SELECTED REVIEW



Three young actors bring Teen People appeal to a Saturday Evening Post tale in "Tuck Everlasting."

Like "The Little Princess" and "Fairy Tale: A True Story," it's a gentle movie made up of equal parts fairy dust and good, honest dirt, a story that takes a magical approach to hard truths about life. This is no whiz-bang children's movie (there's not a skateboard in sight), and some children may think it's cornier than polenta. But open-minded kids — kids who read, kids who dream — will be comforted by the way it deals with big issues like death and destiny.

Alexis Bledel, the straightforwardly emotive star of TV's "The Gilmore Girls," plays Winnie, a girl who feels constrained by her corsets (it's 1914) and by the way her mother imprisons her in their perfect, stifling home. Bledel, who can project both strength and vulnerability, does a beautiful job of conveying Winnie's frustration and of showing how free she feels when she meets a strange family with a secret they — and the movie's title — can't keep: They are immortal.

Winnie falls in love with the youngest Tuck (Jonathan Jackson), who appears to be about her age, and he offers to let her in on the immortality secret, which leaves her with a dilemma: Become ageless so she can be with him forever, or accept the joys and heartaches that come with growing up and dying?

Director Jay Russell's "My Dog Skip" demonstrated his ability to handle this sort of tender material without making it hokey. He takes the emotions seriously but brings a light touch to everything else, leavening the story with humor and coaxing from the actors performances that feel real, even in the face of big slabs of unreality. Here, he has a particularly firm grasp on the novel's idea that storytelling is a vital way for young people to sort out the world around them.

By shining a light on Winnie's relationship with the Tucks (Ma and Pa Tuck are simply played by William Hurt and Sissy Spacek, and their oldest son is Scott Bairstow), "Tuck Everlasting" becomes a movie about the preciousness of life. Knowing they will live forever seems like the ultimate freedom, but it is a burden for the Tucks. And, in an "Our Town" kind of way, it gives Winnie a chance to see how beautiful it is to view death as a vivid, important part of a cycle that is, itself, everlasting.

Chris Hewitt
MOVIE CRITIC

MEMORABLE QUOTES



Jesse: I'm going to be 17 forever!



Jesse: Spend forever with me, Winnie?



[The Man in the Yellow Suit is speaking candidly about immortality]
Young Pastor: Sir, you speak blasphemy!
Man in the Yellow Suit: Fluently.



Angus Tuck: People will do anything, anything not to die. And they'll do anything to keep them from living their lives. One thing I've learned is don't be afraid of death but be afraid of the unlived life.



Miles: Immortality isn't everything the preachers rack it up to be.



Jesse: I will love you until the day I die!

Jesse: I'm gonna be 17 until the end of the world!



Mrs. Foster: [while strapping Winnie into corset] As the French say, it hurts to be beautiful.
Winnie: Then the French must be crazy.



Mrs. Foster: [calling from window] Winifred!
Winnie: [turns on side and starts talking to a toad] I need a new name. One that's not so worn out from being called so much.



Narrator: Time passes slowly for some. An hour can seem an eternity. For others, years go by as in the blink of an eye. For Jesse Tuck, time didn't exist.



Angus Tuck: What we Tucks have you can't call living.... we just are. We're like rocks stuck at the bottom of a stream.



[To his brother about his brother's family.]
Jesse: You just don't want me to have what you lost!



Angus Tuck: [To Winnie] You don't have to live forever. You just have to live.



Jesse: How am I supposed to take you home when I can't make my feet move from this spot. If I could die tomorrow I would, just so I could spend one more night with you.



Mrs. Foster: Every time I look at you, you're different. I'm losing you to.
Winnie: I'm right here.
Mrs. Foster: Please forgive me I just wanted you to be my little girl forever.

Mae Tuck: [to Miles Tuck] You're as cozy as barbed wire.



Winnie: I can't swim.
Jesse: You're joshing me!
Winnie: I wish I were.
Jesse: So, you're afraid you'll drown right? Swallow too much water, sink to the bottom and die!
Winnie: Thank you for putting it so vividly, and yes, considering I'd sink like a rock, drowning is a fair concern!
Jesse: Well, I guess I'm just gonna have to enjoy this all by myself.



Winnie: I want a drink first.
Jesse: No. You can't drink that water. It's poison.
Winnie: I saw you drinking from it.
Jesse: Well now I'm feeling sick



Mr. Foster: What exactly is your game?
Man in the Yellow Suit: I'm not really in a playful mood.

DVD FEATURES

Region 1
Keep Case
Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85

Audio
Dolby Digital 5.1 English

Additional Release Material
Audio Commentary 1. Jay Russell Director, Jonathan Jackson, Alexis Bledel, and Scott Bairstow Stars
2. Jay Russell Director, James Hart Screenwriter
Featurette 1. · "Lessons of Tuck"
2. "A Visit With Natalie Babbitt"
Trailers

Interactive Features
Scene Access
Interactive Menus

KEYWORDS


based-on-novel, remake, immortality, 1910s, coming-of-age, fountain-of-youth, pioneer, small-town, eternal-youth, blackmail, cemetery, civil-war-veteran, corset, forest, gun, jail-break, kidnapping, loss-of-child, loss-of-wife, motorcycle, murder, narration, new-york, nonlinear-timeline, police, secret, swimming, train, water-spring, tearjerker

CAST & CREW


Alexis Bledel .... Winnifred 'Winnie' Foster
William Hurt .... Angus Tuck
Sissy Spacek .... Mae Tuck
Jonathan Jackson (I) .... Jesse Tuck
Scott Bairstow .... Miles Tuck
Ben Kingsley .... Man in the Yellow Suit
Amy Irving .... Mother Foster
Victor Garber .... Robert Foster
Kosha Engler .... Miles' Wife
Elisabeth Shue .... Narrator (voice)
Richard Pilcher .... Constable
Bradley Coryell .... Lead Mill Boy
John Badila .... Baker
Julia Hart .... Sally Hannaway
Brigid Cleary .... Mrs. Ruston