Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Adaline Bowman (Blake Lively) hasn't aged since 29. 1937 was when the miracle took place. As she drove through the California coastal mountains to pick up her daughter something amazing happened: it snowed. And it was this snow that caused Adaline to plummet into a lake and reach the freezing body temperature of 87 Fahrenheit. Then another miracle occurred: Lightning. At just the right moment, around the two minute mark, the right age defying recipe struck Adaline, unbeknownst to her. She later takes a medical job to try and figure out what's happened. We as an audience, on the other hand, knows everything that has taken place, thanks to supplied information by the same Narrator who drones through the trailer.
It's this Narrator and the unnecessary scientific explanations that ruin The Age of Adaline magic. Whenever there's a montage of time, there's narration. Whenever there's an unwanted explanation, there's narration. Does the Narrator have to sound so bored? Sadly this narration takes an otherwise polished interesting film and turns it into a documentary. We're not watching a major theatrical release; we're watching a special on the Science channel about the life of someone who's still in the luster of youth at 107 years old. She's spent years slipping through time, but never living. All the good moments in the film has no narration at all. We don't need it! And it's a shame, because the narration is jarring and sidetracks from some good performances by Blake Lively, Michiel Huisman, Harrison Ford, Ellen Burstyn, and Kathy Baker. Shame really.
The Age of Adaline could have been an incredibly enchanting film. I like this movie, but I wanted so desperately to love it.
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for a suggestive comment.
the best scenes in the movie are the ones with Harrison Ford.
ReplyDeleteThose scenes were great. Loved his character in this movie.
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