Parents' Guide to

I Am David

By Matt Berman, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 9+

Beautiful, gentle adaptation of classic novel.

Movie PG 2005 90 minutes
I Am David Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

age 9+

Based on 5 parent reviews

age 10+

Best movie I've seen in a long time.

It's a Heartwarming story of a young boy who escaped a Communist prison camp and his experiences on his journey to Denmark to deliver a letter. Fantastic ending with an unexpected twist.
age 12+

For early adolescents (12-15/16?)

Set in post world war 2 times, it tells a story of a 12 year old boys journey from a concentration camp to various parts Europe. recommend this for age 12 and up (or at the very least 10), as the themes are more relatable for that age group.

This title has:

Great messages

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (5):
Kids say (3):

This is a lovely movie, beautifully filmed by Paul Feig in locations throughout Europe. The real problem faced by anyone trying to adapt this book is finding a boy who can carry it off, and newcomer Ben Tibber portrays David with a heartbreakingly bleak and lonely nobility. He actually has few lines, so he accomplishes this primarily through posture and a remarkably readable face. Jim Caviezel does sterling work as Johannes, the only friend David has ever had; and Joan Plowright is warmly touching as Sophie, an elderly artist David meets along the way. Feig, who also wrote the script, partially solves a central flaw in the book (where the plot turns on a huge and unlikely Dickensian coincidence) by turning it into a smaller, but still unlikely, coincidence.

But the movie is not without its own flaws, chief among them its too-short length (90 minutes), which leaves too much unexplained or missing entirely. The DVD contains many deleted scenes that should have been left in. Nevertheless, this is a thoughtful, intellectually and emotionally rich, and gently beautiful movie that, while aimed at kids, doesn't for one moment condescend to them. It's a solid and moving attempt at filming a wonderful but almost unfilmable classic children's book.

Movie Details

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