LITTLE BUDDHA
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1995 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): ** 1/2
I went with low expectations to see LITTLE BUDDHA but was quite pleasantly surprised. LITTLE BUDDHA is a fairy tale interwoven with a cartoon like telling of the Buddha story. The fairy tale is that a great Buddhist teacher from Bhutan who died nine years ago may or may not have been reincarnated into a nine year old boy who lives in Seattle. He is given a cartoon picture book of the story of Buddha, and we have periodic long flash backs to the life of Buddha played much like a cartoon but starring Keanu Reeves as Prince Siddhartha who later became known as Buddha.
Like most fairy tales, or operas for that matter, you must be able to suspend disbelieve if you are to proceed. Think about it. If someone comes to your doorstep claiming to be a Buddhist monk and says he wants you to leave your young son at the local temple for examination since your son might have been reincarnated, would you a) slam the door, b) call the police, or c) leave your little boy at the temple? In the movie, they eventually pick c.
This is a beautiful film written and directed by Bernardo Bertolucci who did THE LAST EMPEROR. It was easy to forget logic and go with the story. I am familiar with Western Judeo-Christian beliefs but knew nothing of Buddha or any of the legend surrounding his life. I found that part fascinating. I do not know what liberties Bertolucci took with the Buddha story, but I found it pretty bizarre besides being fascinating, but then again, any religious story probably sounds strange to someone who knows nothing about that religion.
Bridget Fonda (most recently excellent in SINGLE WHITE FEMALE) plays the mother and Chris Isaak (small part in Silence of the Lambs) plays the father of the nine year old (Alex Wiesendanger - a new actor). Bridget Fonda's acting ranges from good to excellent. She is good here. Isaak gives a blah performance. The little boy is okay. I think Keanu Reeves (e.g., in MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING - like his acting abilities) is a terrible actor. This movie confirmed my opinion. It is the monks (led by Ruocheng Ying) and the story itself that make this movie come alive.
The imaginative script is by Bernardo Bertolucci, Mark Peploe, and Rudy Wurlitzer. It shows the monks as real people who joke, fall asleep accidentally, and have to be reminded to take their medicine yet have almost a mystic quality about them nevertheless.
LITTLE BUDDHA runs 2:03 and editing by Pietro Scalia should have been tighter. I give the movie ** 1/2 and recommend it to anyone with an open mind. It is correctly rated PG. I think kids over say 8 would enjoy it.
**** = One of the top few films of this or any year. A must see film. *** = Excellent show. Look for it. ** = Average movie. Kind of enjoyable. * = Poor show. Don't waste your money. 0 = One of the worst films of this or any year. Totally unbearable.
REVIEWED WRITTEN ON: June 10, 1994
Opinions expressed are mine and not meant to reflect my employer's.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews