Movie Review: Son of Rambow (2008)

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Before I go into the movie review I want to tell you that as a kid I had a VHS Camcorder and I would go around filming amateur type films with my brother, where we would put on costumes and I was the director, screenwriter and cameraman. My friends and brother would act in my films and we would create these elaborate stories and such.

The movie Son of Rambow really took me back to my own childhood as far as the kids making an amateur film, even if I couldn’t relate to the characters situations in their personal lives.

This was an extremely good movie and it is about two polar opposite boys who become best friends, and this friendship and bond that forms help balance the two of them out. One boy (Lee Carter) is from a broken home barely raised by his older brother with no rules or discipline at all, he is a wild child who steals, curses, smokes and is generally hated by his schoolmates and teachers alike.

The other boy (Will Proudfoot) comes from an overly strict religious family where he isn’t allowed to have much contact with outsiders and must adhere to strict religious rules. Meanwhile Will doesn’t feel the same way and we quickly learn his imagination and creativity take him to other places, as his bible has nearly every page colored and scribbled with elaborate scenes of adventure.

The two boys meat by accident when Will is sent into a hallway since he isn’t old enough to watch a documentary, and Lee is banished to the hallway as a punishment. They meet and have a scuffle which leads to a fish bowl breaking and Lee offering to take the blame and the “torture” if Will will give him his watch.

From here the two boys get to know each other and start making an amateur film which originally is Lee’s idea and story, but after Will watches the movie “Rambo: First Blood” he creates his “Son of Rambow” story and Lee buys into the story and they decide to make Will’s story.

Every moment of the film gets better and better as the boys do stupid things that boys do, take careless risks with stunts, fight, lie, steal, yet their friendship grows. We even see how Will becomes so obsessed with the film and the outside world from his church that he starts abandoning his friend for a new crowd who wants to be a part of the film, and we see the falling out and then reconnection between the boys.

The end of the film is perfect and brings a harmonious balance to both boys and their families to some degree showing that people really shouldn’t be one extreme or the other, but should find a balance between the two.

I really enjoyed this film and it makes me want to pick up my camcorder and make some home movies with my boys this weekend.

'Son of Rambow (2008)' rating  

Son of Rambow

PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested), DVD, Bill Milner, Will Poulter, Jessica Hynes, Anna Wing, Neil Dudgeon, Garth Jennings, Garth Jennings, Benjamin Goldhirsh, Bristol Baughan, Christian Baute, Hengameh Panahi, Jane Robertson, Meinolf Zurhorst

• $14.98 List Price
• $19.99 at Amazon.com

Product Description SON OF RAMBOW - DVD Movie ... Read moreAmazon.com Though his big-screen version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy came first, this fantastical coming-of-age tale springs from director Garth Jennings's first script. In Son of Rambow, the 1980s have hit the English countryside, but Will Proudfoot (Bill Milner, My Boy Jack), whose father recently passed away, avoids all entertainment media as his strict Brethren religion forbids such frivolity.... Read more