Young Winifred "Winnie" Foster is a girl on the cusp of womanhood in the early decades of the 20th century. Though she lives comfortably in the large house of her well-to-do parents, she does not live as she wishes, instead constrained by the well-mannered upbringing expected from the sole offspring of a family of means. One day she dares to break free of the confines of her existence by venturing into the deep and mysterious woods that are part of her father's land, and comes across a teenage boy drinking from a spring at the root of a tree. He confronts her, and when it becomes apparent that she has seen something that she was not meant to, young Winnie is kidnapped, taken away from her family, and whisked deeper into the forest, where a very old secret resides with the reclusive Tuck family.
Tuck Everlasting is based on the children's novel by Natalie Babbitt and remains very much a children's movie, albeit one with some surprisingly mature themes regarding life and death. The characters and situations are pure melodrama, and more sophisticated members of the audience may have questions raised in their minds about some outcomes that are not fully addressed in the film. It is best to consider the movie as it (and likely, its source material) was intended, as the fantasy most all children have about living a life beyond the one that they have, as a fable about learning the wisdom of time and how it might be spent, and as a charming romance between two preternaturally winsome onscreen characters.
Viewers of the television show Gilmore Girls will recognize Alexis Bledel in her starring role as young Winnie Foster. Her role here is a lateral shift from her television persona as a shy, sheltered girl making tentative steps into a larger world than the one she knows. The impetus pulling her forward is the hunky Jesse Tuck (Jonathan Jackson), who thinks that he's found in Winnie someone with whom he can share his eternal secret. His enthusiasm isn't shared by his elder brother, Miles (Scott Bairstow), who is convinced that no good can come of it. But matron Mae (Sissy Spacek) is just glad to have another female to speak with, even if the head of the Tuck clan (William Hurt) is less pleased with her appearance, particularly after hearing Miles' news of the appearance of a relentless stranger (Ben Kingsley).
As might be expected with a cast full of veteran talent, the performances are solid, although most characters sport an accent of some sort where Bledel does not, making the tone of her delivery seem anachronistically modern by comparison. While she doesn't quite pull off the implication of Winnie's simmering rebellious streak, she does have an effortless chemistry with Jackson's Jesse, one which easily overshadows the more epic romance between the star-crossed lovers in this summer's Star Wars sequel. Scott Bairstow has a good scene where he reveals the particular burdens of his family's unique circumstances, but it is Ben Kingsley who gets the most mileage out of his role as a man determined to uncover the Tuck's mysterious heritage.
In a possible nod to the chronicle of the lives of characters unhurried by the normal biological ravages of time, Tuck Everlasting proceeds at a pace which is not quite eternal, but may almost seem so compared to its mere hour-and-a-half running time (perhaps this perception says more about the film's theme than the film itself). Younger moviegoers not enchanted with the movie's Zen-like qualities will be restless, save during the few moments of tension accorded by the appearance of the film's nameless antagonist.
The film is beautifully shot by cinematographer James L. Carter. The world of the Tucks is lush and verdant amidst towering glades and falls of white water. There's a hint of world-weary cynicism when the Elder Tuck observes that the forests are thinning in size, that places like these may not endure. Go see them while you can, the film nudges, before either you or they are gone. Not everything you are watching is fiction.
Although the appeal of Tuck Everlasting clearly favors young girls over boys, and the screenplay does offer much in the way of challenging material for older audience members, it remains a quiet, charming film and should be embraced by any seeking respite from the hyperkinetic, the ultraviolent, or the grotesquely vulgar fare that characterizes the summer box office. Tuck Everlasting is the cinematic equivalent of sitting on a porch on a summer evening with a cool breeze blowing and a pitcher of iced tea with a sprig of mint close at hand. Life's too short.