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.
Review
I like Peter Hedges' other films. I wish I could have liked this more. Its' heart and message are so in the right place but it plays like a schmaltzy movie of the week. Jennifer Garner whom I have really enjoyed in other roles overplays this one and is very disappointing. The kid who plays Timothy is good enough. His young female friend Odeya Rush is the best in the cast. Joel Edgerton is perfect for Lifetime movie of the week. They are all really likable. So I just wished I liked the film more. And the message is terrific. I cry in schmaltzy films but I think it says much about this film in that the only time it brought any tears was in the final scene which was grounded in reality. When the fantasy was going I just wasn't sucked in.
7 may be a generous rating but this is a solid family film with a strong positive message. There is a big audience out there for this film. I don't really want to discourage them from seeing it.