Secondhand Lions, with Haley Joel Osment, Robert Duvall and Michael Caine
I saw this weeks ago at a special sneak-preview screening thing, and enjoyed the heck out of it. I was ready to write a review, but also felt like I wanted to a)GO BUY IT RIGHT NOW (which you can't, of course), and b)watch it again a little more critically. I've done the latter, and I'm still thinkin' hard about the former.
This is a fine piece of film. It's got good performances from all of the actors, and it's got a story that's believable where it matters and absolutely absurd where it matters more. There's a sense of adventure akin to classics like the Adventures of Baron Munchausen, and a wide-eyed awe in the face of blatant reality that I compare favorably to Don Juan De Marco (the Depp/Brando movie. It's a hoot). I love that there are 4 stories that explain the Uncles' backstory, I love that there are lies surrounding everything the Mom does, and I love that there's a difference.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Secondhand lions is the story of two crazy uncles (great uncles, if one is being correct) who are left with a nephew to take care of for the summer. Or, it's the story of a boy who is ditched by his mother with his two crazy uncles. It's a movie about abandonment and love, and it's a story about getting old and getting useless and the two not being the same. It's a movie that could have been a "tear-jerker," but catches itself and makes a good story happen instead. There's a love that grows between characters, two of them gruff but human, one a weenie, that is believable because it takes time and it grows throughout the movie. The three begin as adversaries (two on one, no less), and are thrust into a situation in which they have a common enemy. The boy proves himself capable of being more than a simple weenie, and the adults prove that they have a backstory. By the end, you believe that they'd want the boy with them, and that they boy would want to stay.
This is a tear-jerker that forgets about maudlin sadness, and plays instead to those of us who enjoy a story. It's funny where it needs to be funny, and sad where it needs to be sad, and not a moment more.
For example: there's a moment in the movie in which the emotion is almost too much. The boy, Walter, played by Osment, has been told a bold lie by his mother, and his eyes are welling up with tears. It's a moment that a lesser movie would have milked with sappy music and three minutes of bleak, brown views of Texas fields. This movie, though, throws another twist and parades Duvall and Caine in overalls and silly accents. You can't cry, because it's life, and Walter doesn't get time to cry either.
This was fun, and it's got good performances and a good story. Osment has a funny way of emoting, but once you get past that, it's easy to believe him. His acting often looks fake, but he is also always standing next to Duvall and Caine.

*End of movie spoiler*
I had one editing problem, and these next two paragraphs contain the end of the movie, so be aware. After the end of the movie, and the unnecessary deus ex machina that proves that the uncles weren't particularly crazy, nor liars, there's a recap. It gets all sappy, and says, more or less, "Hey, remember four minutes ago? That was so great. Yeah." The movie should have ended with the catch phrase "Yes. They Really Lived," which is trite, but at least it's not a recap of 4 minutes ago. Sorry. Had to get that off my chest.
Oh, right: the ending. The movie was good. It's easy to overlook the ending. The movie ends, and everything is fine. Then, the end of the big adventure intrudes. Real, big adventures have to end badly because they imply that everything must be wonderful or die horrible, and either way, that's a sucky ending. After the end of the real story there's a deux ex machina (Hey, remember four sentences ago? That was so great. Yeah) (See how obnoxious?) that brings the otherwise pretty neat little story to the level of high-flung adventure, which doesn't work.
*End of Movie Spoiler Above. Just so you know.*

It clocks in at 325 Milinovas. Not bad, but not classic.