Tuck Everlasting (2002)

One of the things that I liked about Tuck Everlasting is that it conceded that in the coming age secrets like what the Tuck family has would be harder to keep. And the Tucks have a secret well worth keeping. They were at that time before World War I acknowledging the faster methods of communication and transportation would make it impossible. In 2002 when the film was released we are now passed the industrial age and into the age of communication. You know someone would find out and post it on the web.The secret of the Tucks is that they've found the secret of immortality in a spring located deep in the woods where they've settled. The family is parents William Hurt and Sissy Spacek and sons the brooding Scott Bairstow and the eternally youthful Jonathan Jackson.The property however is owned by Victor Garber and Amy Irving and they've got a daughter Alexis Bledel whom they keep most sheltered. One day she wonders into the Tuck woods and meets the family. She nearly drinks from the spring and can't understand why the Tucks warn her away. But she experiences a first love with Jackson and they are a pair of the most romantic lovers you will ever meet.It's a regular Garden of Eden the Tucks have, but there's a serpent there and it's in the form of Ben Kingsley. Kingsley has heard rumors of this fountain of youth and immortality and he's here to find it and exploit it as he feels that only certain people should enjoy immortality. As the film builds Kingsley grows more evil and more serpentine, he will really creep you out.This film bears comparison to the Highlander movies and TV series and a bit of comparison to Sean Connery's science fiction classic Zardoz. All deal with immortality and what a trap it can be if you think about it. The Tucks have it better than Duncan McLeod, he can go if he's decapitated. A highland broadsword wouldn't even penetrate the skin of a Tuck.Tuck Everlasting is really about Bledel and Jackson and a love that can never be. Scott Bairstow has an effective scene about the family he raised who have all gone and left him alone for an eternity. Fitting that Tuck Everlasting should be a product of the Disney studios because the film has an aura of magic and it's fitting it come from the Magic Kingdom. It's a charming fantasy, you can't do much better with films of fantasy than this one.

The plot of this movie is intriguing. Yes, you will have questions. But almost all of the questions will be answered by the ending. The big question it asks, and answers, is What is life all about? Most of us think at first that if we could live forever, it would be great. This film shows you the joy of life and how you might use it, share it-- or what it will cost you if you can't share it or live it with loved ones. It also causes you to re-consider the idea of being forever young--particularly if that were to happen, but not by choice.The advice the dad gives in the boat scene with Winnie is thought- provoking (William Hurt, in one of his best roles). Cissy Spacek is also excellent as mother Tuck. By the end of the film, Winnie has seen a lot and gets to make an amazing and mature choice that obviously guides the rest of her life. In a sense, she is way ahead of Jesse Tuck now.The performances are all good, particularly those who play the Tucks. All of the characters are more or less interesting or amusing, but the romance and the wisdom that come of Winnie's meeting with the Tuck family are inspiring and life-changing. The performances of the entire cast--and the life-story demonstrated by each character--contribute to Winnie's dramatic acceptance of the natural decision she must make.All the characters in the film--all but the eerie Man in Yellow brilliantly played by Ben Kingsley--agree that life is about family. Winnie learns it is also about being able to experience different periods in your own development, and changes in your own perspective. An interesting "What if," Tuck Everlasting is a great movie that helps us think about what we want in life and about who we are. This is the kind of movie you will want to watch once a year.

This movie is absolutely, 100%, completely one of THE BEST movies I've ever seen in my 13 years of movie-watching. Tuck Everlasting, with it's loving, yet suspenseful storyline is the best movie and book I've seen and read in a long time.The book was really good, and the movie, thankfully, stayed really close to it. I love that Jonathan Jackson was cast as Jesse. THe book I read had the movie poster (minus the credits and release date and that movie poster crap) on it, and the minutes I learned that the hot guy on the cover was Jesse, I fell head over heels in love. I also love the monologue Miles has around the campfire. It just made me so sad, I felt like crying along with Winne, and wish I had a Jesse there to comfort me like she did. And the ending, where Jesse finds Winnie's grave, I really DID cry!Anyway, I would recommend this movie to anyone who asks me for a good one, cause this is is all that and a music box! (Was that a little cheesy? Probably.)

