SPOILERS PROBABLE - I'm well past my childhood, but I really liked this movie. It may not follow the exact story of the Lynn Reid Banks story, but it almost definitely captures the spirit of it as Hal Scardino as Omri (where did such a name come from ?) learns the trials and tribulations of self-discovery, tolerance and life and death. Litefoot plays a wonderful role as the Indian brought to life, but I also suspect he may have had a little hand in the production guiding and eliminating several Native American stereotypes from the production. I do admit being quite a bit intrigued by the power of the cupboard and/or key as by some of the toys brought to life seem to actually hold the consciousnesses of actual individuals returned to life. If so, then the cupboard is merely a time machine of sorts, but there is a very cute, albeit brief scene where Omri brings to life a few of his action figures and discovers how dangerous they are with their phony weapons transformed into their real life equivalents. Among which is a dinosaur possibly from his Jurassic Park collection. He could have kept the creature alive and sold it for a million at his local Natural History Museum. He also doesn't have any comic book superheroes to bring to life; what a chance he missed ! I can only wonder if a barbie doll would have come out looking like Anna Nicole Smith ! Despite infinite possibilities, the movie is really better centered on Omri's self-discovery through the Indian than several experiments with the cupboard. Little Bear (Litefoot) explains it all so well: "You should not play with magic you do not understand !"
Review of The Indian in the Cupboard
