Life is a journey (May Contain Spoilers)

Rating: 9/10 (4 October 2006)

I mainly went to see this film because my friend is a massive Steve Carrel fan but by the end I had laughed my ass off and almost come to crying at the same time. The beauty of this film is that you can follow most of the characters on the journey. Many critics have claimed that Steve Carrel's Frank is the protagonist of the film and to an extent that is true as we learn of his plight first he has tried to commit suicide because he has been beaten both academically and personally by Larry Sugarman, through the trip he is taken down a peg or two by having to push the van reminding everyone that he is the number one Proust scholar in the country while doing it. By the end in his conversation with Dwayne he admits that Proust is stupid and realised that the family is more important. Greg Kinnear's character Richard of course is a self-help speaker whose words are discouraging rather than encouraging his children's growth he thinks Dwight's silent protest is a good thing it shows character and he encourages Olive not to eat ice cream. But when his book falls through because of him and he finds the family is virtually bankrupt it would be most characters downfall. But he redeems himself by defending his daughter at the beauty pageant and letting her dance her dance. Following Dwight's silent protest is another way of looking at the film. His journey to become a fighter pilot is thwarted because he finds out he is colour-blind. The touching scene where Olive holds his hand and he carries her back up the hill was one of my favourite in the film. And again he goes from hating everyone as he writes in his pad to joining his family at the end of the film. Of course the central and most obvious journey is the trip to the Little Miss Sunshine contest, Olive's need to win and her total innocence of child beauty pageants is great. Her relationship with Alan Arkin's grandpa is also very sweet, her scene where she asks him if she's pretty was also a great one in my eyes. In my opinion Toni Collete doesn't really have that much to do and her character only reacts to those around her but her role is as vital as any of the other ones. I laughed my ass off in the last scene depicted the joining together of the family as Olive dances her risqué routine to Superfreak the family all joining hands to dance with her. This really was a great ending to a superb film. And all the actors from ten-year old Abigail Breslin to seventy-something Arkin acted their socks off, I was particularly impressed with Paul Dano's performances having only seen him in the Ballard of Jack and Rose before now. All in all I think the best film you'll see this year.