Winifred(Winnie)Foster lives with her parents and her grandmother in a large house,an almost palatial mansion.The Fosters are a name to reckon with in the town in which they live and Winifred's father owns the woods,which are very close to their home,but Winnie has never been allowed to venture out alone.She has been taught to do what all "proper"girls do and maintains propriety by doing things such as playing the piano and wearing the corset.However,this kind of life only stifles her and she craves for freedom and one day,she decides to venture out alone into the woods.There she finds a handsome boy who is drinking water from the spring.This boy is Jesse Tuck and he is immediately arrested by her beauty.Winnie craves for a drink of water,but Jesse stops her,saying that the water is poisoned. Suddenly,out of nowhere,Jesse's brother,Miles appears and forcefully puts Winifred on a horse and takes her to the Tucks' house.Winifred cannot understand why she has been "kidnapped". Angus Tuck and his wife Mae are very kind to her but Miles is extremely suspicious of her and keeps reiterating that she cannot be "trusted"(with their secret).Jesse says she can and is called "a fool"by his brother. Slowly,as Winnie begins to live with the Tucks,she realises how wonderful life can be.The Tucks are warm,loving and spontaneous,none of the things that Winnie has ever experienced.Mae Tuck is especially fond of Winnie and Jesse and Winnie,are forever playful,frisking about like the deer that they play with.They prance about in the green fields,frolick in the morning sunshine and climb a heap of rocks that Jesse calls the "Eiffel Tower". They bathe in the water of the waterfall and finally share their first kiss.This is when Miles decides to let her in on the family's "big secret" The Tucks drank water from a spring which was the spring of youth and they achieved immortality. The concept of immortality is given a rather unique treatment because the Tucks want to die.As Angus Tuck tells Winnie later on,death is a natural process and meddling with the wheel of change would have its consequences.It would mean a life unlived. Miles also repents the death of his wife and his two little kids,Anna and Beau.He says with tears in his eyes that he is still alive,while his wife died in an insane asylum,old and alone.The Tucks live far away from society and civilisation because they are afraid that if people find out where they are,they will be asked about the water from the spring. Angus believes that that is lethal,because what no one understands is the fact that immortality is not as glorious as it is made out to be. The meaning of life is its ever-changing nature and immortality brings with it stagnancy. The Tucks have been accused of practising witchcraft and black magic and a Man has been following the two Tuck Boys.Miles suspects that he knows about them and his suspicion is proved right when the Man comes to the woods on the pretext of saving Winnie and reveals that he had heard a tale from his grandmother about an old woman in an asylum who spoke of "Anna"and hummed a certain tune.This establishes the fact that the woman was none other than Miles's dead wife.The Man tries to kill Jesse but fails(quite naturally)and Mae Tuck kills him from the back when he tries killing Winifred who is not immortal. Winifred's father comes to the woods and takes his daughter back home.Finally,the Tucks go away from the woods and Jesse begs him to come with her.Winnie says that it will only put them in danger.Jesse asks her to drink from the spring of youth and promises that he will come back to take her with him when the time is right.When Jesse does come back,he sees Winnie's gravestone.It reads "Winnie Foster Jackson".It is quite obvious that years and years have passed and Winnie is dead. She had also moved on with her life,married and had children because her epitaph reads "dear wife and loving mother"The narrative is beautiful and the story flows smoothly.The philosophy behind the story is deeply moving and stirs the soul.It reminded me of Keats's theme of transience-that nothing really lasts forever.At the same time,this is a tale of everlasting love and a tale about making choices.It is not just about who you really are,but also about who you choose to be.