The Odd Life of Timothy Green

In the overall scope of live action Disney movies, "The Odd Life of Timothy Green" fits in somewhere towards the bottom half of the list. It's not not so much bad as it is just forgettable.

Which is saying a lot considering Disney's output of non-Pixar movies as of late. The basic Disney formula for live action dramas takes two parts predictability and one part wholesomeness and combines them thusly. No more, no less in the way of creativity. "The Odd Life of Timothy Green" is no exception to that rule.

The film stars Jennifer Garner and Joel Edgerton who play Cindy and Jim Green, a young couple who are having trouble conceiving a child; until one fateful night when they drunkenly pour their hopes and dreams into a wooden box and bury it in the backyard. This proverbial magic box contains scrap pieces of paper penned with the characteristics that their dream child would embody. After a brief rain storm, the couple discover that their garden has given birth to a child aptly named Timothy Green.

As the movie progresses, the couple realizes that their magic child is a direct composite of everything they had jotted down. Additionally, their garden spawn comes equipped with a vibrant array of leaves which stem from his legs. Come to find out, once all the leaves have fallen from his body Timothy must once again return to the earth which gave birth to him. Being the bad parents that they are, Cindy and Jim don't fully realize their dream boy's fate until the closing sequence of the film.

Only Disney could manage to put together a plot so transparent that the audience is left waiting for the main characters to realize the obvious. What's even more frustrating than the foreseeable ending is the pace at which the plot unravels. What Pixar has expertly mastered that few other production studios are able to grasp is the concept that a children's movie does not need to be dumbed-down to be entertaining. Ideally, both parents are children alike should be able to derive pleasure on different levels from such a film.

Unfortunately, "The Odd Life of Timothy Green" is no more whimsical or imaginative than the title suggests. His life is odd and at times even mysterious, but his life ultimately makes for a lackluster story. Which is kind of a surprise given that the original story was thought up by Ahmet Zappa. Father Frank would be dumbfounded by his son's lack of creativity in regards to this movie. Perhaps if it were directed by Zappa himself I would be singing a different tune, but alas we weren't lucky enough to see such a project come to life.

Even if I weren't a jaded 26 year old horrorphile, I still can attest to the fact that 10 year old me would wholeheartedly stand against a film such as this --- or at the very least, remain completely indifferent towards it. On the brightside, the blu ray release is loaded with goodies. It's a 2-disc combo dvd/blu ray pack for those who haven't made the switch over to digital quality yet. There is also a series of behind the scenes features including a closer look at composer Geoff Zanelli's inspired score, a "making-of" piece, and a commentary featuring director Peter Hedges.

Film: 2.5 Yaps Extras: 4.5 Yaps

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMSkbH0LuTc]