The Magic of Belle Isle (2012)
In an effort to tap into his original talent, a wheelchair-bound author moves to a rural town, where he befriends a single mother and her three kids, who help reignite his passion for writing.
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An aging alcoholic writer is dropped off at a small summer resort town by his nephew, who advises him to stop drinking, start writing again, and take care of the dog. Morgan Freeman grudgingly makes friends with some of the town's off-beat characters. He develops a relationship with the divorced mother next door and her three daughters. And, with their encouragement, he does indeed stop drinking, start writing again, and takes care of the dog. A romantic arc develops and provides a sweet, slightly surprising ending. This is an unexpected movie for Freeman fans, and is a nice change from his action films. Definitely worth the time of anyone who doesn't need to see morgue porn or stuff blowing up!
Monty Wildhorn (Morgan Freeman) is an alcoholic wheelchair bound Western writer who has stopped writing. His nephew Henry (Kenan Thompson) gets him a place to stay in Belle Isle for the summer. The place is next door to recently divorced Charlotte O'Neil (Virginia Madsen) and his three girls Finnegan (Emma Fuhrmann), Willow (Madeline Carroll) and Flora (Nicolette Pierini). Finnegan loves to tell stories.I hoped that Rob Reiner retains an ounce of originality but feared that this would be sadly uninspired. This ends with too much of my fears coming true. These are great actors doing their best. The story has its share of eccentric characters. I really like Freeman with Fuhrmann. This could be a sweet kids movie especially if it concentrated on the girl instead. It's depressingly predictable to have the May to December romance. With such great actors, this has the opportunity to be good but the material doesn't have much meat on the bones.
The story is well written and the actors are great. Thank you. I've watched it 3 or 4 times now and still enjoy every minute of it. It speaks again of being family even with strangers who come into your life and bring you joy but not on the initial meeting. You can never judge a book by its cover is so true in this situation. How many times have you met someone in passing and have remained friends for years? We can all relate to that I think. Morgan does an outstanding performance as being a bitter man after his wife's passing and does a great job of turning the page on his life with a little help from his nephew who keeps pushing him in a subtle way to get over it.
We just finished watching Belle Isle for the third time and it's just as enjoyable as it was the first two.If you're looking for the standard childish comedy, sappy romance or predictable drama that usually comes out of Hollywood these days, stay away. On the other hand, if you're looking for a great family movie with a romantic wink, you'll enjoy this movie as much as us.The character evolution in the course of 90 minutes or so is something Reiner and Williams should be proud of, and the leads are very well played by Freeman and Madsen.If you want an excellent "feel good" sensation throughout, you'll find it with Belle Isle.