Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

arieliondotcom A coming of age movie that is male enough to keep (especially teen) male viewers and sweet enough to keep female viewers, just naughty enough for them to feel as if they're watching a "grown up" movie and just sweet enough that it's not too adult. As someone else mentioned, it is the nearly perfect confluence of great acting, writing, and directing. The few points I deducted were for a few spots (such as the horse and the dying cancer victim) that seemed to try too hard to lay other, deeper layers on. Lots of nice, unexpected surprises and, thankfully, when you think you will be cheated by some "clever" turn in the script (as other movies are wont to do) you're not and come away feeling fully satisfied that it ends as it should.Altogether a very nice film though parents (especially non-Catholic parents) may have some 'splaining to do about some of the Catholic elements. And the PG-13 rating is appropriate.

Neil Turner December Boys is an overly sentimental and cliché ridden tale, but it has a special something that makes it work. That something is the engaging performances of the two major boys - Daniel Radcliffe and Lee Cormie.The action takes place during a Christmas holiday of the late 60's or early 70's in Australia. The December boys are four boys from an outback orphanage whose birthdays fall in December. They are given a treat of a vacation at the shore provided by an older couple.The four are three pre-adolescents - Sparks, Spit, and Misty (Cormie) - and one older boy who acts as the big brother of the younger three. He is Maps, played by Radcliffe. The story is told by Misty as an adult and contains many, probably mis-remembered, events of that eventful vacation.The boys are hosted by an older couple with the man being played by Jack Thompson as Bandy. This is a bare-bones part, and Thompson's considerable talents are wasted. Bandy's wife is ill with cancer, and there are some interesting scenes of interactions with the boys but the couple plays a very small role in the whole thing.The vacation cabin is in a small cove accompanied by several others, and the inhabitants of these neighboring cabins provide a number of interesting characters. The most interesting to the boys is a young, childless couple. They are seen as potential parents by the boys, and the three younger ones compete in a battle for their attention - led by Misty.Maps is far more interested in a local teenage girl with whom he develops an intimate relationship. Because Radcliffe became famous as Harry Potter, Russell Edwards of Variety sarcastically states, "Destined to be forever known as Harry Potter Gets Laid…," but I saw much more in Radcliffe's portrayal of a teenager's first love. His performance is richly affecting.December Boys is an entertaining combination of the vacation adventures and fantasies of four boys coupled with that longing purity of first love. It's not a great movie, but it gives the viewer a good feeling and gives this viewer some memories and emotions of times long passed.

ellerveira For Americans the dialog was next to unintelligible. The British accent overlaid with an Australian accent made most of the dialog sound like gibberish. I would say only 30% would be understood by Americans. Then the movie doesn't have much direction or point. As a result the movie BOMBED in the USA. I think it took in only about $50,000. Pitiful, just pitiful. And it wasn't from lack of advertising. Radcliffe came to the US and made the rounds of talk shows to publicize it before it came out. I am sure he expected it to be a winner. Instead it was a disaster. But Dan has recovered somewhat with My Boy Jack. This is not a big thing in the US since it is a TV drama and not a movie, but he did fine in that. He needs to make a non-Potter movie with an American accent (he can do it if he tries) so that Americans can understand him easily. He is awfully short though to be a real star. You see this when he stands beside a 6' person. He look sorta midgety.

jemps918 Set in the late 60s, December Boys is a beautiful, poignant tale of adolescence and abandonment with the vast, awe-inspiring Australian outback as a backdrop, unraveled in the same vein as Stand By Me."What's the big deal about having parents anyway?" Maps (Daniel Radcliffe) retorts to his summer fling Lucy (Teresa Palmer). Maps is the eldest of four orphan boys who get sent for a seaside holiday with an elderly couple. Misty (Lee Cormie) is the youngest and the artistic one of the brood. Sparks (Christian Byers) is good with mechanical things, while Spit (James Fraser) is so named for what he does best.Having been given a glimpse of what the orphans' lives have been like together, you have an idea of where Maps' trend of thought comes from. They've survived so far without parents, and they have had each other to call as family growing up. This just becomes more glaring as they interact with their host family's neighbors, and they get in an emotional competition for possible adoption that tests the limits of their brotherhood.Unfulfilled expectations are shared by all characters regardless of age and situation, and this is the main theme that the audience empathizes with. It is heartbreaking to see their faces light up with hope at the possibility of winning the parent lottery only to be passed on time and time again. Rude awakenings and rejection are themes that most people can relate to after hardened years, but for children to already know it intimately at such an age is what makes December Boys the thoughtful tearjerker it is.