Catch That Kid (2004)

I've been wanting to watch this film forever. I saw the Danish original "Klatretøsen" when I was 10 years old and still like it very much. However, this remake left me quite disappointed. I've watched a couple of American remakes of Danish films - "Catch that Kid", "The First Time/Love at First Hiccup", the latter being one of my favorite (Danish) films ever.However, the American remakes tend to turn way too cliché for my taste. Lame humor, downright horrible line-delivery, the inability to stay true to the mood in the originals. It seems that lots of key elements are lost in translation. Wouldn't watch either this or "The First Time" again; I would however recommend viewers (and especially non-Danes) to check out the originals.

Maddy (Kristen Stewart) loves to climb. Her best friends are tech nerd Austin (Corbin Bleu) and go-cart mechanic Gus (Max Thieriot). Her father Tom Phillips (Sam Robards) suffers a paralysis from an old climbing injury that requires $250k for treatment. Her mother Molly (Jennifer Beals) works at the bank but the bank president Donald Brisbane refuses to lend her the money. Maddy decides to rob the bank with the help of her young friends despite the fact that her mother is the security chief.The kids are all photogenic and they are good young actors. However there is nothing actually funny. It's too stupid to be real and too real to be fun. There isn't any joy in this kids movie. They even try a love triangle for them. It just doesn't work.

Kristen Stewart is Maddy and outdoors type that we used to call a "tomboy" when I was younger. In particular she enjoyed climbing outdoors with her dad. But things get rough for the family when dad is injured and they cannot afford the expensive surgery. So, she hatches a plan, to rob the bank that her mom is the security agent for.Sam Robards is her dad, Tom, and Jennifer Beals is her mom, Molly. She has a couple of neighbor kids, friends of hers, help.Most of the movie involves the elaborate and tricky breaking in to get the highly secure money in the vault. None of it is possible, of course, but it makes for a good kids movie.SPOILERS: They actually get money, $250,000 worth, and escape at night on go-carts. They make it to dad's hospital room with the cash, followed closely by mom and then the cops and the bank president. Mom has a bright idea, to protect the kids she claims they were under her direction (a lie!) to expose the security vulnerability. They then raise some money, not nearly enough, until the bank president comes forward with a $50,000 check, "consulting fees", which allowed dad to get his surgery.

An American remake of Danish 2002 film Klatretøsen, Catch That Kid is undemanding family fare for the, well, undemanding. Plot sees Kristen Stewart as Maddy, whose father is rendered paralysed from an old mountaineering accident. Unable to raise the $250,000 needed for the potential life changing operation, Maddy and her mother are at a dead end. But Maddy hits upon the idea of robbing the bank where her mother has been the security consultant, so enlisting the help of her two young pals, she sets about committing the perfect robbery.Plot suggests it is what it is, kiddie friendly fodder that's as preposterous as it gets. But it's still a likable enough tale, stitched together competently enough by director Bart Freundlich, and the actual robbery itself is well crafted and not without genuine tension. The child actors, led by future Twilight star Stewart, don't annoy, and the writers even plant the strains of puppy love on the edges of the narrative. It's all heading to an obvious conclusion, one that is very It's A Wonderful Life in intent, but it does it's job well enough and closes off with a smugness that's hard to get mad at.An easy enough time filler to watch with the kids or to do your ironing too. 6/10