This power-of-friendship fable was based on a book entitled Freak the Mighty; that the word "freak" has been elided from the title of the movie is emblematic of the ways in which the story has been watered down for mass consumption. (Miramax apparently thought it had the sleeper hit of the year on its hands; in fact, The Mighty was anything but at the box office, grossing a tepid $2 million in North America.) Kieran Culkin, brother to now-forgotten child star Macaulay, plays a nauseatingly chipper victim of Morquio's Syndrome, a degenerative genetic ailment that stunts growth and is generally fatal; Elden Henson is the huge, none-too-bright loner who befriends him. Together, they get involved in all kinds of wacky adventures, many of them scored to a title tune performed by Sting (which should give you a sense of how blandly middle of the road the movie is). It's mighty sappy and mighty stupid; you'll be mighty sorry if you choose to endure its relentless, hectoring brand of feel-good pluck. Not recommended. (M. D'Angelo)
The Mighty
(Miramax, 100 min., PG-13, avail. June 25, <b>DVD</b>) Vol. 14, Issue 3
The Mighty
Star Ratings
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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