MILLIONS --------
Ronnie Cunningham (James Nesbitt, "Bloody Sunday") is making a new start for his boys, nine year old Anthony (newcomer Lewis Owen McGibbon) and seven year old Damian (newcomer Alexander Nathan Etel), by moving into a new suburban housing development after the death of their mother. The cunning Anthony instructs innocent Damian that mentioning their misfortune will usually result in gifts, and he's proven right in the local sweet shop. One day as Damian's playing in his cardboard playhouse near railroad tracks, he's astonished by a huge Nike bag which flies into his playhouse, seemingly from the sky. When he and Anthony investigate its contents, they discover they now have "Millions."
Director Danny Boyle ("28 Days Later") and screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce ("24 Hour Party People"), the father of seven, pair up to explore a new direction in their work - the world of childhood. The film is beautifully imagined, designed (Mark Tildesley, "Code 46," "28 Days Later") in primary colors with several sequences featuring visuals being constructed as if by building blocks (editing by Chris Gill, "28 Days Later") and a score (John Murphy, "Intermission") reminiscent of the work of Danny Elfman. Yet while the script cunningly takes two roads, juxtaposing Anthony's materialistic avarice with Damian's fantastical charitable pursuits, it dawdles and meanders on the road to a disappointing climax.
Anthony is involved in the regular pursuits of video games and bike riding, but Damian lives in an odder, more interior world, imagining he talks to saints. Anthony becomes shrewd with the appearance of the money, warning Damian to tell no one, including their dad, or they'll be taxed on it. He then outfits himself with a gang of paid protectors like a young mob boss and contemplates purchasing property. Damian, on the other hand, believes the appearance of the loot is a miracle from God and discusses the concept of miracles in his bedroom with St. Peter (Alun Armstrong, "Van Helsing"), who provides an amusingly revisionist version of the story of the loaves and fishes. Damian begins doing deeds like stuffing bills into the mailbox of a group of Latter Day Saints (accompanied by an encouraging Saint Nicholas (Harry Kirkham)). A threatening man (Christopher Fulford, "Bedrooms and Hallways") Damian interprets as needy appears by the tracks looking for money, and Damian runs off to fetch it for him, but Anthony steps in with explanatory subterfuge, hoping to fend the guy off with a jar of coins.
Meanwhile, in the adult world, the idea of robbery is being planted in the background with the local constable (Pearce Quigley, "The House of Mirth") lecturing the new homeowners on the inevitability of break-ins during the holiday season and the proper procedural response to the crime. Grownups begin to view money with the eyes of a child when Damian stuffs a thousand pounds Sterling into a charity bin at school at an event capitalizing on the upcoming conversion to the Euro (in this film, old currency becomes valueless on Euro-day). Charity rep Dorothy (Fergie lookalike Daisy Donovan) meets with Ronnie and a romantic spark is struck. Meanwhile, Damian discovers his 'miracle' is really robbery loot. When the man from the train tracks appears backstage at the school's Christmas pageant, Damian, in full shepherd gear, takes his loot and bolts trailing his wheeled donkey behind him.
This is the point where "Millions" becomes muddled, as Ronnie learns just what his kids have been up to. After the Cunningham home is burgled, Ronnie and Dorothy immediately succumb to greed, with only Damian voting for returning the stolen loot. The foursome engage in a last minute supermarket sweep, using Damian's charms to convince banks to deposit suspiciously large sums. In the film's biggest misstep, a line of charity cases visits the Cunningham home in the middle of the night. This would be fine if the filmmakers had engineered the scene as a ploy of Damian's to thwart train robber, but no such luck - it merely occurs with no logical explanation.
Young Alexander Nathan Etel has an angelic, freckle-sprinkled face and the gentle demeanor of pure innocence and cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle ("Dogville," "28 Days Later") frames the boy like a fragile Hummel figurine. Lewis Owen McGibbon is another find as Anthony, reminding of "Malcolm in the Middle's" older brother Reese - if he were smart. Nesbitt conveys an overburdened dad and Daisy Donovan is the kind of fun-loving woman who could smoothly insinuate herself into a pre-made family. Jane Hogarth gives off a maternal glow in a late appearance as the boys' late mum. The saints are also well played, most, like Kathryn Pogson's ("AKA") St. Clare, with a good dash of humor.
For all it's lovely, subtle touches - St. Joseph (Nasser Memarzia) ignored in the upstairs hallway quietly returning Damian's abandoned donkey, Damian bringing Dorothy to where his mother worked, Selfridge's cosmetics department looking like a vision of heaven surrounded by a material world - the many-years-in-the-works script still has too many inconsistencies. Dorothy enters the story as a charity crusader, yet plunges head first into Ronnie's plan to abscond with stolen money. Damian is insistent upon returning the cash, but knowingly provides an adult with a ruse to keep it.
"Millions" is a bright, imaginative and warm-hearted children's fable for kids with the patience to stick with it. Adults, however, may be let down by Boyle's squishy story telling.
B-
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