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Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Anton Yelchin, David Morse, Mike Boorem
Director: Scott Hicks
Rated: PG-13
Based on a novel by Stephen King
Score: 6/10
"Hearts in Atlantis" is a typical Stephen King film. Not the horror we so often associate with him, but the dramatic story with a glimmer of the supernatural. It begins with a man going back to his small town after a friend dies, which rekindles memories of the last summer of his childhood.
Bobby is an 11 year old who is very bright and considerate. A contrast from his mother who doesn't seem to give him anything but think mostly of her own needs. A mysterious stranger (Hopkins) boards in a top floor room in their house. It doesn't take long for Bobby to grow very fond of him. After all, Ted seems so full of knowledge and is such an enigma himself. He tells him to keep an eye out for the 'lowmen', who wear black and drive flashy cars and leave signs in the form of Lost pets in order to communicate with eachother. They want Ted, who is on the run from who knows what. It seems kind of adventurous and silly for Bobby but he goes alone.
Bobby's best friends in the world are Carol and Sully. Carol especially, she seems to have an understanding about Bobby that nobody else does. Soon enough tho things begin to happen, Bobby begins noticing strange signs, strange men, and Ted is going into peculiar trances. The logic of the story doesn't become as mystical as it sounds. A local bully it town plays a role, but to reveal too much about the unfolding story would be unfair.
In the end it becomes the most trying time for this young boy, he is tested beyond his limits of self endurance. His love is tested, his hope and his ability to believe in people.
It's a pretty good movie, the sentiment of childhood years being to fleeting can be at times very emotional. I think maybe as an adult we carry such nostalgia about our youth that often it isn't hard for movies portraying it to get to us. Anthony Hopkins always gives a noteworthy performance, it's hard not to love him. Yet in the end I felt it was a wasted effort in the colaborations of a Stephen King novel and good actors, it didn't work and will be forgotten in the wasteland of Blockbuster's Drama aisle.
