Stylish but barely mediocre overall

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

First, I think what Mel Morris is looking for that distinguishes the Canadian film is the accent. There's not too much that is tougher on the ear than listening to a Canadian adolescent male's voice change with that accent. No offense to the Canadian folk...it's extremely distinctive.Otherwise, a decent film, and I think the message that is sent in the film is that kids, even 12-13 year-olds who should know better, still can be cruel, even to terminally ill cancer patients who are trying to live out their lives as normally as can be. The one problem that I have with the film is the lack of adult intervention, especially the fight at the tennis courts and at the Little League tryouts. The directors went a little too over the top to drive the point across.

I rented it for Bowie. He had about 5 minutes of screen time, tops. It was like an after school tv special with cussing, vomit, boogers, grave digging, and violence against children with cancer thrown in for added viewing pleasure.One moment you're looking at cute middle class kids playing street hockey and the next scene, you're watching them kick a chemotherapy patient repeatedly in the kidneys.Perhaps I missed the point.

Death is not an easy topic to deal with in movies. But Mr Rice's secret manages to pull it off, with no problems. The film is centered around a boy, who while coming to terms with the death of his friend (the 400 year old Mr Rice) is led on a kind of treasure hunt. When he reaches the end he finds a potion of life, and learns an important lesson. The boy (played brilliantly by Billy Switzer) is the star of the film (despite it being pushed as a David Bowie film). The character of his mother (played by Teryl Rothery) could have been explored a little more and been more involved with the plot, but apart from that, it felt well cast and acted. A must see for when you want to ponder things like the meaning of life.

Death is always a difficult subject to cover in the movies. Even more so when dealing with terminally ill children. Mr Rice's Secret succeeds in covering the issues in a sensitive but not mawkish way. Bowie gives a measured performance as the ancient mystic who befriends a young boy with Hodgkin's disease. The real star though is Bill Switzer, who excels as the boy fearing death who must learn to love life.