Not quite as good as I thought it would be

Rating: 3/10 (10 August 1999)

With all of the good commentaries I read about "TSS" I expected much more out of the film than I got.
The main problem with the film is its persistent slowness and confusing development. Some of the supernatural the child "sees" is given without any explanation, like the "ghosts" in the story have no other purpose but to frighten the viewer. The film suffers from a short attention span, jumping from one storyline right to the other with no explanation. The film also focuses too heavily on the score; there is a point where Willis and the boy are sitting in a room by themselves for about a half minute, not saying a word, while the film's music is playing at full forte. Had there been an important plot revelation at the time it would have seemed sensible, but the attitude was more like, "we spent x number of dollars on this score, so we darn better well use it anywhere we can."
The ending of the movie is genius (which is why I gave it 3 stars instead of one) but by the time I reached it I was so bored and disappointed that it did not have much of an effect on me. It seemed like the writer dreamed up of a perfect ending to a movie but could not put anything worthwile as filler. If the movie was more like an hour-long "Amazing Stories" episode, it would have been perfect; but as is it was a little too drawn out for me.
***/out of ten