Great movie, even if you know do know the ending....

Rating: 10/10 (19 September 1999)

This movie definitely deserved a 10. Somehow, it managed to be terrifying and surprisingly sweet at the same time. And it's not like some movies, where you feel like they're "constructed" rather than written because they pull at your emotions so much; this movie just managed to fit everything together perfectly. There was even some humor, although it did little to ease the tension.
Kudos to the actors in the film... I have to admit, I'd never considered Bruce Willis much of a dramatist before I saw this one. And, while I'm usually skeptical of movies that have small children in them (I'm always afraid they're just in for "cute" value), Haley Joel Osment was actually very, very good. One performance that I'm sure will be overlooked is Cole's mother, played by Toni Collette. I was very impressed by the realism she gave her role.
The only thing that I didn't understand about the movie was the "surprise" ending. I figured it out a good 15 minutes into the movie, and was sort of amazed at all the people going "what?" and "oh my gosh" when they revealed it; I kept expecting some other secret to pop up. That might be why I respected this film so much, though--even though I knew the secret, it still kept me on the edge of my seat the whole way through. In fact, it's very hard to type this without my fingernails. :-)