Run, don't walk to see this film

Rating: 10/10 (11 September 2008)

This film is bound to be a classic like Cinema Paradiso, Rocky or any number of films that celebrate the underdog. Sure it's manipulative, but tell me which great film isn't. The audience is rooting for Jamal, the young protagonist, from the first frame to the final fade out. Simon Beaufoy's marvelously inventive screenplay, plus Danny Boyle's exceptional direction should make this a hit, in spite of the fact that there are no known actors (at least known in N. America) and chunks of the dialogue are in Hindi. It is a crowd pleaser in the best sense of the term.
Note to Fox Searchlight: If you market this properly, you could have another Little Miss Sunshine or Juno on your hands. Frankly, this is a superior film to either of those.