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Created Dec 17, 2007 07:38PM PST • Edited Dec 17, 2007 07:38PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Very Good 3.5

   The December boys are also known as Maps (Radcliffe), Misty (Cormie), Spark (Byers), and Spit (Fraser). They are four boys who were sent to a Catholic orphanage in the outback of Australia in the 60’s. Also, they were all born in December. Over their years of staying in that orphanage and not getting adopted, they grew towards each other. They became very good friends and more like brothers than anything else. One December, they are told that they are going to be sent away on a holiday. The boys stay with a couple who is friends of the church at Lady Star Cove, bordering the sea.
   The boys enjoy themselves, experiencing the seaside for the first time in their lives. Maps, Spark, and Spit are more adventurous and fearless than Misty. They don’t hesitate to smoke, drink beer, or check out nude pictures of girls or even the real thing in the houses around them. Although, they all have grown up around Catholicism, Misty takes it to heart more than anyone else. He sees things spiritually that other people don’t often pick up on. He sees religious figures who come to life through his eyes. His motives to behave do become a bit more selfish when he overhears the couple living next door that they are looking to adopt and might adopt one of the four boys. Misty keeps this to himself for awhile and acts as polite and kind as he possibly can. He doesn’t like keeping things from the other boys, but being adopted would be a dream come true to him. As tensions raise the truth comes out. Their holiday then becomes a competition to be the one adopted. Each boy has to come in terms of what this means and what is really best for him.

4. Acting

   Great 4.0

   Daniel Radcliffe did marvelous as the oldest of the December boys. He really acted as a friend but more than anything as the protective brother. He was trying to help the other boys, but was going through plenty of issues himself. He conveyed his struggles with riveting emotion. He has proven that he has a serious actor and this role will help him progress on further. Lee Cormie gave the film a lot of heart through Misty. He was the young, wide-eyed boy with big hopes. The thought of getting adopted was simply a miracle to him. Yet when he really thought what it would mean it didn’t add up. Christian Byers and James Fraser added adventure as they were the most troublesome of the younger boys. Jack Thompson was a very compelling part time father to the boys. It was an arranged visit that was scheduled to end, but he did genuinely care for them.

5. Male Stars Great 4.0

6. Female Stars Great 4.0

7. Female Costars Great 4.0

8. Male Costars Great 4.0

10. Film

    Good 3.0

    A motif in the film that doesn’t work is with a crazy fisherman and an impossibly giant fish. He really doesn’t add anything to the story, but is just there to add a wacky character. I haven’t read the book so maybe it is in relation to something that is described in more depth in the novel but was left out of the film. It seems like it would have been better to leave it out completely though. We constantly see a horse in the water. It is rumored that the horse is fishing to give to the cats. This is not a common assumption, but it is used as a way to believe in magic; that such things can happen. That is what the seaside is for the children, a means to see beauty in the simplicities of life and have the utmost faith in others. The most significant one is the appreciation of family, not necessarily a traditional family, but the one who has given them joy and comfort for years.

11. Direction Good 3.0

12. Play Good 3.0

13. Music Good 3.0

14. Visuals Good 3.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 1.9

    There are some sexual scenes in the film. There are a few where the boys simply see women showering or getting dressed. Daniel Radcliffe also experiences something more advanced than this in a sub-plot that had a direct effect on his character was his relationship with Lucy (Palmer). She was living in the neighborhood at the time of his visit. There was a definite attraction between the two of them. They began to sneak off to try to spend time together. Being in an orphanage his whole life, Maps didn’t exactly have a lot of female contact aside from nuns. Lucy knew this and acted on it. She did like him too, but it seemed a bit unfair the way she treated him giving him plenty of firsts that ended in nothing but bad memories. This immensely messed with Maps’ mind and he took it out on the other boys and just resented the area and all of the people around.

17. Sex Titillating 1.9

18. Violence Fierce 1.9

19. Rudeness Salty 1.9

21. Reality

    Natural 1.0

    It is very logical that 5 orphan boys would want to be adopted. Everyone wants a home, desiring a family is completely normal. December Boys shines from genuine and real characters. That is really what makes the film as good as it is; the characters and the great performances of the actors who bring them to life. The story is not very complex, but it has no need to be. Through their experiences each character re-evaluates their desires to come to a deeper realization of the life they truly want.

22. Circumstantial Natural 1.0

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Natural 1.0