The Boxcar Children

I loved the Boxcar Children as a teenager, and this film is true to the story. It's an exciting adventure, as the four children have to find their own place to live in secret and provide all their needs for food, shelter, and fun, while staying hidden from people they fear mean to separate them. It's a great tale of responsibility, hard work, caring and family. The animation is not Disney level but the scenery is beautiful and the colors vivid. A great film for the whole family.

This movie is a great adaptation of the 1st book in the popular kids series. Fans of the books will appreciate how the movie stays true to the spirit and feel of the book. It is heartwarming and sweet. Even kids (and adults) who are not familiar with these books will love the movie. The story is entertaining, warm and uplifting. The children in the movie are caring and supportive. The positive messages about hard work, creativity, love and family make this a movie parents will be happy to have their kids watch again and again.It's a wonderful movie for the whole family. Hopefully we'll see more from the series.

Highly recommend!

The movie is a low budget adaptation of the book. It is a very warm and gentle, even old fashioned kind of film. Very safe and you don't have to worry about your kids watching it over and over as it has a very positive message.

Just like in the book, the kids are polite and supportive of each other. They discover that hard work leads to independence and that the most important thing is life is your family.

There are one or two mildly scary moments but for the most part this is a movie even little kids can watch with any worries.

I wish there were more movies like this being made for kids these days.

Also I would recommend reading the book to your kids cause it makes watching the movie even more fun.

This is still one of my favorite books and I am 54. I have read this book so many times since it was first read to me. I have shared this book with so many other children over the years. The movie changes so many of the little things. The things that matter. Most of all I hate what is does to Jessie, the oldest sister. Jessie has many of her important plot points given to other characters. She also comes off as a whiner. "Maybe there's no place for us?" Jessie was the strong one who never had doubts. She never would not and not did say this in the book. Much more emphasis put on Henry as the leader. In the book the kids worked together and always saw the positive. I realized they had to update a few elements of the book. Since the entire personality of the main characters is changed, I don't consider it a faithful adaptation.

I clicked on this thinking it was going to be another Foodfight! (after all, the animation is nothing to write home about). Boy, was I pleasantly surprised.

This film, of course, is based on the very first book of the classic Boxcar Children series. Here is the premise: Convinced that their grandfather hates them, four orphan siblings run away and find a boxcar sitting deep in the woods and make it into a home. Eventually, to ensure their survival, the eldest sibling goes into town to find work and begins helping an elderly couple with outdoor chores, and later enters a race for the chance to win a cash prize. The heart of the movie is the bond between the four siblings (Henry, Jessie, Violet and Benny) and the things they experience together as a family.

This movie did a wonderful job of keeping the charm and likability of the novel intact. The main characters are all likable and have distinct, relatable personalities. As with 1973's Charlotte's Web, a couple of liberties were taken, but overall, the film remained faithful to the book. I remember smiling when Benny found his cracked pink cup. That's a little touch many would remember from the book, and it is a cute scene.

The voice work is quite good, especially the kids who played the Alden children. An added bonus is the great JK Simmons in the role of the doctor who employs Henry. Not to be outdone, Illeana Douglas as the doctor's wife and Martin Sheen as Grandfather Alden round out the voice cast quite nicely.

It's always a breath of fresh air to find movies like this that are timeless and don't try to modernize our childhood with adult jokes, trendy catchphrases or scatological humor; they just try to tell a great, simple story that's easy to invest in, with characters you find yourself caring about... just as you did when you read these books in your youth. If you did read the books, or at least the first one, and it's a thing of nostalgia for you, you'll definitely like this movie. If not, I'd still recommend giving it a watch anyway, especially if you have little ones. It's not an epic blockbuster; just a sweet little film that deserves more views.