Jeremy 'Powder' Reed (Sean Patrick Flanery) is an albino. His mother died in childbirth. His father disowned him. Sheriff Barnum (Lance Henriksen) investigates a dead elderly man and discovers his grandson Powder hiding in the basement. Powder has never been to school and little contact with the outside world except in books. Social services worker Jessie Caldwell (Mary Steenburgen) places him to all boy's Central home and to the high school of small town Wheaton City. His special powers causes fear, fascination and isolation. Physics teacher Donald Ripley (Jeff Goldblum)'s electricity demonstration gets out of hand. Fellow student Lindsey is fascinated but John Box picks on him.
The kid is an albino and everybody acts like they've seen a ghost even before he shows his powers to them. I'm not sure what kind of backwards 'To Kill a Mockingbird' hick town this is suppose to be. I'm willing to buy the teen bullies. However the 'kid' actors are not that compelling. It's as if the casting agent is good at casting adults but has no clue how to get good young actors. Sean Patrick Flanery does his best but his character is emotionally limited. He isn't allowed to be happy. The bullies are trying too hard and the girl doesn't have the charisma. John Box is closer to 30. The movie is trying so hard to be profound that it doesn't ring anywhere close to true. People are too stupid. People are too mean-spirited. The melodrama is too high. The actors sound fake. Powder is basically either going to be a superhero or supervillain. This could be a great comic book origin movie but every character is slightly wrong.
The kid is an albino and everybody acts like they've seen a ghost even before he shows his powers to them. I'm not sure what kind of backwards 'To Kill a Mockingbird' hick town this is suppose to be. I'm willing to buy the teen bullies. However the 'kid' actors are not that compelling. It's as if the casting agent is good at casting adults but has no clue how to get good young actors. Sean Patrick Flanery does his best but his character is emotionally limited. He isn't allowed to be happy. The bullies are trying too hard and the girl doesn't have the charisma. John Box is closer to 30. The movie is trying so hard to be profound that it doesn't ring anywhere close to true. People are too stupid. People are too mean-spirited. The melodrama is too high. The actors sound fake. Powder is basically either going to be a superhero or supervillain. This could be a great comic book origin movie but every character is slightly wrong.