Tuck Everlasting

A sheltered rich girl (Alexis Bledel) meets up with a rustic family whose members never age and cannot die (parents William Hurt and Sissy Spacek and sons Jonathan Jackson and Scott Bairstow). Natalie Babbitt’s classic children’s novel first was filmed in 1980 by a band of talented amateurs, but, as much as they clearly loved the book, they didn’t quite capture its unique blend of mood, atmosphere and homespun philosophy. Here, writers Jeffrey Lieber and James V. Hart and director Jay Russell take liberties with the letter of Babbitt’s book, but they get the spirit exactly right. Like the book, the film is amazed by the enthralling miracle of being alive—a genuine work of art that makes us see the world with different eyes. The powerhouse cast (including Ben Kingsley as a sinister stranger) has seldom been better.