Gary Stu, where are you?

Rating: Null/10 (9 March 2004)

Nearly everything about this film, and the story it's based on, strikes me as humdrum, formulaic, and uninspired. It took me awhile to figure out why, especially in an area where the writer had a chance to cut loose and present some truly fantastic characters, themes, and situations--to do something original and profound. That chance was never taken--the presented conflicts are superficial, the obstacles ankle high, the outcome never in doubt.
That is what is at fault with the story's construction, but the cause of that fault is essentially that this is a Mary Sue story, or in this case a Gary Stu story: one in which the central character is considered wonderful & talented, generally through no fault or cause of his own, and nearly everyone comes to admire him by the story's end. In other words, the story is on a level with most fanfic, in which the author inserts himself as the main character and spends most of the storytime imagining fantasies of universal acclaim and wish-fulfillment best left abandoned by the early teens.
There are of course good fantasy films and novels, but I'm afraid this isn't one of them. And there are also films for children which adults will find entertaining, but I doubt this is one of those either. I imagine, instead, that the film is perhaps a bit boring to most people who aren't blessed enough to be the author.