The Odd Life of Timothy Green (2012)

A childless couple bury a box in their backyard, containing all of their wishes for an infant. Soon, a child is born, though Timothy Green is not all that he appears.

Director:

Peter Hedges

Writers:

Peter Hedges (screenplay), Ahmet Zappa (story)

Stars:

Jennifer Garner, Joel Edgerton, CJ Adams

5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jennifer Garner	...	Cindy Green
Joel Edgerton	...	Jim Green
CJ Adams	...	Timothy Green
Odeya Rush	...	Joni Jerome
Shohreh Aghdashloo	...	Evette Onat
Rosemarie DeWitt	...	Brenda Best
David Morse	...	James Green, Sr.
M. Emmet Walsh	...	Uncle Bub
Lois Smith	...	Aunt Mel
Lin-Manuel Miranda	...	Reggie
Dianne Wiest	...	Ms. Bernice Crudstaff
Ron Livingston	...	Franklin Crudstaff
James Rebhorn	...	Joseph Crudstaff
Common	...	Coach Cal
Michael Arden	...	Doug Wert

Storyline

After receiving bad news from a fertility doctor, Cindy and Jim Green try to bury their dreams of having a child by writing out all the great traits their child would have and putting them in a box in the garden. During a freak storm in the middle of the night, they awake to find a boy named Timothy, with leaves growing from his ankles, standing in their kitchen calling them mom and dad. Cindy and Jim are thrown into the midst of parenthood and over the coming months, Timothy will teach them more than they could have imagined about being parents and raising a child, no matter how he comes into their lives.

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Plot Keywords:

Told In Flashback | Soccer | Dodgeball | Portrait | Young Love | 

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Taglines:

He's a force of nature.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Fantasy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for mild thematic elements and brief language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 August 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

La extraña vida de Timothy Green

Filming Locations:

Albany, Georgia, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$10,822,903 (USA) (17 August 2012)

Gross:

$51,853,450 (USA) (11 January 2013)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Monsterfoot Productions, Scott Sanders Productions, Walt Disney Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Datasat Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In an interview, CJ Adams said that he was 10 at the time of filming, "just before my [11th] birthday [in 2011]". In the same interview, he said that the movie poster of the title character's legs with leaves growing from them were not his but a body double's.

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Goofs

In the soccer championship, when Jim and Cindy are urging Timothy to move his feet, the same background actor is seen simultaneously behind the couple and behind Timothy. Later, when the game is over, the same background actor is seen behind Jim and Cindy and then celebrating on the other side of the field at the goal.

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Quotes

Timothy Green: Please don't ask about my leaves.

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Connections

Referenced in Mad: James Bond: Reply All/Randy Savage: 9th Grade Wrestler (2013)
The streaming video that Silver didn't want anyone to see involves him crying over this movie.

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Soundtracks

"This Gift"
Written by Glen Hansard and Market Irglova
Performed by Glen Hansard

User Reviews

There is something odd about this movie, indeed.

Something is missing from this movie. By all means, this should had been a great, entertaining and heartfelt, modern fairy tale, for the whole family to enjoy but the movie handles certain themes poorly and make some odd choices with its story at times.

And honestly, I still foremost really liked the movie. It's harmless and cute enough still and the movie has its moments. But that doesn't take away anything from the fact that this movie still is being a bit of a missed opportunity.

All of the right intentions were there, it just didn't always worked out successfully. The approach they were going for was a heartfelt family movie, in which a mysterious young boy brings people together and changes their lives for the positive. It just happen to do it all in a wrong way, for most of the time. First of all; it does far too little with its mystery/fantasy aspects. They accept the boy for who he is and where he came from pretty early on- and easily. Besides, it all seems like the boy is doing very little special actually, as if the movie was afraid it would loose some of its viewers if it was going to be more heavy on its fantasy aspects.

That perhaps was the movie its biggest problem; it wasn't heavy on its fantasy. The movie rather picks some uninteresting plot developments instead. It prefers to be about pencils, as opposed to something more heartfelt or bigger than life. It seems like the movie still wanted to be about morals and wanted to teach you about life but it mostly does so by inserting stereotypical characters and some forced or formulaic dramatic moments. It's not as warm and emotional involving as this movie required to be, in order for it to let it all work out.

I am also still a bit confused about it who this movie was aimed for. It seems to be a bit too slow and uninteresting for young children and not convincing enough for adults. It's a bit in between of being an entertaining children's movie and a modern fairy tale for adults. I did wished they had balanced certain things out a bit better, so the movie would had been better and more fun to watch for both adults and youngsters.

The movie is still being fine as it is. I mean, all the things I had problems with didn't ruined the movie for me in any way and I could certainly still enjoy and appreciate it for what it was. It's cuteness factor and innocence still make this a recommendable film. Just don't expect to be very taken- or blown away by any of it.

7/10

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