SON OF RAMBOW (2008) ****
Lee Carter (Will Poulter) is a rambunctious pre-teen troublemaker who makes bootleg copies of movies by filming them in the theater using his bullying older brother’s camcorder. Will Proudfoot (Bill Milner) is a shy school kid with a strict religious mother who forbids him to watch television. (Even the instructional videos they show at school are off limits.) Their paths cross one day and when Will inadvertently watches Lee’s latest bootleg, First Blood; it sets off his previously sheltered imagination into overdrive. Armed with no budget, but lots of moxey, the duo decides to make a sequel, Son of Rambow and they slowly become the best of friends.
Son of Rambow proves that kids with camcorders can usually make better movies than
I may be more susceptible to the film’s charms than the casual viewer due to my extensive prepubescent filmmaking background, but that doesn’t diminish the fact that this is a great movie we’re talking about here, people. While I could nitpick and say that the film was a tad full of unnecessary side characters, it totally worked for me. Director Garth (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy)
Son of Rambow is the embodiment of both why we make movies and why we see them: To have fun. This is the movie Be Kind Rewind wanted to be.
It’s not as good as the latest Rambo, but Son of Rambow has what it takes to shoot its way up to Number 6 on the Video Vacuum Top Ten List; sandwiched right in between Shine a Light and Wall-E.