A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood movie review

MOVIE TITLE:    A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

RATING:   PG

LENGTH:    1 hour 48 minutes

Movie Review Mom GRADE:   A

IN A NUTSHELL:

Directed by Marielle Heller, this dramatic and touching film is inspired by the life of Fred Rogers and his friendship with journalist Tom Junod.  Before seeing the movie, I thought it was going to be a biopic, but it’s not at all.  Mr. Rogers wouldn’t have wanted a movie to be about him anyway.  It’s actually based on an award-winning article in Esquire magazine in 1998 entitled “Can You Say Hero?”

When I was a little girl, I remember watching Mr. Rogers Neighborhood on TV and walking up to my TV to kiss Mr. Rogers on the screen.  He made me want to be a better little girl and I loved him for it.  What an extraordinary man he was.  This is one of those movies that will make you want to be better too.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

• Children who think the movie is about Mr. Rogers will be disappointed and bored.
• Some serious cleavage in one scene.
• Discussions about daycare
• Bi-racial couple
• A man gets drunk.  Several scenes of alcohol drinking.
• Two men get in a bloody fist fight.

THEMES:

• Forgiveness
• Anger
• Family
• It’s okay to be sad
• Kindness, compassion
• Choice
• Death
• Broken people
• Parenting

THINGS I LIKED:

• The movie starts out exactly how you want it to with Mr. Rogers walking through that door, singing “It’s a Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood” while putting on that classic red sweater.
• Joanne Rogers, wife of the late Fred Rogers, said that Academy Award winner Tom Hanks was the perfect actor to play her husband.   He exudes the warmth, authenticity, and kindness that Mr. Rogers did.  It turns out, they are actually sixth-cousins!
• The talented cast includes Matthew Rhys, Chris Cooper, and Susan Kelechi Watson.
• It took a long time to write the movie because they wanted to ensure it was accurate. That is to say that the details of Mr. Rogers are accurate, but some of the details in Tom Junod’s life are not (he didn’t get into a fist fight with his father and his sister didn’t have a wedding.)
• The puppets used are not the original, but special recreations made by the team at Sesame Street.
• I love it when movies try to include the real people the movie is about. For example, in this film, Mr. Rogers’ wife, Joanne, and the actor who played the original Mr. McFeely are shown as diners in the Chinese restaurant scene.
• In the movie, Mr. Rogers explains that he always tried to talk to the camera as if he were looking just one child in the eyes so that it would be personal. Director Marielle Heller recreated that feeling in the Chinese restaurant scene where Tom Hanks looks straight at the camera at YOU.  It’s a really powerful scene, especially when he encourages Lloyd to think quietly about all of the who loved him into being.
• The perky piano music in Mr. Rogers’ old TV is still an element of this show, as well as more complicated piano pieces to accompany the drama.  That last scene in the movie with Mr. Rogers at the piano was so powerful.
• I loved how the film blended the real city streets with the ones from Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood.
• There is an incredibly short, yet powerful, scene where Mr. Rogers kneels at his bed to pray with a notebook of all the names of people he wants to remember to pray for.
• The first conversation Joanne Rogers and Lloyd have on the street is so insightful.  She talked about she didn’t like the word “saint” that some people used to describe her husband.  She said that made it seem unobtainable to be kind like him.  She then explained that he saw anger as a choice.  We can feel the emotion but how we choose to respond to it is up to us.  Mr. Rogers later teaches Lloyd various ways to deal with anger that don’t hurt others or one’s self.  What an important lesson for all of us learn and remember.
• The sign language for “friendship” that Mr. Rogers teaches Lloyd is very sweet.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

• Some viewers may wish the movie included more about the life of Mr. Rogers; however, its message is the very essence of his life.
• The story is both simple and profound.

FUNNY LINES:

• “I had a block o f cheese for dinner.” –  Andrea Vogel    (Susan Kelechi Watson)
• “Why have a baby if you can’t get out of social situations.” – Lloyd Vogel    (Mathew Rhys)
• “She’s a public interest attorney.” – Lloyd Vogel            “Is there money in that?” – Jerry Vogel  (Chris Cooper)

INTERESTING LINES:

• “Forgiveness is a decision we make to release the feeling of anger we feel at them.” – Mr. Fred Rogers
• “Sometimes, we get to change a broken world with our words.” – Tom Junod     (Matthew Rhys)
• “There is always something you can do with the mad you feel.” – Mr. Rogers
• “Being a parent does not mean being a perfect parent.” – Mr. Rogers
• “To die is to be human.” – Mr. Rogers
• “Anything mentionable is manageable.” – Mr. Rogers
• “There’s no one in the world like you.  I like you just the way you are.”   – Mr. Rogers
• “Are you a vegetarian?” –  Lloyd Vogel              “I just can’t imagine eating anything with a mother.” – Mr. Rogers

OTHER MOVIES LIKE THIS YOU MIGHT ENJOY:

         

WATCH THE Movie Review Mom YOUTUBE REVIEW WITH THIS LINK:

@TrinaBoice