![]() ![]() In the end, despite the changes and the teen romance, it is a worthy adaptation and does a fine job with the themes Babbitt explored. I'm sure the temptation was otherwise for some Disney execs, but Winnie ends up having more sense than Bella Swann did. Thankfully, the film keeps the book's bittersweet ending. Now that Hurt has passed away, his commentary about "not fearing death, but only the unlived life" has an added poignancy to it. The signature scene of the book, with Angus and Winnie out on the lake in a rowboat and discussing the nature of life and mortality ("the wheel"), is the highlight of the movie and beautifully acted by Hurt and Bledel. You wouldn't expect Scott Bairstow of all people to give the best performance in the film, but the scene where he anguishingly tells Winnie their family history and his personal tragedy is a genuine tearjerker. In the book he's more accepting of it and seems to have an existential understanding, but in the film, he's a brooding death-seeker who keeps fighting in wars to try and die (and failing every time). One aspect, in my opinion, the film improved on the book is the tragedy of older Tuck son Miles, who had a wife and two children before he realized his immortality and thus ended up losing them through fear (his wife left with the kids after thinking her husband was in league with the Devil) and then to death while he just kept going on. (There's also narration from Elisabeth Shue of all people.) Plus, in an inspired addition from the book, his interest in Winnie has an unpleasantly lecherous edge that makes you all the more uncomfortable whenever he comes into the picture. All three acquit themselves well, but especially Kingsley, who does polite menace exceedingly well. The film certainly has acting pedigree with no less that three Oscar-winning greats featured Willam Hurt and Sissy Spacek as Angus and Mae Tuck and Ben Kingsley as the mysterious Man in the Yellow Suit (no real name given) who is pursuing the Tucks and the spring for his own nefarious means. It gets dangerously close to "Twilight" territory at points, but Bledel and Jackson do well enough to save it and make it tolerable. The biggest change, of course, is aging Winnie up from the 10-year old of the book to a 15 year old in order to cast "Gilmore Girls"-era Alexis Bledel in the role (in her film debut as well) and thus give her a starry-eyed teen romance with younger Tuck son Jesse (Jonathan Jackson). Despite the Disney effect and notable changes, it's a fairly well done adaptation. Given my longtime fascination with the immortality concept, it was a favorite of mine growing up and thus the 2002 adaptation by Disney held some interest for me (there was also an obscure 1981 version that I remember seeing in school). But all isn’t as euphoric as Winnie first expects when Father Tuck takes her for a canoe ride and reveals their family secret.If you've been a kid at any point in the last few decades, you're likely familiar with Natalie Babbitt's 1975 tome about young Winnie Foster who, at the dawn of the 20th century, encounters the immortal Tuck family and the Fountain of Youth-type spring that made them so, causing her to question whether to become like them or live out her mortal life. Alexis Bledel as Winnie Foster William Hurt as Angus Tuck Sissy Spacek as Mae Tuck Jonathan Jackson as Jesse Tuck Scott Bairstow as Miles Tuck Ben Kingsley. INTRODUCTION A story of the implications of eternal life, Babbitts Tuck Everlasting (1975) is a young adult fantasy that explores the intersections of mortality and morality. Unlike her own driven and domineering mother (Amy Irving), they enjoy the simple pleasures of life. Welcoming her into their home, these mountain dwellers seem charmed with their guest and oblivious to the passing of time. Here she meets the Tucks-their father Angus (William Hurt), mother Mae (Sissy Spacek), the elder brother Miles (Scott Bairsotw) and the dark-haired, teenager Jesse (Jonathan Jackson) who she encountered at the spring. However, when she asks for a sip, the tired girl is roughly hauled off to an untidy hovel tucked in a grove of trees on the edge of a pristine lake. Pushing through the underbrush, she stumbles upon a young man drinking from a pool of clear water at the base of a gigantic tree. But before long her anger is spent and the petulant runaway is lost. A strange man in a yellow suit (Ben Kingsley) hints at a magical marvel hidden in the woods behind Winnie Foster’s (Alexis Bledeh) home when he comes asking questions at their offish estate.įollowing a family row over her parents’ plan to send her to finishing school, Winnie decides to escape the iron enclosure surrounding her house and head for the hills.
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