La chiave magica

I must first say I was shocked to see that the average rating given this film was below 6 (when I checked it in Jan of '05). While I gave it a 10, I fully expected at least a mid 7 from the IMDb audience. It is a wonderful film that I love to show to my children. What's not to like? It has a unique plot - that of an Indian coming to life in a young boy's cupboard, and wonderful acting and music. Through the boy's experiences with the Indian (wonderfully played by Litefoot) he comes to a new level of maturity. Hal Scardino's acting is natural and totally believable. If you are tired of the cut-out child actors that Hollywood gives us too often, then you'll love Hal. What a fabulously underplayed performance. The ending always makes me and my wife cry. There are so few really good films for children. I hate to suffer through other films I bought for the kids (like "Inspector Gadget" - a truly awful film) and I wish that there were more films like this one. This is a wonderful film and I heartily recommend it.

Forget reviews saying this is not as good as the book. No films are are a good as the book! Watch this movie with an 8 year old child and you will see how good the film is.

Thank you Frank Oz for a wonderful film. The acting from the young children is above average and the tearful ending just right for a young audience. Interesting to note Steve Coogan plays a miniature model come to life - something he repeats later in his career in A Night At The Museum. Typecasting?

The effects are also very good. Remember this is 1995 when CGI was in it's infancy - but the miniaturisation of the cast is flawless.

This film was special. It's not to say it ranks high amongst the worlds films technically (which is not to say it fails in this regard – it simply does not depend upon special effects), but the underlying theme is gentle and beautifully presented. The child actors' performances are solid. Especially the lead 'Omri', and his friend (whom I really liked and really disliked respectively - (hence his acting ability)). It's an innocent story with great imagination, and doesn't take itself too seriously. The relationship and growth that the main character develops with Little Bear (the Indian in the cupboard) is special. It eventually takes on a father/son dynamic after a role reversal or sorts from the Creator/created dynamic the boy has with Little Bear at first. I was touched by this relationship and by Omri's innocence. Frank Oz imagination is conveyed well through this work. I can easily imagine being in Omri's shoes and enjoy this film each time I watch it. Whether you watch this with kids or not, odds are you'll enjoy it.

Underrated and highly involving movie for kids. A young boy finds out that his cupboard has magical powers and can turn plastic into reality. He first turns a plastic Indian into a real human being. The movie teaches about responsibility but in an understandable way. It isn't patronizing nor childish, which means older audiences should relate to it also. It also mediates on life and death at certain points, and was the first film in a long time to be genuinely emotionally shocking. The relationship between the Indian and the cowboy was very well developed as they started to bond over their tragedies. The film does have a number of loose edges. Rishi Bhat was particularly annoying at times, but in a way he was necessary to play off Scardino. Even Scardino wasn't always a lovable protagonist. In one scene he kicks his brother's pet rat down the stairs, in an event where the rat clearly would have died. As the film hadn't relied on cartoon logic up until that point it was a bit out of place. Great effects, and seeing Darth Vader vs. a T-Rex kind of made up for those moments. A more innocent time when children's movies didn't have to be loud and crass.

Kids will love it, adults will think it has good parts and has a lovely idea, but in the end is maybe not fully complete.

I watched the movie as a kid and always somewhat remembered it and recently watched it again to see what it actually was about and to get the whole plot. I definitely like the idea and it is similar to Toy Story, but in the end it felt like something was missing or it was just too much of a movie for kids.