I want to love “Tuck Everlasting” (2002). It has a meticulously beautiful look under the lens of James L. Carter and a delicately crafted score by William Ross. Alexis Bledel and Jonathan Jackson are as pretty as the surrounding Edwardian countryside (Maryland ably stands in for England).
Heady stuff for youngsters
I merely like it, though. It’s a Disney children’s movie, and it passes on every opportunity for additional layers as it adapts Natalie Babbitt’s classic kids’ book about a fountain of youth.
Still, Babbitt’s idea has natural weight to it, and in two key moments the film teases these out. William Hurt’s patriarch Angus Tuck explains to Winnie (Bledel) that living forever isn’t living, it’s merely existing. Life only has value if you know you’re going to die.
To celebrate the 40th birthday of “Gilmore Girls’ ” Alexis Bledel, this month Reviews from My Couch is looking back at five of her movies that we haven’t previously reviewed.
“Tuck Everlasting” (2002)
Director: Jay Russell
Writers: Jeffrey Lieber, James V. Hart (screenplay); Natalie Babbitt (book)
Stars: Alexis Bledel, Jonathan Jackson, Sissy Spacek
This makes life inherently bittersweet, which is why a closing montage that asks us to reflect on Winnie’s life will have plenty of viewers ugly-crying.
This is remarkably heady and emotional stuff for young viewers.
Short on surprises
“Tuck Everlasting” as a whole is short on violence, scary moments or non-telegraphed tension. Director Jay Russell and writers Jeffrey Lieber and James V. Hart are hyper-aware that their audience is kids, and adult viewers will be hyper-aware that this movie isn’t for them.
Even a jailbreak scene is played for light comedy, as brothers Jesse (Jackson) and Miles (Scott Bairstow) let themselves got shot as a diversion. It’s already been made clear that for these immortals, a bullet merely stings at worst.
“Tuck” is also hurt by the fact that we know going in that it’s about eternal life. We all read the book in grade school, right?
That’s why I think it needed some little twists. Not to the point of changing its core plot or messages, as those are beyond reproach. But maybe find some new angles into it.
We know what she’ll choose
Instead, one viewpoint – the one against eternal life — comes from a monolog. Granted, Angus gives it in a rowboat on a pretty lake.
The other viewpoint, in favor of eternal life, isn’t something Jesse truly believes in, deep down. It’s simply presented through the visual beauty of young love, as personified by big-blue-eyed Bledel and sweet-voiced Jackson.
The casting of these two gorgeous actors is crucial, because “Tuck” aims to present beauty for beauty’s sake, thus distracting us from the relationship’s simple nature.
“Tuck” does not disguise its position: It believes Winnie should choose a normal life.
Star-crossed, but too brief, romance
Indeed, Winnie’s brief relationship with Jesse is beautiful in part because it can’t last. It’s ephemeral. The Tucks themselves border on fantastical; if they disappeared like Jedis joining the Force, Winnie couldn’t be too surprised.
I think star-crossed romances play better when given more time. Consider how the Buffy-Angel tragedy plays out in Season 3. It’s heartbreaking when they finally stop fooling themselves and come to the inevitable conclusion that a mortal and an immortal aren’t compatible.
“Tuck Everlasting” is as logical as it is emotional. The young actors and the setting and the score try to make it into something more. They come tantalizingly close to expanding the film’s appeal.
But I don’t deny that the filmmakers have precisely achieved their aim. For a viewer of a certain age (tweens or slightly younger), “Tuck Everlasting” will be thought-provoking and will introduce them to the feeling of “bittersweet.”