Mediocrity

Rating: 6/10 (9 April 2010)

I found this film terribly underwhelming. Part of that may well have to do with my expectations set by the gushing praise I've heard before, and the one review I read here before watching -- in which a girl said it was so moving she cried.
I didn't think there was anything moving about this film. An interesting narrative, to be sure, and containing some very compelling scenes, but it hardly seemed like anything original, and some of the scenes were totally hackneyed. Man ascends mountain and reaches up to the firmament, camera pans around at majestic landscape, & so on.
There just seemed to be far too many clichés in this film for it be called moving. The sister's voice over narration, full of tired praise for her brother's intelligence, adventurous & rebellious spirit, &c, became tedious. His parents were caricatures of the suburban American nuclear family. The 'nature good, cities bad' message was more than a little heavy-handed, particularly in the Los Angeles scenes.
I found it annoying that in several instances the lead actor looked directly into the camera (for instance, when he is eating an apple early in his travels). For me it shattered the attempt at realism and the sense of isolation and freedom the character was meant to have.
Overall, while not without a fluid plot, solid acting and shots of stunning landscapes, the message of the film itself wasn't anything new, nor was it particularly well put. It was ho-hum at best.