Christmas Flint might be the weirdest, oddest, cutest little thing in cinema history. Backed by the strong performance from Mckenna Grace -can this kid do anything wrong?- it is near impossible not to fall for this little girl and share all her dreams, her hopes and her heartbreaks. Unfortunately for Mckenna -and the rest of the cast, who all do a magnificent job- 'Troop Zero' fails as a movie by going over every cliche one hopes to find in indie coming of age flicks and taking every on of them over the top and beyond.
There's a lot to be taken from 'Troop Zero'. Every life lesson worth learning for children and not-so-children is portrayed in ninety minutes of footage. It's heartwarming, it's educational and it's emotional. And above it all, it's overly dramatic, to the point where even if you appreciate the intention of the director and sympathize with the characters involved, you still cringe on the sofa and wait for it to be over, hoping the next scene won't try so hard to pull all the strings it would still pull -and more effectively- if it was toned down to a more realistic and enjoyable level.
With a solid directing, some near perfect scenes, a fantastic performance from the whole cast -even the younger ones- and a magnificent sound track -it's Bowie, what more is there to say?- I can only wonder what this movie could have been had it not wasted so much effort in becoming the stereotypical Sundance movie.
There's a lot to be taken from 'Troop Zero'. Every life lesson worth learning for children and not-so-children is portrayed in ninety minutes of footage. It's heartwarming, it's educational and it's emotional. And above it all, it's overly dramatic, to the point where even if you appreciate the intention of the director and sympathize with the characters involved, you still cringe on the sofa and wait for it to be over, hoping the next scene won't try so hard to pull all the strings it would still pull -and more effectively- if it was toned down to a more realistic and enjoyable level.
With a solid directing, some near perfect scenes, a fantastic performance from the whole cast -even the younger ones- and a magnificent sound track -it's Bowie, what more is there to say?- I can only wonder what this movie could have been had it not wasted so much effort in becoming the stereotypical Sundance movie.