Les puissants

First of all...I really liked it. If there is one film I would highly recommend this year, this is it. Sharon Stone is a mother of a son with a physically disabling and potentially fatal disease. The son doesn't let this disease slow him down and he goes off facing the challenges of everyday life that lay ahead of him. Unfortunately, not everyone understands his disease or shows sensitivity to his physical condition. He is abused by classmates and has no friends until he meets the kid next door. The neighbor kid has a learning disability and through a variety of situations, the two become friends. Together they go out and face the world as if they were knights in King Arthur's court. The film has some great messages of friendship and understanding. While the film shows the difficulties of living with a disability it shows strength and courage in dealing with it. A few scenes were extremely emotional in nature and only the most hardened-heart would not be moved or touched by them. To this end, the Director should be commended. One review (even I read other reviews) describe this film as being "emotionally-manipulative", but I say...who cares? Any time a Driector is successful at causing an emotional response from the audience...I consider that a positive sell-point of the film. Bottom line....while I haven't said much about the actual content of the film...I will leave that for you to experience on your own....go see it...you will be glad you did....this film can touch and inspire you in a world that sometimes doesn't.

"Sometimes seems like the whole world has just seen me on America's Most Wanted." (Max Kane)

So says the imposing gentle giant Max (the excellent Elden Ratliff). He is a 13-year-old with a murdered mother and murdering jailbird father (James Gandolfini), who has twice failed 8th grade and lives with disgruntled grandparents Gram and Grim (the particularly morose Harry Dean Stanton and Gena Rowlands). It's a wonder he isn't Mad Max. However, he has a saviour. A minor miracle named Kevin Dillon (Kieran Culkin). Sounds cheesy, but The Mighty is anything but.

Peter Chelson, director of the inventive and original Funny Bones, has lovingly superimposed Rodman Philbrick's successful children's book Freak The Mighty to the screen. The result is as moving as any kiddies film you've seen in the last ten years.

Kevin is suffering from Morquio's syndrome, a progressively degenerative disease that makes him unable to walk without leg braces. However, the boy is a considerable intellectual giant trapped inside a small, fragile body. As luck would have it he is consigned to tutor Max in remedial reading. In the words of Bogart it's the start of a "beautiful friendship".

Kevin introduces the big guy to Arthurian legend. "Every word is part of a picture. Every sentence is a picture. All you do, is let your imagination connect them together. If you have an imagination that is," he says.

Inspired by the knights in the book, the boys invent a fantasy world in which honour is everything. Together, Max and Kevin set out to battle their foes, both real and imagined.

Do not be put off by the presence of a Culkin or the mention of King Arthur. The Mighty is sincere, without being turgidly earnest, and genuinely uplifting. Sharon Stone equips herself well as the distraught mother of Kevin, but can't quite convince us that she doesn't ooze glamour. The "bad" kids also do not quite fit, resembling the troublesome urchins in Bugsy Malone rather than vicious Cincinnati hoodlums. However, these are minor quibbles, for ultimately The Mighty is several notches above the average children's film.

Ben Walsh

On the surface THE MIGHTY is yet another of those TVM schmaltz-fests with its disease of the week story lines featuring dying children and kids battling against physical and social adversity but give it a chance and you'll see beyond the clichés

The story starts with Max , as a kid from the wrong side of the tracks whose father is serving serious time for murdering Max's mother getting picked on by the local gang ( Yes it's a multi ethnic gang as always )but as the story goes on he strikes up an unlikely friendship with a crippled kid called Kevin . I say unlikely and the more you think about it the more unlikely it becomes but both Elden Henson as Max and Kieran Culkin as Kevin act convincingly enough to compel you enough to believe this is entirely genuine

Both Henson and Culkin carry the film but they're ably assisted by big name actors namely Sharon Stone , Gillian Anderson , Harry Dean Stanton , James Gandolfini and Meat Loaf so you can't fault the acting especially if the story could have descended into overly sentimental schlock . My only real complaint is that the production values make it feel like a made for television movie ( As does the storyline ) rather than the cinematic production it actually is

A touching story about a friendship between two middle school boys. Max(Henson) is a big kid who has a rough past, while Kevin or "freak" as they call him in the film is a boy with a physical disability that prevent him from walkin without stilt like crutches. Kieran Culkin was great in this film, very good performance early in his career. Elden Henson was not bad in a role that could have been played better, but he was decent, it was a bit of a hard role. Gandolfini was great and stole his limited number of scenes. Harry Dean Stanton was good as well, as was Gillian Anderson. The one disappointment was Sharon Stone who was very good in her scenes, but a bit wasted due to the screenplay concentrating mostly on the teenage characters. This film moves a bit slow, but is nonetheless a very heartwarming and touching picture. The direction is good, and screenplay is solid as well, acting is good for the most part. a Solid film. 8/10

Perhaps I'm a wuss for admitting it, but I blubbed at the end of this movie, even though I should have known what to expect. I guess I'm just a sentimental kind of guy, but this movie does have the power to move - unless you have a heart of stone, or are so taken up with 21st century 'cool' that you don't feel anything anymore!

This is a beautifully acted, unsentimental piece that is principally about friendship. But it also deals with finding hope where none exists; a desire to reach out for the stars that is fuelled by hopelessness and loneliness.

Perhaps billed as a children's film, this is one for any adult seeking inspiration.

But beware: have the Kleenex close at hand!