Bunny: Pet or meat?

There was a moment near the end of I Am David when I felt myself tearing up.  Something momentous was about to happen, something that would forever change the life of the young boy at the center of the movie. The heart-wrenching music led me to believe that director Paul Feig felt it was a big deal. But one quick montage and an emotionally flat climax later the credits rolled and the tears evaporated, unshed.

And that’s a shame, because I Am David tells a story with an inherent emotional punch. The title character is a 12-year-old boy who has lived most of his life in a Bulgarian prison camp. One night he is given a loaf of bread, a sealed letter and instructions for escape. He is told that he must make his way to Denmark and give the letter to the authorities there, without opening it along the way. (This seems like it’s going to be important, but isn’t.) He stows away on an Italian freighter then starts to make his way north, while also learning how to navigate in a world that is completely foreign to him. He encounters a variety of people, some friendly, some not, and dodges any number of disasters. He saves a girl from a fire and stays for a while with her privileged, loving family. He meets Sophie, an elderly woman who treats him kindly and gently tries to help him open up.

"You think this is tough, kid? Try lugging a cross around on your back while speaking Aramaic."

It’s in these scenes that the movie comes closest to realizing its dramatic potential. Throughout his adventures, David has been frightened but plucky, but as he finally starts to feel safe with Sophie we can see how damaged and vulnerable he really is. There’s a sweet moment when he meets Sophie’s cat, the first cat he’s ever seen. “It’s vibrating,” he says as it purrs, and we think how sad it is that this child has never done something as simple and normal as petting a cat. But then comes the ending that feels too rushed and too convenient and doesn’t deliver the payoff the story deserves.

Up until this point, David’s journey has been engaging enough, particularly for the younger audience it’s aimed at. Feig’s storytelling is just off-kilter enough to be intriguing. We see snippets of David’s memories of the camp and by the time the movie ends we’ve pieced together the events that led to his escape. Ben Tibber does a good job conveying both David’s resilience and his fragility. (Interesting trivia note: Tibber has played Tiny Tim in not one but two TV versions of "A Christmas Carol." What are the odds?) Joan Plowright as Sophie has a natural, easy rapport with her young co-star, caring and concerned but unsentimental. Jim Caviezel is excellent in a small role as a prison camp friend of David’s.

I can appreciate that Feig avoided the obvious temptation to soak the movie in melodrama, but I think he went a bit too far in the other direction. This is not the story of a boy’s light-hearted European adventures. It’s the story of a boy whose life has been so bleak he doesn’t even know how to smile. Feig didn’t need to be quite so squeamish about letting his audience feel the sadness in that.

Gorilla Pants rating: 2.5 out of 4 bananas