Bogus

There have been critics that dismiss Bogus as overly-sentimental cods wallop, but after seeing it for myself I actually disagree. While sometimes univolving in terms of story, this fantasy film about a young lonely orphaned boy befriending a seemingly-imaginary man never fails to be pleasant and charming. It is beautifully filmed, with lush cinematography and lovely scenery. And I liked the music as well. The direction is pretty solid, and there are some very poignant moments. The performances are not at all bad, Haley Joel Osment undoubtedly gives the strongest one of the lot, while looking extremely cute he does convince in the delivery of his lines and in his face. Gerard Depardieu gives a very pleasant and whimsical characterisation as the imaginary friend, however if his character was perhaps more complex he would've been more memorable. Whoopi Goldberg gives her usual standard of performance, a woman with attitude, yet with a soft side to her, and that is exactly what her character Harriet is like. However, the film while nicely performed and meaning well, is weighed down by an uninvolving story and a sometimes weak script. And there are some problems with the pace, I found the middle half rather slow for my liking. All in all, undemanding but pleasant and charming, and in some ways misunderstood too. 7/10 Bethany Cox