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A pintsized Indian stands erect in a boy's hand palms on this imagination-teasing poster for Frank Oz's The Indian in the Cupboard
Omri is a boy who lives with his parents and two brothers in New York, and at his ninth birthday he receives a cupboard with magic properties: It turns a plastic Indian toy into a real, live, miniature Indian!
The Indian in the Cupboard is written by Melissa Mathison (The Black Stallion (1979)), adapting the same-titled 1980 children's novel by Lynne Reid Banks (Bad Cat, Good Cat (2011)), and directed by English-born American master filmmaker Frank Oz (The Dark Crystal (1982)), whose 7th feature it is.
An imaginative, fantastical story, perfectly adapted by glorious Mathison and directed impeccably by Oz in what is likely his best picture. The Indian in the Cupboard is irresistible.
The actors portraying the family and the child actors are natural, and Hal Scardino (Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993)) as Omri is enormously good, especially his whispering intonations to his 'creations'. Litefoot (Adaptation. (2002)) as the Indian, David Keith's (Heritage Falls (2016)) cowboy and Steve Coogan (The Lost King (2022)) as a World War I medic are all outstanding. The film is well-acted all the way around, elegant and shot (by Russell Carpenter (Avatar: The Way of Water (2022))) and scored (by Randy Edelman (The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008))) without ostentation. The narrative tickles our conventional expectations and instead gives us a deep tale (not unlike Harold Ramis' comedy masterpiece Groundhog Day (1993)) with themes of childhood, respect for life, racism and death. The Indian in the Cupboard is moving and unique.
Related posts:
Frank Oz: Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) - Despite stale romance and Anakin, Episode II excites (voice actor)
1999 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Bowfinger (1999) or, Making Chubby Rain
In & Out (1997) or, Come Out and Dance
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 45 mil. $
Box office: In excess of 35.6 mil. $ (North America alone)
= Uncertain but likely a big flop (projected return of 1.22 times its cost)
[The Indian in the Cupboard was released 14 July (North America) and runs 96 minutes. Shooting took place from July - October 1994 in California, including in Los Angeles, and in New York.The film opened #6 to a 7.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 35.6 mil. $. The foreign gross numbers are regrettably kept hidden away somewhere, but a likely projection would be a 55 mil. $ final gross, which would rank the film a big flop. Roger Ebert gave it a 2/4 star review, translating to 4 notches under this one. Oz returned with In & Out (1997). Scardino returned in Marvin's Room (1996). The Indian in the Cupboard is fresh at 70 % with a 6.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of The Indian in the Cupboard?
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