[Screen It]

 

"THE ODD LIFE OF TIMOTHY GREEN"
(2012) (Jennifer Garner, Joel Edgerton) (PG)


Alcohol/Drugs Minor
Blood/Gross Stuff Minor
Disrespectful/Bad Attitude Heavy
Frightening/Tense Scenes Moderate
Gun/Weapons Minor
Imitative Behavior Moderate
Jump Scenes Mild
Music (Scary/Tense) None
Music (Inappropriate) None
Profanity Minor
Sex/Nudity Minor
Smoking None
Tense Family Scenes Heavy
Topics to Talk About Heavy
Violence Mild


QUICK TAKE:
Drama: As a couple tries to gain approval to adopt a child, they recount their story of a 10-year-old boy who magically came into their lives.
PLOT:
Cindy (JENNIFER GARNER) and Jim Green (JOEL EDGERTON) have long desired to have a biological child, but when that doesn't work, they opt to go the adoption route and have just one hurdle to clear. That's an interview with an adoption agency official (SHOHREH AGHDASHLOO) who will have the final say about their quest. She gets more than an earful when they tell her why they'd make good parents, and all of that relates to their prior time with a young boy named Timothy (CAMERON 'CJ' ADAMS).

After brainstorming a list of characteristics about the child they'll never have, they bury that, along with their dreams of having a biological child, out in the backyard in a small, wood box. That night, a storm whips up from nowhere and the approximately 10-year-old Timothy shows up in their house, covered in dirt, sprouting leaves from his legs, and immediately views them as his parents.

Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, the Greens immediately "adopt" the boy, much to the surprise of Cindy's married sister, Brenda (ROSEMARIE DeWITT), who's always bragging about her kids, and Jim's estranged father, James (DAVID MORSE), who was an emotionally absent father in Jim's childhood. They don't get much support at work either, be that Jim's pencil factory boss, Franklin Crudstaff (RON LIVINGSTON), and Cindy's museum director head, Ms. Crudstaff (DIANNE WIEST), or in convincing the youth soccer coach (COMMON) to put their boy in a match.

Timothy doesn't seem to mind, however, as he's game for anything and everything, not to mention that he's distracted by a slightly older girl, Joni (ODEYA RUSH), who's also taken a liking to him. But as the leaves on the boy's legs start to fall off, it's obvious something is happening to him and his future with his new family.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?
The movie is about a kid (so it might draw in some based on that), but really isn't a kid movie, so it's hard to say.
WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG
For mild thematic elements and brief language.


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