Dakota Fanning's talented younger sister Elle heads a fine ensemble cast in this poignant story of eight-year-old Phoebe Lichten, who is afflicted with Tourette Syndrome. Phoebe's increasingly disruptive behavior at school includes ferocious verbal outbursts, obsessive-compulsive rituals, and even occasional assaults on classmates. Her mother (Felicity Huffman) tries to rationalize her daughter's conduct as that of a free-spirited, artistic child rebelling against the imposition of rules. A sympathetic new drama teacher (Patricia Clarkson) discerns talent in Phoebe and awards her the lead in a school production of Alice in Wonderland, but the child fears she won't be able to keep herself together through all the rehearsals and the performance. The debut directorial effort of Daniel Barnz, Phoebe in Wonderland is a remarkably assured, tightly focused film that not only sidesteps the clichés common to disease-of-the-week telefilms, but also displays considerable imagination, especially in the depiction of fantasies in which Phoebe sees classmates and family members as characters from Alice's Wonderland. Barnz gently tugs on viewer heartstrings but scrupulously avoids any hint of the maudlin, and if the primary male characters—Bill Pullman as Phoebe's writer dad and Campbell Scott as her feckless school principal—are weakly drawn, that's the only downside to this otherwise engaging and affecting film. Recommended. (E. Hulse)
Phoebe in Wonderland
Image, 100 min., PG-13, DVD: $27.99, June 23 Volume 24, Issue 3
Phoebe in Wonderland
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As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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