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More by Molly Segal

Life of Pi

Lee does Martel justice with his magical adaptation
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The Odd Life of Timothy Green

An earnest, but cute, look at helicopter parenting (and an unusual child)

by Molly Segal

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This Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aFV1r45sAQ

This Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aFV1r45sAQ

If ever there was a pair of helicopter parents, it was Cindy and Jim Green (Jennifer Garner and Joel Edgerton) of Stanley, the pencil capital of the states. Down in the dumps because they can’t have a kid, Cindy and Jim crack open a bottle of wine and jot down all the qualities their kid would have (no pressure), put them in a box, bury it in the yard and presto, ten-year-old Timothy (CJ Adams) pops out of the ground. Cindy and Jim are so obsessed with parenting Timothy, they never back off—Cindy even stalks his only friend (call it love, but that would get tiresome). Peter Hedges’s Timothy Green is earnest (it is Disney), but kind of cute, with Timothy doing peculiar things, like soaking in sun as if he were a tree (he does have leaves on his legs). Overall, it might make most sense to watch this movie in the company of a ten-year-old.