope of getting on with their lives – until mother nature steps in and gives them a child, only to take said child away from them again leaving them to adopt anyway. Mother Nature sure is a bitch.

But that would be reading perhaps too deeply into a U certificate kids film. This one will show your kid that every day is for living, and that it is just as important to fail as it is to succeed.

Steven Hurst