Secondhand Lions Review:

Secondhand Lions is special little family film from writer/director Tim McCanlies that comes nowhere close to being perfect, but it is for sure a winner. Taking place in rural Texas during the 1960’s, the film follows a 14-year old named Walter (Haley Joel Osment). Walter’s insecure mother, Mae (Kyra Sedgwick), dumps him off to live with his two grumpy 60-year old great uncles. Mae has intentions of going to court reporting school to find a career, but before leaving reminds Walter that his uncles are rich and to keep an eye out of where they stash their cash. The uncles, Hub (Robert Duvall) and Garth (Michael Caine), are two temperamental men that live on a huge piece of land in Central Texas, with many different type of critters roaming around. The two spend most of their days fishing with shotguns as well as scaring away salesmen with their shotguns. Not wanting to stay, Walter is told by his uncles that he must take care of himself.

As the days move on, the curious Walter begins to grow on the two men gives them a reason in life. Walter also constantly discusses with his Uncle Garth about the two brothers past adventures in Europe, Africa, and of course about Hub’s one true love. The stories are present in flashbacks and intertwine with the development of the relationships and secrets of the film.

McCanlies previously wrote the wonderful animated film The Iron Giant, and with Secondhand Lions he takes on the reigns of directing as well as writing. The film has a terrific message in it for children as well as adults to grasp life and never let your beliefs falter. The film is told in a flashback within other flashbacks, but it works, it is funny, kind-hearted and more than anything just likeable.

Robert Duvall and Michael Caine are wonderful as the two uncles. Though it is a character that Duvall has unveil before he still delivers the goods, Caine on the other hand develops a consistent Texan accent and is very effective. Though not his best performance, Haley Joel Osment, continues to grow into a stellar young actor as Walter.

Picture & Audio

The film has many beautiful shots of the blue skies and dusty outdoors of Texas that brighten by the clear transfer of the DVD. The visual effects moments are also blended so well that one could not tell what was a set or computer generated. The DVD can be seen in wide-screen (1:85:1) or full-screen formats (1:33:1).

The sound of the disc is presented in Dolby Digital EX 5.1 as well as Stereo Surround Sound. This film is mostly dialogue driven, but there are occasionally moments of shotguns being fired, airplanes swirling, and many animal sounds. The overall sound on the disc is not extravagant, but pretty solid.

Extras

Audio Commentary
• Director Tim McCanlies

McCanlies talks super fast throughout the commentary, but it is nonetheless entertaining. He gives detailed reactions to his choices, praise to the cast and crew as well as speaking of the Texas shoots and difficulties of the film. One problem that he had was with the giraffe in the box, as well as the other animals. He knew exactly what he wanted do to with this personal film, and went out and did it. McCanlies even reveals that the gas station where Walter runs away too, is also used in New Line Cinema’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake.

Deleted/Alternate Scenes
There are 10 either altered or deleted scenes on the disc with optional commentary from McCanlies. Playing all of the scenes together last a little over forty minutes long, so there is a lot of extra moments to divulge. One scene gives more detail to the back-story of Hub and Garth being Santa Claus suit wearing bank robbers, in which Walter buries their secret. Another scene has Walter learning that Garth actually sends mail for the salesmen to come as a hobby with Hub not knowing about it. During this expanded scene the rooster sitting on top of the pig shot is revealed as Walter and his uncles eat breakfast. Through the commentary McCanlies talks about the hours it took to film the rooster on top of the pig, due to the rooster’s arrogance. He also mentioned that there is an Easter Egg somewhere on the disc that can be unlocked to view the great lengths that he and the crew went through to get the difficult shot. Upon searching, I was unable to locate the Easter Egg. There is also the original ending of the film for your viewing pleasure, in which the theatrical ending is a lot better. In this extended ending, at the funeral for Hub and Garth, Walter gives an emotional speech, and is accompanied by his wife and two sons, who are also named Hub and Garth. The cocky troublemakers that Hub beats up earlier in the film arrive at the funeral, as does the very old Sheik. The whole Sheik entrance is way over the top and would have made for a cheesy ending, though McCanlies intentions are understood. McCanlies also says that the original ending tested very well, but he decided to alter it because once Duvall, Caine and Osment are out of the picture, the transfer of affection is hard accept. There are other good scenes, such as additional battle by a young Hub, but it seems that most of these scenes were cut or altered due to the film’s running time.

“Secondhand Lions” One Screenplay’s Wild Ride in Hollywood
This is a great documentary feature that chronicles the script of Secondhand Lions and its amazing journey of getting made. Writer/director Tim McCanlies and the film’s many producers are interviewed extensively about the script’s ten-year adventure to getting green lit by New Line Cinema. McCanlies goes into some detail about his choices in the script, such as Garth and Hub mirroring his grandfathers, and also admits to bringing in his own experiences of sleepwalking to the character of Hub. Warner Brothers actually had a option on the script at one time with other actors in mind to play Garth and Hub in mind, including Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon (studio actually wanted to make it Grumpy Old Men 3). Robert Redford and Paul Newman were also mentioned at one time (in which Newman declined, because he does not play old characters). After McCanlies received the option back on the script, it eventually got in the hands of New Line Cinema, which in part of The Lord of the Rings’ success, New Line Cinema gave the film a greenlight. The casting of the actors is also touched on, in which Haley Joel Osment’s early commitment to the film gave it a boost in the negotiations. Tommy Lee Jones was originally cast as Hub and Duvall as Garth, but once Jones dropped out, Duvall moved into playing Hub with Michael Caine signing on shortly afterwards. This is a very interesting and more than anything a fun documentary feature about the early pre-production stages of Secondhand Lions.

On the Set with “Secondhand Lions”
A behind the scenes feature that chronicles the filming of Secondhand Lions on location outside of Austin, Texas. This feature lasts nearly thirty minutes and has in depth interviews with the cast, and shows how even the scenes in Africa where shot in Texas on built sets. In relation to the visual effects comparisons, this feature also details the visual effects used in the film, that are hardly noticeable due to how relative and strong the effects are.

Haley Joel Osment: An Actor Comes of Age
This is a nice documentary with Haley Joel Osment talking about his career and inspirations as an actor. The cast and crew also give their two cents about the actor and how big of a star he will be. Osment is very well spoken and confident, in which he mentions his father as his mentor (his father plays Hub’s doctor in the film), it surprising to see how mature and thankful he is on top of still being a teenager.

Visual Effects Comparisons
Visual effects comparisons with two scenes in the film. One is with background generated on a blue screen when the young Hub and Garth arrive in Europe and another with generated soldiers of the Sheik’s.

DVD-ROM/Online Features
Script-to-Screen, Image Galleries and more contained in these features, which is accessible through the Internet and home computers. However, these features are not available on Apple Macintosh computers.

Trailers
• Theatrical Trailer of Secondhand Lions
• Seven Television spots of Secondhand Lions
• Trailer for Elf
• Theatrical Trailer for Laws of Attraction

Overall

Secondhand Lions is not as enchanting as some other family films, but it is nonetheless entertaining. There are funny moments and the overall film will just leave a smile on your face. Though you have to flip the DVD over for the special features, the overall disc is highly recommendable. Outside of owning a good film, the features are so fun, especially all the insights, such as the documentary of Secondhand Lions ten-year journey to the screen. Writer/director Tim McCanlies gives a terrific commentary, which could have been better if Duvall, Caine or Osment was included on the track. However, the features on the disc are very lengthy, but also very amusing.

The Film: B+
Video Quality: B
Audio Quality : B
Extra Features: B+
DVD Navigation/Layout: B

DVD as a whole: B+

Joseph C. Tucker

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