The sweet coming of age Standing Up enters the DVD market and the family film works its magic with fine acting and direction. Making several strong points on growing up in today’s unsettling times, the film treats bullying with a different kind of fighting back against their antagonists. The intriguing film has been released on DVD with a VUDU copy for downloading and a short ‘making of’ featurette.
Eleven year old Howie (Chandler Canterbury) has been humiliated by his peer camp mates in an annual hazing ritual by making him think he has been accepted, going on a nighttime canoe trip to an island, then stripping the boy and abandoning him. Howie can hear the laughing as the boys take off in their canoes on this cold night. Looking to find something to cover himself from the frigid night air he finds an equipment shed. Upon entering he hears some whimpering and discovers Grace (Annalise Basso) fellow female camper hiding naked under a blanket.
Howie covers himself the best he can with a quickly fashioned garment made from a sack. Figuring the two have been given an old fashioned bulling and not wanting to face their fellow campers at Camp Tall Pine they take a chance on a 1 mile swim to the mainland. When they arrive they make a decision to run from the camp. So starts an adventure that will enhance their wisdom about dealing with problems on their own.
The film continues with the two runaways stealing clothes, getting involved with a group from a different kid’s camp and working their way across the mountain. Director D.J. Caruso keeps his film taut and convincing as the pair travels together self-discovering their coming of age and overcoming humiliation and other obstacles put before them. Caruso’s familiar with working with youth with films like Disturbia and I Am Number Four and he does a fine job of getting terrific performances out of his two main characters.
Kids can be cruel and Caruso shows the affects of the hurt peer pressure can administer. Yet he also shows that Howie and Grace accept their plight by not becoming intimidators themselves in spite of the hardships forced upon them. In several scenes the two avoid trouble, but when they are hard pressed with their back to the wall, they learn how to fight back and fit into the tight situation.
Standing Up makes a very good family film that in a setting with parents and juveniles can show right from wrong. The likeable characters in this adventure of growing up and standing up for themselves can provide credible lesions that help children to fit in with their peers.
It’s so refreshing to see youngsters who can handle their role and bring believable characters to the screen and both Canterbury and Basso are both at the top of their game with Standing Up. They look like they are having fun with their roles and seem to even be growing up themselves from the experience of portraying the characters. It’s this kind of delivery that makes a film work and it may be the step they need for something even bigger.
The video quality is very good even on the DVD with its original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1. The colors of the wooded areas, rivers and lakes are beautifully projected and the interior shots well lighted for clarity. I found no distortion or grain throughout the film and the scene where the two are abandoned on the island gets presented without loss of detail.
The sound quality is very good using the 5.1 Dolby Digital through my television speakers and my extended sound system. The sound effects and dialogue from the characters and surroundings come through loud and clear.
The special feature on the DVD is a short “Making of Sanding Up” with the director and the child actors getting involved. The two youngsters talk about their characters and what it was like being in the film.
The bonus is a VUDU bonus stream of the movie directly to a VUDU-enabled device, Blu-ray player or your computer. The movie gets placed in your “My Movies” collection for you to enjoy anytime.
Standing Up has been rated PG for thematic elements including bullying, and for brief smoking and language. You may want to watch the film yourself first if you have doubts about immature children seeing the movie.
Specifications and additional film information:
Cast: Annalise Basso, Chandler Canterbury, Radha Mitchell and Val Kilmer
Directed by: D.J. Caruso
MPAA Rating: PG for thematic elements including bullying, and for brief smoking and language
Genre: Drama, Family
Running Time: 1 hr 30 min
Video Release Date: August 20, 2013
Original Film Release Date: August 16, 2013
Language: English
Format: DVD
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
Video: 16×9
Subtitles: None
Number of Discs: 1 Disc
Distributed by: Arc Entertainment
