When this movie was made, John Travolta was at the height of his popularity as the tough guy sex symbol "sweathog" Vinnie Barbarino from the TV series "Welcome Back, Kotter." Obviously, he had plans to become a major star and to do that he would have to demonstrate some range of ability; he would have to show that he had the capacity to take on a very different role and make it work. Certainly he managed to do that as "Tod Lubitch - "The Boy In The Plastic Bubble." This is an obviously made for TV movie in both budget and quality. In fact, I think I remember watching it when it first aired. Still, it's a pretty good movie with an interesting subject. In spite of what it claims, I don't believe it's really "based on a true story" except in the sense that there are people who live with this problem. There was no Tod Lubitch, though. The character is (at best) a composite of people who live with the condition and an imagining of what their life must be like. According to the movie, Tod is born with an immune deficiency - in fact, with no active immune system - so that he has to be constantly kept in a sterile environment, able to interact with people only through the plastic walls that constantly surround him. Travolta, who takes over the role after brief accounts of Tod's life as an infant and as a 4 year old, does a good job of showing Tod's growing frustration with the limitation he has to live with and of his desire to be free of it, as well as of his growing feelings for his neighbour Gina, with whom he falls in love. Tod experiences a growing independence, up to and including attending high school in a sort of space suit and graduating. When Gina makes her decision to go to art school in New York City, Tod is left with a decision - to stay in his safe but sterile (in every way) environment, or to take the risk of walking out into the world. In the end, he enters the world, and the last scene is of Tod and Gina riding off on a horse together (a bit too romantic a scene, perhaps) so that Tod's ultimate fate is left unknown to the viewer. Instead, we're left with a strange combination of hopefulness but also anxiety - a somewhat unsatisfying ending, I thought.
The supporting cast was good, but this was Travolta's movie. There were some plot problems created by the scene in which Tod runs out of air in his suit and has to run back to his "bubble" in the classroom before he suffocates. He just runs right into the bubble. Wouldn't his suit have been contaminated? And after he goes in, a classmate - who lost a $10 bet to him - slips the $10 bill right into the bubble. Again, wouldn't it be contaminated? Plot oversights aside, it's a pretty well done and interesting story. 7/10
The supporting cast was good, but this was Travolta's movie. There were some plot problems created by the scene in which Tod runs out of air in his suit and has to run back to his "bubble" in the classroom before he suffocates. He just runs right into the bubble. Wouldn't his suit have been contaminated? And after he goes in, a classmate - who lost a $10 bet to him - slips the $10 bill right into the bubble. Again, wouldn't it be contaminated? Plot oversights aside, it's a pretty well done and interesting story. 7/10