There's something wrong with Orphan

Rating: 5/10 (29 January 2010)

Yes, as the movie's tagline states, there most certainly is something wrong with Esther. Unfortunately there's something wrong with the movie too. It's a movie which starts out with some real promise but as the story plods along that early promise never really pays itself off. The movie checks in at a clearly excessive 123 minutes, the story simply can't sustain itself over that length of time. Oftentimes the movie has a very formulaic feel to it, there's the sense we've seen this all done before. And we've probably seen it done a lot better. By the time we finally get to the shocking conclusion we just may not be that interested anymore. And the big shock really doesn't work either if you actually spend a moment thinking about it. The whole movie is based on a foundation which is not particularly plausible. Suspended disbelief works to a point I guess but honestly this movie asks us to believe things which quite simply could not happen.
The best thing this movie has to offer is the performance of the young actress playing our deeply troubled Esther. Isabelle Fuhrman turns in a wildly impressive, appropriately sinister and almost impossibly mature performance. This is a young actress who almost certainly has great things in her future. Unfortunately much of what surrounds her doesn't work. It's a story about an evil little child who is clearly not what she initially appears to be. What is she exactly? Well that's the revelation we save for the big shock at the end. But this movie spends way too much time getting to its big finish. And again the big revelation really does not stand up to even the most cursory of examinations. But it's just a cheap little horror film so maybe if we don't think about it too much...nah, the movie still doesn't work. Even if you ignore the story's ultimate implausibility the movie still has too many other flaws. It's way too long. There are entirely too many of those standard horror movie false scares and not enough real ones. One of the key characters, Esther's adopted father, comes off as being quite a dunce. Horror movies rely on tension, this movie's tension fizzles out long before the movie finally slogs to an end. By the time the movie's halfway done you're just looking for it to be over. Full marks to young Isabelle Fuhrman for creating a creepy, memorable character. But one good character does not necessarily make a good movie.