December Boys (2006)

They share the same birth month so the orphanage calls them December Boys. But these teens ? Maps Spit Spark and Misty ? have much more in common. With no hopes of ever joining a family they form their own familial bonds. Then the unexpected news comes that a young couple may adopt one of them and the long-time pals suddenly share something else: a rivalry to be the chosen one.Running Time: 105 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: CHILDREN/FAMILY UPC: 085391189589 Manufacturer No: 1000027397 Product Description

What Makes A Family

December Boys is a movie about the bonds of friendship, and what genuinely makes a family.
Maureen June 18, 2008

as expected

i <3 dan so i figured this would be worth owning and i was right. Great film! April 14, 2008

A neat little message, which was enough for this movie to get by on.

An older couple decides that it would be nice to have some youthful energy around and offers four young, orphan boys the opportunity to spend the summer with them on the beach. As the boys get a taste for what life would be like with the family they have always wanted, they begin to understand how much they mean to each other.

December Boys was not the most sophisticated movie. It was actually very simple in most aspects, but that was all it needed to be. It was just a touching story about four boys who, when they had no one else, always had each other. But I will warn you that it might take one giant tug at your heartstrings at the end.

I hope you have one or more people in your life for which you are thankful. If you have that, this movie should remind you somewhat of how fortunate you are. I thought it was comforting in how the movie reinforced the importance of family while encouraging you to look beyond constraints of legal relation when you consider who your family is.
April 9, 2008

Emotionally unstable and unmotivating, Daniel is a deplorable actor

December Boys was only premiered in four theatres, one was in Boston where I viewed it with a very eager audience to see Daniel Radcliffe break out from the forever mold of being Harry Potter his whole life. Sadly, he fails in every attempt to try to bring some sort of professionalism to his career. Just because someone is plucked from obscurity, like Eddie Furlong, does not make them an actor. Even with the proper training, a person can still blow at the craft, and although Daniel does have some potential, as his timing is good and his voice is solid, he finds no solid ground amongst an ensemble of other youth, who far carry their roles and the movie much better than he did as the eldest 'December Boy.'

Based upon the crown jeweled-award winning Australian Novel by Mike Noonan of the same name (more or less the equivalent to our (U.S.) 'Catcher in the Rye'), the screenplay missed the wonderment of the novel that so many kids and adults fell in love with and the boys (Fido, Spark, Misty and Maps) who escaped their hell of catholic oprhanage waiting for parents to bring them a home.

While the cinematography is breathtaking, the movie fails to ignite a fire in wanting the boy to find a home. The movie had no wide release, and clearly it shouldn't have, and while Daniel tries to escape from the eventual end of his Potter life, one wonders where his next turn will be.

December Boys is a family film, which lacks conviction and detail to directing, not only does it have a mediocre DVD cover, but the potential of this being a film to cherish for the ages, left me wondering what it would have been like with a director who has visionary capabilities. What a shame. April 6, 2008

What it means to be an orphan

Cute little movie setup in Australia about four boys growing up in orphanage in Australia's outback. They are known as "December boys" since all four of them celebrate their birthdays in the same month. Due to unexpected generosity of one of the orphanage patrons, these boys get to spend a little vacation in the little cove away from their environment. When one of the boys learns that there is a couple considering adopting one of the boys, the inevitable race and competition between the boys ensues. What happens in the process is what defines the true friendship between these four boys. The bond they make in the summer will remain for the rest of their lives in spite of the fact that they grow up and live all over the world.
While the story is heartwarming, the references to Virgin Mary, etc. are a little too much. That is why I gave this film only three starts. March 26, 2008

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